Change is Constant - What is your next dance?

Large companies are absorbed by other large companies and the structure changes. Consequently, you, the employee is skeptical! A lot of questions fly through the air but the acquired company is not yet responding to them and there is no transparency. The CEO's and other top officials do not reveal the next steps. When they do, there is a lot of scrambling and frustration.

Although the employees are not privy to what happens at the top, they often are not prepared for the future either. The employees believe that there is more security by just remaining in place, but they are living in a bubble. Now the bubble has burst and mostly they do not have an alternate plan. What is most unnerving is the thought that in this day and age there is job security. That thought is years old and we live in another generation.

The coast guard have a golden song" Semper Paratus " which translates into "always ready". Employees can take away the thought behind this melody and attach it to their foreheads. We can be influenced by rhetoric and words, but do you believe what you hear? Chances are those influencing you will jump ship and save themselves before you are saved. All the words sound good but is there an action plan or policies that back it up?

Frustration and angry stokes the individual's fire, but what you hear and what is actually taking place is far removed from what is told. Transition and change disturbs anybody's equilibrium, and what you want to say is rarely spoken. Everything is out of balance and where it ends or begins is anybody's guess. This is totally overwhelming and daunting.

How does one keep the old structure and blend in with the new? You don't and the new company researches what is working and what is making revenue. After that study, the new company arranges for their organizational focus which is often the hiring and firing. They hire those with their same philosophy and fire or lay off those who no longer fit their mold. Without all the facts, employees tend to believe the company CEO's are taking drastic steps to make decisions according to their wishes. That is generally far from the truth, although some CEO's believe they are the divine master and forge ahead aimlessly. A team, consisting of the upper echelon, often with months of due diligence, move towards what will make the company stable.

Like dancing, whether it is classical or hip-hop, performance in the marketplace and the value of winning stands out among everything else. If the company is dead set on being profitable, that will be the key to success. The framework requires committed action and energy. Those who are willing and able to fulfill the task of higher quality of service will remain in place, with the knowledge that they must step up to the plate.

Ask yourself if your dance card is full or empty? Remember change is constant.

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Gloria M. Reiske is an MSW, LCSW with more than thirty years experience in education, administration, social work, and coaching. She has authored many articles and is published in local media, having written a men and grief manual for training purposes throughout Virginia and an article for children and grief.