It was all going so well at work, until it wasn’t.
When Roche bought Genentech some time ago, I didn’t know what to expect, personally or professionally. But I knew there’d be change.
And change – I did not want or need it. I had a great manager, just hired my first direct report, and was positioned for an expanded leadership role.
That path wasn’t to be.
My manager let me know, with visible regret, that I’d be reorganized into a different group than him, and had been assigned a new manager. I’d lose my direct report, too.
I remember feeling sad, sad at losing access to some great colleagues when they moved to another site. I remember feeling anxious about what the new group would be like. I felt my career options were disappearing.
But I kept showing up.
Showing up for the new department events, even when they felt stupid. Showing up for my colleagues who stopped by to ask questions about how the new organization worked, or just to talk.
What happened next was unexpected.
When I shared questions from my colleagues about an unclear process, I was assigned to lead a new, highly visible, initiative to fix it. One of my project team members sponsored me for another new opportunity which would only have been possible in the early R&D space of the new group.
And after a while, what seemed like a career dead end with no room to grow – grew, and they needed a new group leader. Me.
There WAS change – not all of it negative.
This experience stuck with me, especially the contrast between how badly I felt at the beginning and the tangibly good outcomes later. What was in the middle? How did I navigate the change – or at least not sabotage it?
The “Circles of Influence” model is my effort to describe how to respond to change:
Like a bullseye, the center is where your effort goes.
First, when the situation seems lousy, focus on yourself. I mean that in so many ways. Take care of yourself. Let yourself feel whatever you feel, and then choose your actions. If we have control over anything, it’s that.
Earlier in my life, I’d have stopped here. It’s all up to me! I can get there on my own! Maybe you like me were taught independence rather than interdependence, especially at work.
Instead, the next layer to consider when you are dealing with uncertainty is the people around you. You can’t control what they think, say or do, but you can influence others’ experience of you – aka your reputation. Examples at that time included:
- Being positive and present with my new management
- Making time to talk to my colleagues (who, in retrospect, were also confused and struggling with the change)
- Choosing to be proactive about bringing forward problems and solutions.
The final piece was acknowledging what was out of my control. The loss of my direct report. The decision that put me into this new organization. The whole darn merger.
You can use the model to face a challenging or uncertain situation by asking these questions:
- What can I do to support myself?
- What actions can I take?
- How do I want to show up to the people around me?
- What is beyond my control, no matter what I wish for and how hard I work?
When I shared this story and model in a group discussion about career advancement, we concluded you can do everything “right” but if the environment isn’t favorable for a promotion – no new role, no process, no funding – it wasn’t going to happen. This actually felt liberating to some participants, who said it freed them to make new choices.
How about you? What change are you facing now and how can I help you navigate it?
