Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

The ever-changing work environment, especially the speed of that change, has caught many managers by surprise. Even in a world where the speed of change is always talked about, there aren't always easy answers on how to manage it.

We recently talked about the understanding between what constitutes a foundation of a business and the difference between understanding that and our interaction with technology.

This post we'll take it a step further and talk about how to look for connecting points when technology begins to disrupt things quickly.

There is really only one question that must be answered: Who is the technology disrupting? Why do we have to answer that question? We need to answer it because relationships with employees or other managers might be changing without you even knowing it happened. This can cause paralysis and leave you with the feeling of being clueless as to how to proceed in this fast-changing environment.

The first thing to understand is when something is moving extremely fast, it will be always technology related. That's one clue to help you know what you're dealing with.

Now the good thing about this as a manager is that the responses of people will always lag behind the speed of technology. That means that you don't need to panic or think that things are getting away from you. People, as they relate to change, can more easily be managed if for no other reason than they inherently resist change to one degree or another. This gives you time to take in the whole picture and see where the major disruptions will be and who they will affect.

What will you look for? What is the new relationship you will have with those that are affected by the change? It's nothing more than that.

Management is always about a relationship between you and who you're responsible to and you and who you're responsible for. That is the key in keeping on top of change whenever it happens in the workplace. Everything else is just a matter of the details of the change and how to adjust to it.

Look for professional relationship changes and the rest won't seem so hard.