The company I work for was acquired just prior to Christmas last year. We knew the reason for being acquired was to allow the parent company to expand into a market they had no experience in. Although it was expected that the parent company would put some of their people into various spots in our organization, by in large our management team would stay intact. Given the landscape of acquisitions this is a pretty good deal; they are not coming in to do a slash and burn.
For me, since Day 1, I’ve seen nothing but opportunities for employees at our company since the parent company is so much larger than we were. We bring what they desire which is true global presence and an expertise they don’t have in many areas.
However, not everyone sees the opportunities. There is a sizable group of people who are ready to flee our company because of fear.
Life is about change. The question for you is: ‘Are you going with the flow of life or are you resisting?’
Resistance shows up differently. Fear is the number one emotion I see right now in my company in regards to resistance. And people are reacting with either fight or flight. What I find so surprising is that people assume bad things are going to happen, but there are no facts to support that viewpoint. Is there going to be change, I state ‘Yes’. We will be growing as an organization.
Instead of welcoming change and sitting in ambiguity for a while … people in flight mode are choosing to leave the organization and jump to another organization they really know nothing about. Then there are the camp of people who are in fight mode. They are resisting change every inch of the way. They are the naysayers and often up to their ears in the gossip circles. What is sad is many of them are fulfilling their prophecy of having this be a negative experience because chances are they will not be on the short list of promotions as we start expanding and positions are added.
Although my example is of my current circumstances, I’m sure you can see parallels in your experiences. When life changes in unexpected ways, we have a tendency to project a train wreck and the excuses and deflections immediately come up.
Going with the flow of life does not mean you bury you head in sand like an ostrich. It means that you accept what you cannot change and instead oflooking at the situation negatively, look for the proverbial silver lining. Because that fact is IT IS ALWAYS THERE.
It is our decision as to whether we will focus on negative or positive. If we really own the negativity … we will NEVER see the opportunities because we’ve effectively blocked that out of our field of vision.
It takes faith to go with the flow because of the ambiguity. What I have come to understand is that if I continue doing the ‘next right thing’ in my life and move forward amazing things happen when I live in the flow.
