Coping with Change and Uncertainty in the Workplace

Regardless of the industry we work in, there may be times when we find ourselves in unpredictable situations where change and uncertainty can deeply impact our wellbeing and mental health. The ability to cope effectively with these challenges is not only essential for professional success but also for maintaining overall physical and emotional health.

Strategies for safeguarding wellbeing and resilience

1. Acknowledging change

First and foremost, it’s important to acknowledge that change is an inevitable part of any workplace. While change can trigger feelings of fear, anxiety, and discomfort, it also presents opportunities for growth, learning, and innovation. Embracing a mindset of adaptability and flexibility is key to thriving in dynamic work environments. Instead of viewing change as a threat, try to see it as a chance to develop new skills, build resilience, and expand your horizons. By reframing your perspective on change, you can harness its power to propel you forward rather than holding you back.


2. Effective communication

Effective communication is another crucial element in coping with workplace change and uncertainty. When organisations undergo transitions, employees often feel left in the dark, leading to feelings of confusion, mistrust, and disengagement. To alleviate these negative effects, it’s important for leaders to communicate openly and transparently with their teams. Providing regular updates, clarifying expectations, and providing feedback can help employees feel informed, supported, and empowered during times of change. Similarly, promoting a culture of open communication and collaboration among colleagues can create a sense of unity and shared purpose, enabling individuals to build stronger bonds.


3. Self-care

Prioritising self-care and stress management is essential for safeguarding your wellbeing in the face of change and uncertainty. The demands of a changing work environment can take a toll on your physical and mental health, making it imperative to make time for relaxation, exercise, and healthy habits. Engaging in activities that bring you joy, such as meditation, yoga, or creative pursuits, can help reduce stress, boost resilience, and create a sense of balance and calm amidst chaos. A study published by the National Library of Medicine revealed that “regular exercisers are more resistant to the emotional effects of acute stress”. Remember that taking care of yourself is not a luxury but a necessity for maintaining peak performance and overall wellbeing.


4. Seeking support

Seeking support from colleagues, mentors, or mental health professionals can also be instrumental in coping with workplace challenges. Sharing your concerns, seeking guidance and receiving constructive feedback can provide valuable perspectives and insights that you may not have considered on your own. Connecting with others who have experienced similar struggles can form a sense of solidarity and belonging, reminding you that you are not alone.


5. Positive mindset

Adopting a growth mindset can empower you to navigate workplace changes with greater resilience and adaptability. Instead of viewing setbacks or failures as definitive outcomes, see them as opportunities for learning, growth, and improvement. Embrace challenges as stepping stones towards your personal and professional development, recognising that resilience is not about avoiding difficulties but about bouncing back stronger and wiser from them. By maintaining a positive outlook and an optimistic attitude, you can build the mental strength needed to thrive in the face of adversity.

Why Persistence Matters

Many great achievements in life don’t come easy so if you want to succeed in your job, you’ll need a certain amount of persistence. Perhaps you have targets or goals that you need to achieve to secure that much needed pay rise or promotion, or maybe you simply take pride in your work and want to do the best you can. Whatever sights you have set for yourself in your job, it will likely take a lot of determination and hard work to achieve your goals.

While the idea of ongoing persistence and dedication might overwhelm some people, remember that the effort you put into something makes the end result even more rewarding as it becomes of greater value.

Why is persistence important?

Rarely do our jobs take very little effort, and if they do it’s likely our work life will begin to feel unrewarding and unsatisfying. When we don’t have something to aim for or obstacles to overcome, we can become demotivated and unfulfilled. These kinds of feelings can cause us to lose our self-esteem and self-worth, making our lives feel less meaningful and over time this can impact our mental health. If we give up on a task at the first sign of difficulty, it can make us feel as though we’re not good enough or scared to attempt anything else in the future for fear of failure.

When we understand the importance of persistence, having goals at work can be exciting and motivating, making our role much more rewarding. Overcoming obstacles and challenges also allows us to grow and evolve, which has a positive effect on our mental wellbeing and can reduce anxiety and depression. In a study published by Psychology Today, it found that “People who refuse to give up on achieving specific goals and approach challenges with a positive outlook are at lower risk of clinical depression…generalized anxiety disorder… and panic disorder”.

Ways to be more persistent

Set yourself clear goals and understand why you want to achieve them so that you have a reason to be persistent. By knowing what you want to gain, you’ll become more resilient and determined to overcome any obstacles in your way.

Remain humble and accept that you might not always know the best way to achieve your goal. By listening to constructive feedback and learning from mistakes (which you will most likely make many times along the way), you accept that it’s all part of the process in getting to where you want to be.

Don’t be afraid of challenges because throughout history they have been a major part of many successful journeys. Imagine if Einstein had given up at the first hurdle!

Don't be afraid to change your plan. Try to be aware when something isn’t working and rather than continuing on a certain path just because that’s how you envisioned it, look at other options and try something new. Much of being persistent is about being flexible and knowing when to change your approach.


Once you have mastered the art of persistence, you’ll reap not only the material rewards, but you’ll have improved your mental health along the way.

Learning to Be Resilient at Work

Resilience is being able to overcome the effects of difficult situations or traumatic events that may happen throughout your life. It’s necessary to learn how to be resilient as we grow from being children so that we can deal with things that could cause us to experience anxiety, stress or depression.

But as adults we are still likely to face situations that will test our mettle and resilience, in particular in the workplace. Without a certain amount of resilience, we’d be unable to attain our goals and remain positive and happy in the face of adversity.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development undertook a study on employee resilience and found that: “Positive affect refers to moods such as joy, cheerfulness, enthusiasm and alertness, while optimism refers to the belief that one will generally experience good outcomes. Employees who possess both of these are more likely to behave in ways that mitigate the effects of adverse events, or even prevent them in the first place.”

What do we need to be resilient?

In order to become more resilient at work and maintain our wellbeing, we need to have particular inner strengths:

• Self-control
• Gratitude
• Compassion
• Self-confidence
• Mindfulness

Not only does resilience help us to become stronger but it can also make us much wiser and at peace with ourselves. We are more likely to take risks that will help us to progress in our job because we know that we’re capable of recovering from any setbacks or trauma. Adapting to adversity doesn’t mean that we won’t experience the effects such as anger, frustration, sadness or stress, but it does mean that we are more equipped to deal with it and bounce back.

How can we become more resilient?

1. Gratitude

A great way to focus on the positives is by practising gratitude on a regular basis. When we make a conscious effort to be thankful for the good in every situation, it helps us to be more resilient against disappointment and deal with challenges with a more positive attitude.

2. Learning from past experiences

Take time to remember past experiences that you found upsetting or stressful and how you dealt with that particular situation. What personal skills did you use to overcome the difficulties and how can you use them in the future? You might even remember a time when you were really afraid of something that actually turned out much less frightening than you’d imagined. Often the fear of the unknown can be worse and when you do take courageous steps, it builds more self-confidence within you, so you are less afraid to experience the situation again in the future.

3. Mindfulness

Mindfulness is considered a core principle in developing our resilience because it arms us with self-control and helps us to focus on something other than negative feelings like anger, regret or resentment. When we dwell on negative emotions it can hinder our progress and make us afraid to grasp opportunities. It’s not uncommon for people to rush around at work, totally blinkered to what’s going on around them. This in itself can create feelings of stress and anxiety and make our jobs unbearable at times. When we become mindful of our actions and what’s happening around us, it helps us to slow down and focus more clearly on the task at hand, ultimately relieving some of the negative emotions and making us become more resilient to any challenges we might face.

The art of positive self-talk

Self-depreciation is the default setting for most of us. We see only the negatives or areas for improvement, rather than our many qualities and skills.

Ironically, when we see this same behaviour in others, we criticise them for it: "If only she didn’t put herself down so much", we say, or "why can’t he see what a great catch he is".

The fact is, most of us are humble people. Bragging and blowing our own trumpet does not come easily. And that’s fine – arrogance is not a good quality – however, what we could all do with is some positive self-talk. It’s time to reassure ourselves of our own abilities and recognise the progress we’re making.

Positive self-talk makes us feel good about ourselves and can push us to perform even better – fulfilling our true potential. It’s the optimistic voice on our shoulder that fosters our self-belief and drives us to do bigger, better things with our lives.

On the flip side, negative self-talk, brings us down. It dampens our enthusiasm and stifles our performance. It doesn’t rejoice in our successes, rather focuses on what we didn’t do, or where we could have improved.

All of us could benefit from more positive self-talk in our lives. When it comes to how to do it, this article from Psychology Today suggests that using the third person in self-talk can help you step back and think more objectively about our responses and emotions. It can also help you reduce stress and anxiety.

All too often, our inner voice is predominately negative. We tend to remember the negative comments from our childhood and school days. The problem with negative comments is that they can become self-fulfilling. We replay them over and over to the point that we believe them to be true.

The sad truth is that we are often much harder on ourselves than we would ever be on other people. It takes a lot of positive self-talk to override our negative conditioning, but it can be done. Look at this article from Psychcentral for some examples of the things positive people tell themselves.

As a bare minimum, we should aim not to say anything to ourselves that we wouldn’t say to other people. Let’s afford ourselves the same respect and self-restraint that we would direct towards others.

Positive self-talk will not stop us from messing up from time to time. We all make mistakes. Positive self-talk is not about brushing over the negative or challenging events that happen in our life, it is about looking at what happens to us with a constructive eye, and with a realistic perspective. It’s about recognising the truth in situations and looking at how we can learn from our mistakes to help us grow in to better human beings. To expect perfection in yourself - or anyone else - is unrealistic. So let’s try to be kind to ourselves - always!

Workplace positivity – why it’s good for us

It’s positive thinking day today and while most people will appreciate the role that positivity has on our own mental wellbeing and performance at work, it’s also true that it can impact our physical health too.

What is positive thinking in the workplace?

Nobody is immune to the ups and downs of life – and in the workplace you can guarantee that we will be faced with things that challenge us every day. Positive thinking is not about ignoring all of the negative events that happen to us and those around us – it’s about the constructive ways in which we approach all situations we find ourselves faced with.

Positive thinking in the workplace means approaching negative events with a productive mindset - looking for solutions and holding close the belief that most things are temporary and can be overcome. When you convince yourself that the best is going to happen, not the worst, you will find that you are often right. How we think influences how we perceive the outcome.

Positive thinking starts within. We alone have the power to frame our thoughts so that they take on a positive or negative spin. Take a look around your office at your co-workers. The people with pessimistic outlooks on life will often find that the predominant thought patterns in their head are negative. Optimists adopt a cheerier outlook and approach to their work.

Research into the links between positive thinking and physical well-being are ongoing, however it’s fair to say that a positive outlook can deliver the following health benefits:

Blood pressure
A study involving postmenopausal women found that participants with a positive outlook experienced reduced blood pressure compared to those who were pessimistic about their condition.

Heart disease
Positive thinkers are less likely to experience heart disease compared to people with a tendency towards pessimism. Our hearts are sensitive to stress, which a positive outlook can help us manage.

Immunity
Negative thought patterns dampen our immune system and leave us more likely to pick up common ailments, such as colds and infections like the flu. Positive thinkers have also been found to recover more quickly from surgery, and be better able to manage diseases like AIDS and cancer. 

The reasons why this is the case remain unclear. It is likely that the benefits positivity has on our mental wellbeing help us to reduce the harmful health effects that stressors can have on our bodies.

There is much we can do to boost our positive thinking in the workplace, such as practising gratitude and engaging in mindfulness exercises. It’s all about training our brains to pay attention to the positive things in our everyday lives, rather than dwelling on the negatives.

Negativity comes about when we over think things or issues are left to fester. When we deal with challenges head on, we don’t give them the opportunity to negatively impact on our thinking. If you're dealing with an issue that lies outside your control, make sure you share the burden – report it to your manager or your HR department. Complaining lies at the heart of negative thought patterns so deal with issues head-on so they don’t impact on your optimism and look for solutions that will work well for everyone.

If you're looking for ways to boost your own positive thinking, have a read of this Psychology Today blog post.

For more advice on how to manage your stress levels at work, read our blog post here > 

How to cope with negative feedback

Let’s face it, none of us likes dealing with bad news – giving it, or receiving it. But when we’re in a work situation, negative feedback from customers and colleagues is pretty much inevitable. Knowing how to cope with adverse comments when we’re faced with them, helps ensure we use the feedback as a catalyst for positive change, rather than allowing it to overshadow our work, dampen our spirit and dent our confidence and self-belief.

The first hurdle to overcome is how to manage the occasion when the negative feedback is delivered to you. Chances are the feedback will come out of the blue when you’re least expecting it, but when it does happen, we want you to try and remember to do these three things:

Stop for a second

Our natural instinct when someone says something negative is to defend ourselves and to come back fighting! So much so that we often don’t actually take in what people are saying. Our first piece of advice is to take a moment to process what you've been told. This helps your response to be measured rather than emotional, which will lead to a better outcome, solution or action plan.

Reverse the lens

Whenever anyone shares negative feedback try to take a look at what’s been said from the other person’s point of view. What is it that has made sharing the feedback necessary? Be honest with yourself – could there be some basis in what they're saying? If you choose to ignore what is said, then you are cutting off the opportunity to find out what the basis for the feedback is, and that means there’s a likelihood that you may be missing out on an opportunity for self-improvement and growth.

Respond with kindness

Regardless of the news you’ve been given, thank the person for taking the time to share their feedback with you; summarise what they've said to you, so they know that you've heard their concerns; then reassure them that you'll consider the points raised. Letting someone know that you’ve listened to their views goes a long way to resolving whatever issues you’re facing – and it will definitely buy you some time to think about the feedback and what you’re going to do about it.


Once you’ve done all this, it’s time to think about how to actually deal with the feedback you’ve been given. The first thing to remember is that, in the vast majority of cases, people only give feedback because they care and want to see an improvement in the situation. This is a good basis to work from. By recognising this fact, we can start to reframe our thinking and see negative feedback as a positive opportunity for growth.

This blog post by Psychology Today contains some useful strategies for dealing with bad news, such as contextualising the situation and using it to effect transformative change. It’s especially important for you to take care of yourself during times of emotional upset. Eat well, avoid alcohol and get some exercise. Looking after your physical and mental health will help you navigate through your emotions to reach a positive conclusion to the feedback received.

And remember, you are not defined by this feedback. It is just one person’s view of a particular issue or situation. At the end of the day it is up to you to decide whether – on reflection and after examining the evidence – you choose to agree with them, or not.

Overcoming adversity to achieve your goals

Life is full of ups and downs. Indeed some people say we need to experience the lows to really appreciate the highs; but what happens if we have trouble bouncing back when something bad happens?

The good news is that we have all we need within ourselves to get our lives back on track!

The recent Paralympics are a great reminder of the resilience we all have within us to overcome most of the problems that life throws our way. They show what we can achieve when we believe in ourselves and refuse to be constrained by other people’s expectations of us.

Often we feel inhibited by what other people think, or what they say about us and our abilities and -let's face it - there always seems to be somebody with a critical eye when we're lacking in confidence. However, there are ways to keep going to achieve your goals. Read our tips below.

Positive mental attitude

Positivity is key when it comes to achieving our goals. We have to believe we can do something – truly trust in ourselves and our own ability – in order for us to accomplish what we set out to. Self-doubt has no place in our psyche. Unfortunately, in times of disappointment or when faced with adversity, the self-doubt can become consuming. When this happens, it’s time to reframe your thinking and focus only on the positives.

Be prepared to try harder

All of our lives we have faced challenges. It starts as a child, at school, when we are asked to try something new or given a new topic to learn. We managed the situation then without thinking about it too deeply, but do you remember how our parents and carers helped us through at the time? By telling us to try harder. They weren’t far wrong. We get used to putting in only the minimum level of effort needed to get us through our adult life. The truth is when we’re faced with adversity we do need to dig a bit deeper.

Let go of things you can’t control

It’s common during difficult times to focus on what’s going wrong and hone in on the negative aspects of our lives, rather than look at the big picture. We lose sight of our goals and get stuck in negative thought patterns which are not helpful. We need to be become aware of the aspects of our lives that we can control and consciously free ourselves from those that we can’t. Worrying about something uses up valuable energy – and this energy should be redirected to take us closer to our goals, rather than pontificating about things we have absolutely no influence over.

Stop being your own worst enemy

Be honest, who is it that is really stopping you from achieving your goals? Chances are you have a big part to play. Self-sabotage is not unusual – it manifests in the excuses we tell ourselves to justify our situation, especially during times of stress. When we break these excuses down – really examine them – we usually find that they are ungrounded and the biggest hurdle we have to overcome to achieve our goals is ourselves. Whatever you tell yourself, often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Overcoming adversity is nigh-on impossible until you stop making excuses and start to be your own champion.