Embracing change can help your career move forward

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17: The ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, put it very aptly, “The only thing that is permanent in life is change.” It may be scary, it may be exhilarating, but one thing is certain, change will come. While it is true we often derive a certain level of comfort when things stay the same, no one ever achieved greatness by settling for the status quo. Yet many people suffer from a resistance to change and end up stagnating in their work or personal lives.

As women in the business world, we can and should be the drivers of change. It can be the road to success on so many levels. What kind of personal traits can be nurtured to help us in this regard? From my experience, I would suggest these: a desire to learn, an inquisitive and analytical mind, a certain level of self-confidence and a passion to make things better. You may end up in uncharted waters, but by approaching the situation with these attitudes, you’re bound to find the ride enjoyable.

I work for a high-tech company where nothing stays the same for long. From DVRs to high-definition TV, faster Internet, fibre optics... innovation moves us forward. As technologies evolve, we need to be there, bringing the latest advances to our customers. From that standpoint, we are living change every day. That keeps us on our toes, knowing that we can’t remain in any comfort zone for very long!

Positive

Then there are the people and organisational aspects of change, which are more subtle, and often more complex. As someone who heads up a customer service organisation, I can tell you that my team is constantly asking, “how can we effect positive change for our customers?” Much of that has to do with attitude.

When is it the right moment to make a change?  What change is necessary? Do we power forward on our own ideas or do we engage a dialogue first? Fundamentally, women are masters at communicating and by developing this skill we can use it for positive change. At CableVision, we decided to ask our customers what changes they wanted, and they had very clear ideas.

We hold regular “Saturday with the GM” events around the island, and invite customers to come to informal neighbourhood gatherings where we ask them what they would like to see us do differently. We took their feedback and developed a plan for improving our service at a number of different levels. Everyone was able to embrace the plan, because we knew it was what our customers wanted. This gave us the confidence to move forward and my team participated eagerly.

Improvements

We made numerous improvements across the organisation as a result of this dialogue. The positive feedback we have received has been so gratifying that we have no regrets about all the hard work! Change is sometimes its own reward.

Take it one day at a time

That same dialogue and openness to change also led us to make a major move earlier this year – uprooting our entire customer service organisation from Laffan Street to a brand new Customer Care Centre in Washington Mall. Once again, this was a change desired by our customers, who were growing weary of too many driving adventures on Laffan Street!

At first, it seemed like an insurmountable task to make such a change, since we had been in the same place for 20 years, and everything had to be moved, improved or replaced. We took a deep breath and decided to take it one day at a time. By tackling each day with the right amount of energy that was needed for a job well done, we were able to make an enormous change, as a team, in a short period of time.

Over the years, I have learned to tell myself, before any major change, personal or professional, “Don’t be afraid of the bumps in the road, stay positive, focus on the outcome and enjoy the ride.” 

Don’t just embrace change, believe in it and be a part of it! 

Shavonne Jeffries is the customer service manager, Bermuda CableVision.