Avoid Being The Office Dinosaur

(Being Responsive and Adaptive to Changes)

February - 2015
 A Dinosaur in the Office
• About 60 million years ago, dinosaurs suddenly disappeared after more
than 100 million years on the planet. The cause of extinction is as a result
of their failure to adapt to rapidly changing climate.
• Dinosaur is a widely used metaphor today for someone who is out of date
and overly holding to old habits, behaviors or way of thinking.
Those who do not like changes and always to resist.
• Most people prefer predictability and stability
in both their personal and professional lives
by avoiding situations that change their routine,
threaten their habits, increase stress, or involve risks.
• However, we have to change. Otherwise, like
the dinosaurs, they didn’t adapt and they became
extinct.
• In our case, we can end up feeling out dated, irrelevant,
frustrated and even intimidated by things happening
around us.
Benefits of Change
Change is the only constant thing in life, and definitely also in the
workplace. If we want to be truly successful, we must be able to embrace
change when it happens.
Here are some benefits of change:
Personal growth. We grow and learn new things every time something
changes, even from changes that we didn’t like or expect.
Flexibility. Frequent changes make us easily adapt to new situations,
new people and new environments. As a result we do not easily get
panicked when something unexpected happens.
Improvements. We all have things in our lives we would
like to improve (finances, career, house, etc.) but nothing
will improve by itself. We need to do things differently
to make that happen. Without change, there would be
no improvements.
Benefits of Change
Strength. Not all changes lead us to pleasant periods of life.
Overcoming the tough and difficult period will make us stronger.
Progress. Changes trigger progress. Things move forward and grow
because of changes. Don’t give up even on things that seem difficult.
Make one step at a time, because small changes will bring us closer
and eventually lead us to the desired goal.
Opportunities and new beginnings. Change is about closing one
chapter and opening another one. Every change brings many
possibilities and different opportunities.
Changes will bring new choices for happiness and
success, as long as we also commit to change ourselves
by willing to learn new skills, adopt new positive
behavior and widen our perspective.
 How to avoid being the office dinosaur
• Maintain Enthusiasm
Be an active participant in some programs, especially the ones that your
like, and show curiosity about new developments.
• Experiment in Your Role.
It’s so easy to stop growing in our roles, especially if we have been doing the
same thing for many years. But it’s never too late to grow professionally. Take
the initiative for a new work/project or share your knowledge with less-
experienced colleagues. It will enhance your skills (communication, negotiation,
leadership, etc.) and broaden your perspective.
• Keep Learning and Growing
Find something you are passionate about. Look for ways to do more things
you enjoy, both inside and outside of work. By doing this, we still stay active
and motivated to learn.
• Invest Time in People.
Make the effort to understand and to get to know your colleagues better.
You will learn something new, gain insights and find fresh ideas in the
conversation.
Let’s check this simple quiz:

1. How do you think we can identify whether

someone is becoming an office dinosaur?

2. What are other things that can be done

to avoid being an office dinosaur?