{"id":3201,"date":"2016-05-20T08:51:01","date_gmt":"2016-05-20T08:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/?p=3201"},"modified":"2016-11-24T08:41:16","modified_gmt":"2016-11-24T08:41:16","slug":"handle-fear-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Handle Fear of Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matt Dawson won the Rugby World Cup in 2003 with England and has a successful media career presenting for the BBC. He is now forging a new career in business, first with food and facilities group Sodexo and now with The Instant Group.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this, the latest in a series of blogs, Matt talks about the difficulties involved in changing career.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As you can imagine, leaving rugby was a daunting prospect after the best part of 20 years playing the sport at club and international level.<\/p>\n

There has been much in the press recently on this topic, with a charity – http:\/\/restartrugby.org.uk\/<\/a> – set up to help players whose careers have come to an end. There have been documented cases of those who have suffered from depression and physical illness after retirement.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, more is now being done to recognise this issue and address it. But there can be no doubt that changing career is a significant challenge and can induce as much uncertainty as it does excitement.<\/p>\n

Like many, my response to retirement was to throw myself into a variety of different things. I was lucky enough to develop my profile outside of sport via the media, but this also required a lot of graft (and wearing sequins on national television) and I still had to make the most of those opportunities that came my way.<\/p>\n

But starting my career in business was, arguably, an even bigger challenge. Trying to develop credibility in a completely new field is always hard but particularly so when many peoples\u2019 impression of you is created by media exposure.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, there is also a slight suspicion of former sportsmen and women, such as me, finishing one career and going into business but trading off their sporting glories rather than getting their head down and learning a new trade. A huge motivation for me is to do my utmost to learn new skills and be the best I can be in these new roles. And that is a significant challenge in itself however the feeling of success is well worthwhile.<\/p>\n

One relatively simple obstacle to overcome is communication \u2013 both sport and business are full of jargon and overcoming this comms\u2019 barrier is initially daunting. But I have learnt that it can be addressed by active listening and not being afraid to ask questions. We all have a slight fear of being seen to ask the obvious question but working out all the angles is the only way to create the best possible solution.<\/p>\n

I much prefer face-to-face dialogue as it generates a better understanding of the matters at hand. In my opinion, so much communication becomes muddled because of all the email traffic that flows back and forth. If in doubt have a chat with someone and spend as much time listening as talking, (which for a former scrum half can be a problem as on the pitch, our chat was non-stop!)<\/p>\n

Maintaining momentum can be another issue. In many ways, it can be easy when you\u2019ve got a game every week or a tournament every year to focus on. But when you are used to a regular regime of goal setting, it can initially be difficult to find the requisite level of adrenalin on a day to day basis in the business world. Then, with a little time, you learn that contract wins are victories, and you start to aim for quarterly\/yearly results as the process by which to benchmark success. In due course, the competitive streak that was the motivation during a sporting career is re-discovered and goals re-aligned.<\/p>\n

Changing career is a challenge. And I empathise with anyone who is struggling with it. The best advice I can give is to set yourself targets and to try as many things as possible. Keep learning, keep your ears open and opportunities will present themselves in due course. But never be scared of change as the more open you are to it, the more likely you are to benefit from it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matt Dawson won the Rugby World Cup in 2003 with England and has a successful media career presenting for the BBC. He is now forging a new career in business, first with food and facilities group Sodexo and now with The Instant Group. In this, the latest in a series of blogs, Matt talks about the difficulties involved in changing career. As you can imagine, leaving rugby was a daunting prospect after the best part of 20 years playing the sport at club and international level. There has been much in the press recently on this topic, with a charity – http:\/\/restartrugby.org.uk\/ – set up to help players whose careers have come to an end. There have been documented cases of those who have suffered from depression and physical illness after retirement. Thankfully, more is now being done to recognise this issue and address it. But there can be no doubt that changing career is a significant challenge and can induce as much uncertainty as it does excitement. Like many, my response to retirement was to throw myself into a variety of different things. I was lucky enough to develop my profile outside of sport via the media, but this also required a lot of graft (and wearing sequins on national television) and I still had to make the most of those opportunities that came my way. But starting my career in business was, arguably, an even bigger challenge. Trying to develop credibility in a completely new field is always hard but particularly so when many peoples\u2019 impression of you is created by media exposure. Furthermore, there is also a slight suspicion of former sportsmen and women, such as me, finishing one career and going into business but trading off their sporting glories rather than getting their head down and learning a new trade. A huge motivation for me is to do my utmost to learn new skills and be the best I can be in these new roles. And that is a significant challenge in itself however the feeling of success is well worthwhile. One relatively simple obstacle to overcome is communication \u2013 both sport and business are full of jargon and overcoming this comms\u2019 barrier is initially daunting. But I have learnt that it can be addressed by active listening and not being afraid to ask questions. We all have a slight fear of being seen to ask the obvious question but working out all the angles is the only way to create the best possible solution. I much prefer face-to-face dialogue as it generates a better understanding of the matters at hand. In my opinion, so much communication becomes muddled because of all the email traffic that flows back and forth. If in doubt have a chat with someone and spend as much time listening as talking, (which for a former scrum half can be a problem as on the pitch, our chat was non-stop!) Maintaining momentum can be another issue. In many ways, it can be easy when you\u2019ve got a game every week or a tournament every year to focus on. But when you are used to a regular regime of goal setting, it can initially be difficult to find the requisite level of adrenalin on a day to day basis in the business world. Then, with a little time, you learn that contract wins are victories, and you start to aim for quarterly\/yearly results as the process by which to benchmark success. In due course, the competitive streak that was the motivation during a sporting career is re-discovered and goals re-aligned. Changing career is a challenge. And I empathise with anyone who is struggling with it. The best advice I can give is to set yourself targets and to try as many things as possible. Keep learning, keep your ears open and opportunities will present themselves in due course. But never be scared of change as the more open you are to it, the more likely you are to benefit from it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,151,89],"class_list":["post-3201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-growth","tag-business-tips-2","tag-matt-dawson","tag-meet-the-team-2"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Handle Fear of Change - Instant Offices Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Matt Dawson's latest blog post concentrates on why a career change isn't something to fear\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Handle Fear of Change - Instant Offices Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Matt Dawson's latest blog post concentrates on why a career change isn't something to fear\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Instant Offices Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/InstantOffices\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/InstantOffices\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-20T08:51:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-11-24T08:41:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/How-to-Handle-Fear-of-Change.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"430\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Instant\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/Instant_Offices\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@instant_offices\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Instant\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/\",\"name\":\"How to Handle Fear of Change - Instant Offices Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/How-to-Handle-Fear-of-Change.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-20T08:51:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-11-24T08:41:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/938027a69297f349d730148f6ff48788\"},\"description\":\"Matt Dawson's latest blog post concentrates on why a career change isn't something to fear\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/How-to-Handle-Fear-of-Change.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/How-to-Handle-Fear-of-Change.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":430,\"caption\":\"Handle the Fear Of Change - Feature\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to Handle Fear of Change\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Instant Offices Blog\",\"description\":\"Your Business Growth Resource\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/938027a69297f349d730148f6ff48788\",\"name\":\"Instant\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8fb1b21c82eac8cc65b2220d8f679971?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8fb1b21c82eac8cc65b2220d8f679971?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Instant\"},\"description\":\"Instant provides Managed Offices, Serviced Offices, Benchmarking & Insight, Portfolio Management. We cover 99% of the office market. Contact us today!\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/InstantOffices\",\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/Instant\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/Instant_Offices\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Handle Fear of Change - Instant Offices Blog","description":"Matt Dawson's latest blog post concentrates on why a career change isn't something to fear","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Handle Fear of Change - Instant Offices Blog","og_description":"Matt Dawson's latest blog post concentrates on why a career change isn't something to fear","og_url":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/","og_site_name":"Instant Offices Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/InstantOffices","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/InstantOffices","article_published_time":"2016-05-20T08:51:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-11-24T08:41:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":430,"url":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/How-to-Handle-Fear-of-Change.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Instant","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/Instant_Offices","twitter_site":"@instant_offices","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Instant","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/","url":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/","name":"How to Handle Fear of Change - Instant Offices Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/How-to-Handle-Fear-of-Change.jpg","datePublished":"2016-05-20T08:51:01+00:00","dateModified":"2016-11-24T08:41:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/938027a69297f349d730148f6ff48788"},"description":"Matt Dawson's latest blog post concentrates on why a career change isn't something to fear","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/How-to-Handle-Fear-of-Change.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/How-to-Handle-Fear-of-Change.jpg","width":960,"height":430,"caption":"Handle the Fear Of Change - Feature"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/handle-fear-change\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Handle Fear of Change"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/","name":"Instant Offices Blog","description":"Your Business Growth Resource","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/938027a69297f349d730148f6ff48788","name":"Instant","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8fb1b21c82eac8cc65b2220d8f679971?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8fb1b21c82eac8cc65b2220d8f679971?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Instant"},"description":"Instant provides Managed Offices, Serviced Offices, Benchmarking & Insight, Portfolio Management. We cover 99% of the office market. Contact us today!","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/InstantOffices","http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/Instant\/","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/Instant_Offices"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3201"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10376,"href":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3201\/revisions\/10376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}