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The four Stages of Change

Guest post by: Robert Whipple

Article Overview: Change is inevitable, and many people fear change. Not too many leaders view change as a specific process that can be managed. This article gives a four step model for making change in organizations.

The four Stages of Change

The process of change will go more smoothly if people understand the psychology of change. I like a business adaptation of grief counseling, where reacting to change is broken into four segments: Anticipating, Ending, Transition, and Beginning.

Anticipating

This is the "fat, dumb and happy" state in the old paradigm. You are scarcely aware of the impending need for change. Ultimately, through some hints, you become aware of a threat to the old way of being. Denial is typical at this point. You hope the problem will go away and that your invested stake in the current paradigm is safe. For example, in the late 1960's, managers at Dietzgen Company, makers of slide rules, must have felt that way when Hewlett Packard introduced the new handheld calculators.

Ending

A new beginning requires that something must end. In this phase, you become fearful of loss. You see a necessity to move out of your comfort zone and that's scary. People often become sad or depressed in this phase and feel helpless, knowing a change is occurring, but longing for the days when the old ways sustained them. This phase is often compared to a death and, frequently, in the corporate world, it is a death. People need to grieve for what is ending. Leaders who understand and compassionately assist in this grief process enable the change to move more quickly. By allowing people to acknowledge their pain and express it, the leader gently moves people toward the next phase. Those who don't, pay a large price later in lack of commitment or other negative consequences. This is one area where overdoing the positive outlook, discussed in the previous chapter, can cause resentment.

Transition

This is the chaos and turmoil normally associated with change. In this phase, people jockey for a better position in the new paradigm. Bargaining or rationalizing is common in the form of: "If we have to move to a different building, at least can I get a bigger office or a closer parking space?" Rumors and speculation abound in this phase and information management becomes a real issue. Often anger or hostility are displayed in the transition as people, finally resolved to their fate, lash out at the injustice of it. Some still manifest denial of the transition, while others choose sides in the political chaos. During the transition, the leader's skill is most needed and most tested. There needs to be clear focus on the vision as people deal with the confusion and let go of the past.

Beginning

Finally people begin to accept the new way. When you build stake in the new processes, people enroll, sometimes with delight and sometimes begrudgingly. Slowly the team begins to rebuild enthusiasm and eventually starts performing in the new paradigm.

People need to understand these phases because, with that knowledge, and the skill of a good leader, the time to make the full transition can be shortened. For example, I have seen teams make it through a difficult change that normally would take 6 months in about 6 days because they were aware and managing the phases. It helps people to know the grief they feel in the ending stage will be followed by better days. They tend to arrive at the transition more quickly. Also, if they realize that the anger experienced in transition is normal, something that needs to be vented, it becomes less distracting. That is a huge advantage because it allows some stability in the new paradigm before the need for another change is evident. Groups that are efficient at getting through the steps have a natural competitive advantage.

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Article Tags: Change, leadership, process, resistance, trust



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Re: Spellcheck? - [quote="TheAnonymousMan":2f894q6j]When discussing the majority of people I would definitely say that most people hit the "Change" or "Ignore" button without thinking too much about the correct spelling of a word. All bosses are concerned about is getting the report to the Directors meeting on time.[/quote:2f894q6j] That probably depends on what the "majority" are trying to accomplish. I have word set to alert me about misspellings and grammatical problems, so I fix most as I go. But I also add names etc to the dictionary because I get tired of seeing the red and green squiggles when I know the info is right. If you're only going to click "Change" or "Ignore" then why bother to take the time to use spell check????? Business people that I work for want the info compiled in a timely manner and they want it right - which is fine because that's the way I strive to do any project. Sending out a memo, letter, report etc with obvious spelling and grammatical mistakes makes the person and the company look bad as far as I'm concerned. Shri
Re: e-Commerce and e-Payment providers - Hi GT It is only fairly recently that people in South Africa have been able to get full use of Paypal as we were only able at one time to make payments but not receive them. Fortunately this has now changed. I have received money through Global X Change for one of the affiliate programs that I promote and have found them pretty good as the money is normally transferred directly into my bank account within 2-3 days and I have not had any problems with them. MichelleJ
Re: Obama Wants Social Security for Illegals - [quote="Alan Mater":3kaa8sg4] Obama WILL make changes... but they're not the changes we as a country need or should look forward to.[/quote:3kaa8sg4] Sad but this is exactly how I feel about it. Change is coming - but unless I'm really wrong, it is not a change this country needs. Amazing how much a good speaker with a good speech writer can do. If you paid attention to the things he said "off script" - much of it is frightening. Chris
Are you an Opportunity Addict? - 1) if you find yourself saying yes without thinking about how it will affect your other priorities 2) you have over 10 projects/inventions going on at the same time and this seems normal to you 3) you have spent hundreds and thousands of dollars on manufacturing, prototypes, etc. not to mention thousands of hours of your time....but you havent followed through on any of it 4) most of your projects are falling behind or have completely fallen off your radar....which is fueling your frustration The first step in recovery is to recognize this as a pattern of self sabotage. If you are clear in what your overall goals and objectives are, you should be able to create a lens through which you measure opportunities. You create your life, and your to do list. Change, Add, Remove, Adjust time-lines - whatever you like. But remember that every piece of unfinished business - stays that way J
You are too young - I don't really believe (I've been into web designing for 7 years now... I started in 2000) there is any web design laws. Besides the fact that you can't use copyrighted images on web design without permission from the original author. Also, any web designs you do you may want to have it copyrighted so other's can't steal your idea's or whatever... of course, you can offer a "Copyright Change" option for a bit more money that will allow you to be able to transfer the copyrights and give exclusive rights to the purchaser. All in all, don't worry about the laws... you should be fine, just remember that if your in the U.S. that if your making over $400 (or maybe its $600) in revenue, you'll have to pay taxes to the government... and please get a LLC, although its not a big thing with web designs, you could get into legal trouble somewhere in the business. Lastly, use contracts for when your selling or use agreements to clear the air so that you can have a safe business and you'll have some backing up if you ever are taken to court.


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