316 Part V: Integrating Your Learning
When change strikes, people try to maintain the status quo because it’s
secure and stable. When a change occurs in the status quo of any system,
even when it’s expected, people can experience the different stages shown
in Figure 20-1. This model can forewarn and forearm you to deal with change
more effectively, and help other people in the organisation manage change
better. Understanding what you’re going through helps you to manage
yourself by managing your emotional state, so Table 20-1 examines these
stages further. It offers ways of helping you to behave more resourcefully by
having rapport with other people through an awareness of how change is
affecting them.
Figure 20-1:
The change
curve.
0
1
2
3
4
5
- Status Quo
- Shock, anger, freeze
- Denial
- Self-awareness
- Acceptance
- Experiment
When involved in corporate change, the manager’s job is to keep the dip of
the curve as low as possible and to keep the time frame from point 1 (the
start of experiencing change) to point 5 (a new status quo begins to emerge)
as short as possible, because that gets people back into full performance
mode as soon as possible.
Table 20-1 The Stages of Grief in the Change Curve
for Change in the Workplace
Stages in the
Change Curve
How People May React What Actions Help
- Shock and
anger
People may procrastinate when
they experience shock. Feelings
of shock and anger can be
fleeting or last for a long time,
depending on how resilient
someone is. People feel trapped
and respond fearfully.
Allow people to let off steam and
reassure them that the change is
temporary and things are going to
get better. Stress that the change
is not personal. Subtly work to
help people change their map
of the world, because people
react based on their existing map
and the depth of their reaction
depends on what their map tells
them to do or how to react.
