The Psychology of Change

When change is announced, the results can be significant, which means you should seek to manage the cognitive and behavioral changes from the very beginning.

Initial Concerns: The threat to deep systems.

Initial Reactions: Negative or positive?

The Kubler-Ross Grief Cycle: The emotional cycle on given bad news.

Shock stage: Initial paralysis at hearing the bad news.
Denial stage: Trying to avoid the inevitable.
Anger stage: Frustrated outpouring of bottled-up emotion.
Bargaining stage: Seeking in vain for a way out.
Depression stage: Final realization of the inevitable.
Testing stage: Seeking realistic solutions.
Acceptance stage: Finally finding the way forward.

The Positive Change Cycle: Even good news has its ups and downs.

Resistance to Change: When people push back against the change.

Rationale for resistance: What people tell themselves.
The Resistance Zoo: the animals and their styles of resistance.
Signs of Resistance: spotting subtle signals of dissent.
How to Cause Resistance: there are many ways!

Strong and Weak Commitment: After an agreement, commitment may vary.

In managing the initial announcement, the key is to do just that: manage it. Rather than just announce is, first think about the effects that it will have and stage the communication in a way to have the impact and effect that you desire, rather than resulting in a bloody mess that turns what at first seemed to be an easy change into what more resembles open warfare.

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The Psychology of Change

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