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The Human Response to Change
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For humans, change resemble the end of something familiar and the beginning of something new. The change period can therefore be divided into three stages:
- The Ending
- The Neutral Zone (Transition)
- The Beginning
These stages are illustrated in the diagram below.
Endings
Emotions are at their highest level when a significant change is first implemented in an organization. And high levels of emotion can devastate the organization’s productivity.
Ending signifies the loss of something. Even when the change is positive it is not uncommon for employees to experience a sense of loss.
When a major shift/restructuring or change occurs in an organization, employees tend to experience several types of losses:
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Security |
Feeling that you do not know for certain what will happen with you/your position, etc. Feel insecure and uncertain as to what the future holds. |
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Competence |
With a new job/structure/processes etc. you may feel unsure as to how to complete the tasks. It is hard not to know how to do something, especially if you are in a senior position. |
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Relationships |
The familiar contact with people like old customers, co-workers or managers may be disrupted. People often lose their sense of belonging to a particular team, group or section. |
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Sense of Direction |
Employees lose their understanding of where they are going and why they are going there. The vision of where they are going as well as the objectives, they have to meet to get there becomes vague and uncertain. |
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Territory |
Employees often experience feelings of uncertainty about the work environment that used to belong to them. Territory includes psychological space as well as physical space. |
Most employees react to endings with DENIAL and RESISTANCE. They experience different emotions, including:
Not everyone will experience all of these reactions. Some people, for example, maybe quite relieved to see the organisation take steps to be more effective. Nonetheless, most people will experience some combination of many of them, with differing degrees of severity and they may be expressed in many different ways. Altogether, they add up to lowered morale.
Neutral Stage
During this stage, energy is generated as employees focus their attention on the future and the external environment. This is also a chaotic phase as people are trying to figure out what the change entails, what their new responsibilities are and how to relate to one another.
People start to explore the future. Ask many questions. People that require lots of structure and certainty find this to be a very difficult time.
New Beginnings
After searching, testing, experimenting and exploring a new phase begins to emerge. When this happens, the individual or group is ready for commitment. During this stage, employees start to focus on priorities. They create a new mission and develop action plans. Teams are formed and new norms and values are established. This phase will continue until a new cycle of transformation begins with another major change.
Click here to view a video that explains the Ending, Neutral and New Beginnings.