{"id":457,"date":"2019-03-11T05:12:17","date_gmt":"2019-03-11T05:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valshebnik.com\/blog\/?p=457"},"modified":"2020-01-23T12:45:36","modified_gmt":"2020-01-23T12:45:36","slug":"the-transition-or-change-curve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valshebnik.com\/blog\/the-transition-or-change-curve\/","title":{"rendered":"The Transition or Change Curve"},"content":{"rendered":"

During a set of change management workshops that I designed for people in different national Kazakh companies who were involved in \u2018Transformation\u2019 a couple of years ago, I used to ask who had heard of the Transition or Change Curve.<\/p>\n

And in any group of twenty-plus people only two or three hands would raise. And one of them was mine!<\/p>\n

Yet for me the Transition Curve has been a staple concept in many of the change and transition processes with which I have been involved.<\/p>\n

It is based on the classic Grieving Curve, the change curve developed in the late sixties by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, which is also known as the 5 stages of grief. These are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance and model the emotions experienced by someone who has either lost a loved one or indeed who themselves are approaching death. Knowing this model, death and bereavement counseling can be more effective.<\/p>\n

Over the next twenty years, the parallels between the personal transition of the stages of grief and change that people experienced in other situations (being posted abroad for example) were recognized and \u2013 perhaps not surprisingly \u2013 the first link to the similar emotions people experience when affected by organizational change, was made in the health sector. All this work was finally summarized into what is now seen as the classic Change Curve in a publication by Schneider & Goldwasser in 1998, although I sometimes use the excellent drawing by John Fisher, who presented the curve a year later (and whose 2012 version I have added below, from the wonderful \u2013 and ethical \u2013 Businessballs.com site, founded by Alan Chapman).<\/p>\n

The various stages of the Transition Curve, (as you can see in his diagram below), are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Anxiety \u2013You don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen next<\/li>\n
  2. Happiness \u2013You are feeling good about the change, that something will happen and change systems and processes that you know don\u2019t work<\/li>\n
  3. Threat \u2013You are unsure about how the change is going to affect you personally<\/li>\n
  4. Fear \u2013You are fearful of the way the change will force you into a new way of thinking, working and behaving.<\/li>\n
  5. Anger\/(Hostility) \u2013anger, frustration, aggression are directed at others, especially those who you believe are responsible for forcing the change and the change in general<\/li>\n
  6. Guilt \u2013 You feel angry with yourself for not having coped as well as you believe you should have; and guilt if you are a survivor or have even prospered in the change whilst others have lost<\/li>\n
  7. Despair\/Depression \u2013You may feel confused and apathetic and really start to wonder \u2018Who am I?\u2019<\/li>\n
  8. Discovery \u2013 innovation and the ability to think and do new things are possible<\/li>\n
  9. Acceptance\/Moving forward \u2013 You begin to make sense of your environment and the change, start exerting more control and make things happen in a positive sense<\/li>\n
  10. New beginnings \u2013 This can work and be good; seeing yourself part of the future<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    But there are also ways off of the curve.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Denial \u2013 which we all recognize: Change? What change?<\/li>\n
    2. Disillusion \u2013 which I often use in a positive sense, because some people will choose for very good reasons (for example the change does not fit with their value system) why they do not want to be part of changed organization and will leave<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Managing people in different stages of transition is different: different approaches; different needs. And individuals and groups may be at different stages to others in the same group or other groups in the organization.<\/p>\n

      To find out where people or groups of people (teams or departments for example) are on the Change Curve, one listens \u2013 because the words people use and the things they say gives clues \u2013 and watches \u2013 because actions also betray where people are.<\/p>\n

      Simple examples of words are:<\/p>\n