Change. An emotional process.

Author: Andrew Northmore – Director

Thinking of installing a new accounting package? Purchasing an expensive piece of plant or equipment? Implementing Six-Sigma or Lean Manufacturing? Launching a new product or embarking on a new business?

All of these projects will involve a great deal of change for your organisation – whether they are a success or not will come down to a number of factors like leadership, communication, motivation, decision making, planning and risk analysis.

But appreciating the emotional aspects of the change process can also significantly improve your chances of success.

Any challenge, whether business related or personal (e.g. running a marathon or sticking to a diet) goes through a number of emotional stages. Understanding the emotional stages can help you develop strategies and tactics to overcome problems, combat resistance and negativity, improve morale, remove road-blocks, communicate effectively and generally engender a “can-do” positive attitude.

What follows is the Emotional Cycle of Change (first introduced to me by Kaufman Consulting Group). At the start of a project everyone is positive and optimistic – mainly because it is new and they don’t know what lies ahead. After the honeymoon period the optimism starts to give way to pessimism as team members start to realise the enormity of the task facing them. As pessimism grows, the project goes through a critical phase where some projects can fail. If you can get through this phase, the team starts to become more realistic and optimistic and the chances of success are improved when this informed optimism takes over. At this stage, you are very close to a successful completion of the project.

Download the full article with examples Emotional Cycle of Change.