It can be seen from my transition curve that it is
important for all of us to understand the impact that change will have on our
own personal construct systems; and for us to be able to work through the
implications for our self-perception. Any change, no matter how small, has the
potential to impact on an individual and may generate conflict between existing
values and beliefs and anticipated altered ones.
One danger for the individual, team and organisation
occurs when an individual persists in operating a set of practices
that have been consistently shown to fail (or result in an undesirable
consequence) in the past and that do not help extend and elaborate their
world-view. Another danger area is that
of denial where people maintain operating as they always have denying that
there is any change at all. Both
of these can have detrimental impact on an organisation trying to change the
culture and focus of its people.
Anxiety
The awareness that events lie outside one's range of
understanding or control. I believe the problem here is that individuals are
unable to adequately picture the future. They do not have enough information to
allow them to anticipate behaving in a different way within the new
organization. They are unsure how to adequately construe acting in the new work
and social situations.
Happiness
The awareness that one's viewpoint is recognised and
shared by others. The impact of this is two-fold. At the basic level there is a
feeling of relief that something is going to change, and not continue as
before. Whether the past is perceived positively or negatively, there is still
a feeling of anticipation, and possibly excitement, at the prospect of
improvement. On another level, there is the satisfaction of knowing that some
of your thoughts about the old system were correct (generally no matter how
well we like the status quo, there is something that is unsatisfactory about
it) and that something is going to be done about it. In this phase we generally
expect the best and anticipate a bright future, placing our own construct
system onto the change and seeing ourselves succeeding. One of the dangers in
this phase is that of the inappropriate psychological contract. We may perceive
more to the change, or believe we will get more from the change than is
actually the case. The organization needs to manage this phase and ensure
unrealistic expectations are managed and redefined in the organizations terms,
without alienating the individual.
Fear
The awareness of an imminent incidental change in
one's core behavioural system. People will need to act in a different manner and
this will have an impact on both their self-perception and on how others
externally see them. However, in the main, they see little change in their
normal interactions and believe they will be operating in much the same way,
merely choosing a more appropriate, but new, action.
Threat
The awareness of an imminent comprehensive change in
one's core behavioural structures. Here clients perceive a major lifestyle
change, one that will radically alter their future choices and other people's
perception of them. They are unsure as to how they will be able to act/react in
what is, potentially, a totally new and alien environment - one where the 'old
rules' no longer apply and there are no 'new' ones established as yet.
Guilt
Awareness of dislodgement of self from one's core self-perception.
Once the individual begins exploring their self-perception, how they
acted/reacted in the past and looking at alternative interpretations they begin
to re-define their sense of self. This, generally, involves identifying what
are their core beliefs and how closely they have been to meeting them.
Recognition of the inappropriateness of their previous actions and the
implications for them as people can cause guilt as they realise the impact of
their behaviour.
Depression
This phase is characterised by a general lack of
motivation and confusion. Individuals are uncertain as to what the future holds
and how they can fit into the future 'world'. Their representations are
inappropriate and the resultant undermining of their core sense of self leaves
them adrift with no sense of identity and no clear vision of how to operate.
Disillusionment
The awareness that your values, beliefs and goals are
incompatible with those of the organization. The pitfalls associated with this
phase are that the employee becomes unmotivated, unfocused and increasingly
dissatisfied and gradually withdraws their labour, either mentally (by just
'going through the motions', doing the bare minimum, actively undermining the
change by criticising/complaining) or physically by resigning.
Hostility
Continued effort to validate social predictions that
have already proved to be a failure. The problem here is that individual's
continue to operate processes that have repeatedly failed to achieve a
successful outcome and are no longer part of the new process or are surplus to
the new way of working. The new processes are ignored at best and actively
undermined at worst.
Denial
This stage is defined by a lack of acceptance of any
change and denies that there will be any impact on the individual. People keep
acting as if the change has not happened, using old practices and processes and
ignoring evidence or information contrary to their belief systems.
By Grant Stanley 2018
www.grantstanley.co.uk
www.grantstanley.co.uk
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