{"id":481,"date":"2013-05-13T01:00:08","date_gmt":"2013-05-13T01:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.resourcezoneinternational.com\/?p=481"},"modified":"2022-12-09T10:20:15","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T00:20:15","slug":"coping-with-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.resourcezone.com.au\/?p=481","title":{"rendered":"Coping with Change in the Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Coping<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the key things I have learnt over the years is that every individual will deal with change differently. Their course of action will depend not only on the person (and his or her skills and temperament) but on the situation he or she is facing, and how major it is. In many cases, individuals get caught-up in change very quickly and then try to cope on a just-in-time basis, using tactics that are often invented on the spot. Although these can sometimes work, most often they don\u2019t. There are a number of well thought-through approaches and models that have been developed over the years to help us understand the psychology of change and how we might better cope with it. Three of the ones I use are described below.<\/p>\n

Kurt Lewin<\/h3>\n

Kurt Lewin\u2019s simple three-step approach, still popular since being put forward in the 1940s, says that we must first overcome the inertia that we confront when attempting to change something.
\n\"Coping<\/a>Lewin explains that people\u2019s mindsets are \u201cfrozen\u201d around the current approach (\u201cwe\u2019ve always done it that way\u201d).<\/p>\n

So first<\/strong>, we have to dismantle the existing structures that reinforce the status quo \u2013 what he called the process of \u201cunfreezing,\u201d showing, for example, how or why something isn\u2019t working well, creating an awareness of a better possibility.<\/p>\n

Secondly<\/strong>, we have to introduce the change \u2013 we can\u2019t simply let go of something secure and try to grasp nothing; there must be a new way, new approach, or new structure to grab hold of. We also have to expect that the change experience will typically be confusing and uncertain. We don\u2019t know how things work, processes are unfamiliar, and unexpected challenges or issues will confront us.<\/p>\n

Thirdly<\/strong>, we have to then \u201cre-freeze\u201d mindsets around the new approach; we don\u2019t want the old ways returning, so it\u2019s vital that the new approach is embedded and locked in. This is usually accomplished by reinforcement thinking at a personal level and by creating supporting teams and individuals who can support one another and avoid backsliding. Ideally, people then come to internalize the new approach.<\/p>\n

Elisabeth K\u00fcbler-Ross<\/h3>\n

Elisabeth K\u00fcbler-Ross became well-known for her work on grief, especially her 1969 book, On Death and Dying, in which she introduced the stages people typically go through when grieving. The stages she identified can also be applied to what we do in life and include loss of familiar ways of doing things, change in responsibilities, team members and friends leaving, etc. Even when there is something new to work with and new opportunities, it is typical for us to grieve what we\u2019ve had to let go of.<\/p>\n

K\u00fcbler-Ross identified five stages of grief: Denial\u2026Anger\u2026Bargaining\u2026Depression\u2026Acceptance. Later work applied her work to any major change, but added other steps in the process, such as the initial \u201cshock\u201d phase and the addition of an \u201cExperiment\u201d phase. These extra steps are shown in the diagram below:<\/p>\n

\"copingwithchange3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jeff Hiatt<\/h3>\n

Unlike Lewin and Kubler-Ross, who both attempted to identity how the change process works, Jeff Hiatt\u2019s AKDAR model (put forward in his 2006 book ADKAR: a Model for Change in Business, Government and our Community: How to Implement Successful Change in our Personal Lives and Professional Careers presents 5 building blocks that individuals can use to deal with personal change or help others to manage a change.<\/p>\n

Hiatt\u2019s \u201cAKDAR\u201d model:<\/h5>\n
    \n
  • Building A<\/strong>wareness of why the change is needed<\/li>\n
  • Developing K<\/strong>nowledge of how to change<\/li>\n
  • Creating D<\/strong>esire to support and participate<\/li>\n
  • Fostering A<\/strong>bility to implement new skills, behaviours<\/li>\n
  • Providing R<\/strong>einforcements to sustain the change<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The AKDAR model is a useful reminder about how important it is for us to take an intentional and positive approach to change processes, so that change becomes a reality and the break with the past is clear.<\/p>\n

    So what can we say about coping with change in summary?<\/h4>\n

    In general, all three of the above models have some common themes about change. Things like it being a journey or progression, occurring in clear stages, breaking with the past way of doing things, beginning with developing awareness of why change is needed.<\/p>\n

    Knowledge about how to change and fostering this ability are vital to: a) building one\u2019s own or others\u2019 confidence in the new approach and b) embedding the new way in their behaviour. Once people are acting a certain way they are able to take ownership of the approach \u2013 it\u2019s much more real than simply hearing about an idea or concept.<\/p>\n

    Of course, in some change processes there will be those who simply cannot or will not make the change. This becomes a challenging situation \u2013 how long do you try to help them and at what point do they make the decision for themselves that they simply won\u2019t be staying with you on this journey? This is not a question with a \u201cone-size-fits-all\u201d solution. Some people need longer to process the change, but you can only move at the pace of the slowest member for so long. If you\u2019re genuinely trying to help individuals (not simply force them into agreeing), most people will at least try to understand. The support and encouragement of others is vital in these circumstances. But at some point people must be part of the new way or they cannot remain part of the future. Part of breaking with the past is making this point clear to people \u2013 and treating those who won\u2019t make the journey of change with dignity and respect. Not being willing to change doesn\u2019t make someone a difficult or \u201cbad\u201d person, and everyone has the right to make those decisions \u2013 but of course such decisions have consequences.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    One of the key things I have learnt over the years is that every individual will deal with change differently. Their course of action will depend not only on the person (and his or her skills and temperament) but on the situation he or she is facing, and how major it is. In many cases,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-change-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.resourcezone.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.resourcezone.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.resourcezone.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.resourcezone.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.resourcezone.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=481"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blog.resourcezone.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5019,"href":"https:\/\/blog.resourcezone.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481\/revisions\/5019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.resourcezone.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.resourcezone.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.resourcezone.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.resourcezone.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}