The change curve, explained
Change is a constant in business. As a manager, understanding how people react to change is key to guiding your team through transitions. The Change Curve is a powerful model that maps out the emotional journey people go through when faced with change.
The Change Curve has its roots in Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's work on the five stages of grief. While the curve was initially used to describe how people cope with death and tragedy, it's been adapted to many other contexts, including how employees handle organizational change.
Let’s take a look at the curve.
Change curve management model diagram
Click the image to see a larger version.
Resistance to change
When a big change is announced, expect initial resistance.
People often start in Denial, refusing to acknowledge the change. Perhaps it won’t happen. There must be some mistake. They’ll believe it when they see it. They’re ‘too busy for this right now.’ Or they seem to listen, but they aren’t actively engaged: ‘OK, I see. Well. Thanks for letting me know.’
Then come other negative reactions, like Anger, Fear, and Bargaining come next - "this change is terrible, I'm afraid of what it means, maybe I can avoid it." These are normal human responses to a perceived threat. Your job is to listen empathetically while still moving things forward. Properly processed, these feelings ultimately burn out into a kind of grudging, depressed acceptance - “well, there’s nothing I can do about it… even though I obviously still don’t like it.”
Moving towards acceptance
Once people have overcome their initial wave of resistance, they’re able to make some tentative moves towards acceptance.
This often starts with gentle Exploration - "maybe there are some positives to this change – I suppose it couldn’t hurt to give it a go." With support, and building confidence from inital experiments, people can then move into Commitment, making a decision to embrace the new reality as best they can.
Finally, they reach Integration, fully adopting the change into their work and mindset. Your role is to encourage experimentation, boost confidence, and cement the new behaviours.
Supporting teams through change
One key takeaway for managers is that your emphasis will need to change as you shepherd others’ through a change process.
Your initial ‘announcement’ may seem to fall on surprisingly deaf ears, as your audience internally downplays the change or flinches from fully thinking through the implications: classic denial. During the very early stages you will need to communicate gently but frequently to emphasise what’s coming next. Use facts, figures and details that clearly provide context for your decision-making. Note, though, your thoughtful consistent communication might seem less-than-helpful as it’s likely to be rewarded with….
…resistance! But don’t forget, as the change curve teaches us, pushback is a sign that people are starting to move out of denial and are now really grappling with reality. This is a time to use your emotional intelligence and listen deeply. Encourage open dialogue to surface fears, objections and sources of resistance, clarify misunderstandings, and stay responsive to feedback.
As resistance ebbs, it’s time to build ways for your team to explore the new reality. Allow time to experiment with new behaviours and processes in a low-risk way, and involve the team in shaping implementation of the change to build ownership. (Remember, autonomy is a major motivator and this can often be threatened when change is ‘foisted upon’ a team from above, so designing in some optionality around the details is a good way to counterbalance this.) You could also consider the different learning styles, team roles and social styles of your team members to assess how they might most enthusiastically explore this new territory.
Finally, it’s time to turn exploration into commitment and integration. Highlight early wins and signs of progress to build momentum and confidence, and celebrate the individuals leading the charge. Revisit those earlier facts and figures to show how the change is making the desired difference, reinforcing the underlying rationale and painting an exciting vision of the future.
Alas, the Change Curve is not always a linear path. People may get stuck in resistance or slip backward.
In essence, this model is a playbook for change leadership. By diagnosing where people are on the curve, managers can deploy the most effective interventions to help them progress. The overarching insight is that people need different things at different stages.
Upfront, it's about breaking through denial, processing loss and overcoming resistance. Heavy doses of empathy, communication and involvement are key. Then as momentum builds, it shifts to enabling implementation through skilling up, experimentation and quick wins. Motivation and confidence become the priority.
There are examples of the change curve, everywhere you look
The change curve was first invented to characterise the grieving process, and has since been applied to change in organisations – but once you know about the change curve, you might start spotting it everywhere.
Paradoxically, even when the change is positive, and even when it’s a change we ourselves have initiated, we can find similar tensions at play.
Consider someone who has recently received a sought-after promotion. As they get to grips with their new role, they often travel from a happy-go-lucky state of ‘unconscious incompetence’ to an effortless state of ‘unconscious competence’ – but only via a valley of self-doubt and frustration. The underlying U-shape of the change curve is plain to see.
These changes are often important to be mindful of whem supporting others. After all, when we’re dealing with a change we readily identify as negative, our unpleasant emotions make sense and are easier to identify. But if we find ourselves oddly discomfited, despondent, or grieving for ‘the way things were’ in response to what appears to be good fortune, we can end up feeling bewildered into the bargain. (So: check in on your luckiest friend a few months after their most recent triumph!)
When adopting a new process or technology that’s largely expected to be brilliant, a similar trough of disillusionment often occurs as we realise the reality is more complex than we initially hoped. On a society or industry-wide level, this is well-illustrated by the Gartner Hype Cycle:
Image: Jeremykemp at English Wikipedia
Even social dynamics can follow the change curve. For instance, according to Tuckman’s stages of team development, teams must move through some difficult ‘storming and ‘norming’ process in order to become their best-performing selves.
And if that’s not enough, even life itself sees us on a change curve (the change being existence itself, I suppose) where our happiness is highest on each end of life.
Chart: Washington Post
So when dealing with change in your own life – whether positive or negative, chosen by you or forced upon you – or simply dealing with life itself, keep the change curve in mind! There are moments when anger, loss and fear are inevitable, but remember: the only way out is through the valley.
Keep going!
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