When change is about to happen to you, the results can be significant. Maybe you’re expected to get out of your comfort zone, or to completely change the way you’re living your life. Whatever it is, change can be hard and painful, at least in the beginning. Thus, the psychology of change can be complicated, and you should seek to manage the cognitive and behavioral changes from the very beginning. Typically, people go through few stages of change in order to adapt to the new situation. Getting to know these stages can help you deal with your process of change.
The Process of Change
Initial concerns: The threat to deep systems.
Initial reactions: Negative or positive?
The Kübler-Ross grief cycle: The emotional cycle on given bad news.
Shock stage: Initial paralysis at hearing the bad news.
Denial stage: Trying to avoid the inevitable.
Anger stage: Frustrated outpouring of bottled-up emotion.
Bargaining stage: Seeking in vain for a way out.
Depression stage: Final realization of the inevitable.
Testing stage: Seeking realistic solutions.
Acceptance stage: Finally finding the way forward.
The positive change cycle: Even good news has its ups and downs.
Resistance to change: When people push back against the change.
Rationale for resistance: What people tell themselves.
The resistance zoo: The animals and their styles of resistance.
Signs of resistance: Spotting subtle signals of dissent.
How to cause resistance: There are many ways!
Strong and weak commitment: After an agreement, commitment may vary.
In managing the initial announcement, the key is to do just that: manage it. Rather than just announce is, first think about the effects that it will have. Then, stage the communication in a way to have the impact and effect that you desire. In other words, if you’re not communicating it on the right way, the change that seemed easy at first can result in a real mess. Lastly, I personally believe that you got this!
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Reference:
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/change_management/psychology_change/psychology_change.htm