How do changes feel? Very well, every person experiences changes in different forms. The continuous recording of the current mood of each individual employee during changes is a lever for success in order to initiate measures for assistance, if necessary. The change curve can be used for this purpose.
The change curve shows a recurring pattern of experienced change. In seven phases, the perceived own competence as well as also often the associated “fun at work” is presented from the time everyone experiences the changes. The phases of the change curve are explained below, with examples of possible employee thoughts about the time course of a change.
Phase 1: Shock leads to a drop in self-perceived competence: “… I have just learned about the new processes and several new topics that affect me in my daily work. That really can’t be true and the current processes and affected topics are working, aren’t they? I don’t understand and the measures don’t bring anything anyway …”
Phase 2: The rejection, denial and acceptance problems lead to an increase in one’s own perceived competence in opposition to the changes: “… I simply don’t understand the changes and also believe that they can’t be right and are wrong. If I must now change my work here, then I ask myself genuinly whether I made it so wrong so far and thereby it worked nevertheless?! I will try in the coming days and weeks times to show why the changes are not right and do not make sense and work a little more to show how well it currently all works …”
Phase 3: The rational insight reduces the own perceived competence more and more during the confrontation with innovations. “… It’s been a little while now since the changes were introduced, and sometimes I can already see that the new system or the new processes work a little better than the old ones. But there are always problems in the new processes and we have to wait and see if the promised goals can really be achieved with the changes …”
Phase 4: Emotional acceptance, represents the low point in one’s perceived competence and new things are accepted. “… I am now already working a bit in the new processes and procedures and now understand why we replaced the old procedure with this one. It is actually true and I notice that the processes are running better and even though it is unfamiliar, I will incorporate the new instructions into my work once like this and believe that we are making good progress with it …”
Phase 5: Through learning and trial and error, one’s own competence continues to increase “… I understand more and more possibilities that we can implement and realize with the new changes. Even though a lot of things are still new, I am currently trying to incorporate the changes into my existing routines again and again – and it’s working better and better. Even if I still have to ask now and then how things work, the work is getting better and better…”
Phase 6: New insights confirm how new solutions can lead to success and work. “… We have been working with the changes and with the new systems for some time now and I really have to say that I am faster and get more done than before. Likewise, I notice that our customers are also benefiting significantly more with the changes we have now made …”
Phase 7: In the integration of the innovations, the innovations are established as new routines and applied confidently. “… We had some changes some time ago, but I have already fully got used to the new processes and systems and everything is working very well overall. The new way of doing things is now absolutely self-evident in itself and we realize that we could possibly make further improvements that we wouldn’t have even considered before without these innovations …”
