| Elisabeth Kubler-Ross was a Swiss physician | | | | me..." |
| researcher who undertook seminal work on the grief | | | | (2) Anger - Once the realisation that that denial cannot |
| process. Many regard her as the mother of the | | | | continue then anger sets in: "Why me? It's not fair!"; |
| modern hospice movement. | | | | Who is to blame?" |
| The Kubler-Ross model, was first introduced in her | | | | (3) Bargaining - This stage involves the hope that the |
| 1969 book "On Death and Dying" in which she | | | | individual can somehow postpone or delay the |
| describes five stages of emotional and psychological | | | | inevitable... "Just give me a bit longer... just let me finish.... |
| response to grief, tragedy and catastrophic loss. | | | | " |
| In case you are wondering what all this has to with | | | | (4) Depression - During this fourth stage, the person |
| change management and strategies for managing | | | | begins to understand the certainty of what is going to |
| change, the connection is quite simply that although it | | | | happen:" What's the point? I can't go on?" |
| was originally used to describe the cycle of emotional | | | | (5) Acceptance - This final stage comes with a |
| changes experienced by the terminally ill, her model | | | | measure of peace and acceptance of the inevitable. |
| [though evolved within a clinical environment] was | | | | "It's going to be okay... can't fight it, I may as well |
| found to have a far wider application to people | | | | prepare for it." |
| experiencing any bad news. | | | | The importance and significance of "The change roller |
| So the wider business significance of her work has | | | | coaster" model is that it highlights very clearly the |
| been the realisation that people go through similar | | | | emotional terrain that your staff are likely to |
| responses when faced with lesser - but still significant | | | | experience, and the necessity for clear yet |
| changes in their working and personal lives. | | | | compassionate leadership - and especially through the |
| The major significance of her model - which is also | | | | initial phases of the change management process. |
| known as "The Change Roller Coaster" - is that it | | | | This is where the key processes in a programme |
| maps the emotional responses that your staff are | | | | based approach to change [e.g.Stakeholder Mapping |
| likely to experience if or when you announce a major | | | | and Analysis and the Communications Strategy] are |
| step-change and especially if [as in the current climate] | | | | so critical to addressing this important dimension. |
| this is likely to contain bad news. | | | | And this is where the properly applied change model |
| In summary, the 5 stages of the model are: | | | | and leadership skills are exercised to best effect when |
| (1) Denial - This is usually a temporary initial response | | | | employing the holistic and wide view perspective of a |
| along the lines of: "I feel fine... this can't be happening to | | | | programme based approach to change management. |