Maturity in the Moment is how your actions affect others around you as well as yourself. And in times of change, these actions intensify. Notice that Selfish and Independent fall below the dotted line. The best leaders will avoid these levels when dealing with someone who is already there. Assuming negative intent may pull leaders below the … Read more
Now that we’ve looked at each phase of the Kubler-Ross Change Curve in detail, let’s apply it to a real life situation. It’s 8:20 AM and you’re already late for work, but it’s your turn to bring the Friday bagels for your team. They’re expecting it. So you turn left instead of right, calculating in your … Read more
The final two phases in the Kubler-Ross Change Curve are Experiment and Decision. If you look at the curve, you’ll notice these two phases are on the upswing, following the lowest point, the Depression phase, or Moment of Resignation. The Experiment phase is the initial engagement with the change. You don’t have their buy-in yet, … Read more
Change is inevitable, and for creatures of habit, change is hard. Yet, it’s also necessary. No one deals with all changes well, but there comes a moment in every change cycle when we must make a choice: accept the change or walk away. We call this the “Moment of Resignation.” The Moment of Resignation comes … Read more
The first reaction on the Kubler-Ross Change Curve is Denial. This piece is characterized by disbelief and evidence the change isn’t true. Comments from people in this phase can include: “There must be a mistake.” “That’s not possible.” “Are you sure you understood correctly, because that doesn’t seem right.” “No way. This can’t be happening.” Oftentimes, … Read more
We are creatures of habit, yet we experience change in every facet of our lives. Some of these changes are good, some aren’t, but regardless of where the changes fall on the spectrum, they all require a mental shift. In her ground-breaking book Death and Dying, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross discusses the stages of grief. She identified five non-linear … Read more
A brief one today; a reflection on three quotes I heard in the Cy Wakeman interview for The Leader Campus. “Change is only hard for the unready.” “Stay in a state of preparedness.” “Stop saying ‘I know change is hard.’” I need to add these thoughts to my rumination on The Psychology of Change. Change … Read more
“What if feedback were so frequent that performance reviews became irrelevant?” This is one of my tweets from awhile back. I don’t have the data anymore, but it was the most re-tweeted tweet of my entire tweeting career. It struck a nerve. At the recent Professional Development Conference for the Central Iowa Chapter of the … Read more
Two weeks ago, I wrote about Scott Raecker’s water obsession. I also said there were two big things he shared at 90 Ideas. Here’s the other, and it’s timely, because New Year’s resolutions are coming in just a few weeks… To make change stick, you need four ingredients. Clearly communicate the expectations of the change. … Read more
People who speak out tend to be willing to volunteer bold ideas, even if it will put their credibility on the line. If we hold back and play it safe to preserve our credibility, we can make mistakes. I was part of a hiring committee for a non-profit leadership position once. One of the finalists, … Read more