Changes at work like mourning after death? “Shock, Denial, Anger, Acceptance”
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s model describes the emotional stages that people often experience when facing their own death or the death of a loved one. It turns out that the same curves and points may also refer to other difficult life transitions, such as changes in organization, which may cause shock at the first stage.
Let’s imagine that we go outside the house and see that our car has disappeared. Our first instinct is to be confused and not understand what has happened. Then comes the moment of denial. Suddenly we realize that it is true and anger appears – we want to punish the thief, but we start to feel that this will not change the situation. Eventually we feel helpless and withdraw.
We have no choice but to accept the situation in order to finally solve the problem, i.e. go to the police, give a statement, contact the insurance company…
Now imagine how an employee feels when he comes to work in the morning and doesn’t find his desk? What if someone takes away the status quo, control, or time while adding responsibilities?
We wrongly assume that the statement “new things are coming” should be met with uncritical enthusiasm. It’s like expecting a plant to grow beautifully if we stand over it and say “grow” instead of nurturing it.
