The Process of Transition

The New Year is not so new any­more and you may be feel­ing it. Last week we intro­duced the Stages of Change model as a way to accept your inabil­ity to keep a res­o­lu­tion, and the ben­e­fits of try­ing again. While it’s true we all expe­ri­ence set­backs while try­ing to make changes, if we accept them and return to our ini­tial com­mit­ment, over time we will make the change we resolved to make.

Dur­ing this cycle of suc­ceed­ing for a time, fail­ing, and then suc­ceed­ing again, you will feel many emo­tions. The “Process of Tran­si­tion” model by John M. Fisher, may help you bet­ter under­stand some of those emo­tions. See if you can relate to these steps:

1. Anx­i­ety – You don’t really know what’s going to hap­pen next, and you aren’t sure what your change will really look like at this point.
2. Hap­pi­ness – You’ve com­mit­ted to the change, and you are feel­ing really good about it.
3. Fear – Self-perception is chang­ing, and you’re not sure of who you are at this point or if the change is pos­si­ble and you may even ques­tion if it’s a good change
4. Threat/Relapse – You’re just not sure how to be a new per­son and some of your actions no longer seem con­sis­tent. You may relapse into your old habits with­out think­ing about it, or out of a need to feel in-control again
5. Guilt – You may feel guilty over a relapse, but more likely, you feel guilty that you ever picked up ‘such a bad habit’ to begin with – you may feel guilty for things you have or haven’t done.
6. Depres­sion – You may feel con­fused and really start to won­der ‘who you are.’

From here you will choose one of three roads:

• Disillusionment/Defeat – Giv­ing up
• Grad­ual Acceptance
• Hos­til­ity to self, oth­ers, or the change in general

See the dia­gram:
http://www.businessballs.com/ProcessofchangeJF2003.pdf

See the dia­gram as adapted for those quit­ting smok­ing: http://www.businessballs.com/freepdfmaterials/fisherchangemodel_smokingadaptationmay.pdf

Obvi­ously, the best choice is Accep­tance. Those who can rec­on­cile their past actions with their desire to change can suc­ceed in mak­ing per­ma­nent, pos­i­tive changes.

Here’s to you for your efforts to change.

Based on work by: John M Fisher 2000 updated 2003 (dis­il­lu­sion­ment stage added)
As found on: http://www.scribd.com/doc/34696244/Employee-Motivation’