A Simple Framework for Understanding Psychology of Change: The 4 Rooms of Change

The only constant in life is change.- Heraclitus

I really like this quote, as it is full of deep truth. Think of businesses, projects, biology, or the whole galaxy: everything changes. To cope with changes in our environment, we need to learn new things, adapt, and evolve.

Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash

But change is difficult.

When humans face a changing environment their first reaction is fear or resistance. Our ancient brains don’t want things to change.

However, in a world where change happens faster and faster, this is increasingly difficult.

In this article, I want to explore what really happens inside us when we undergo a process of change using the framework of The Four Rooms of Change.

The 4 Rooms of Change

The framework’s basis is similar to Foster’s S-curve innovation. When you face a change at first, it creates uncertainty: What will change? How will the change affect me?

As a result of this uncertainty psychological safety goes down. And so does motivation.

As time passes, we start to find answers to our questions, and we often realize that the changes affect us more deeply than we first expected. This can make us feel even less secure.

Eventually, we hit a low point, often called the “valley of despair.”

At this stage, our motivation is at its lowest. But as the change process goes on, things usually start to make more sense. We begin to see the benefits of the change, adapt to it, and feel our motivation rising again.

Change Curve: Motivation vs. Time during a change project, by the author

The 4 Rooms of Change form, when the diagram is separated into 4 distinct rooms:

1. Habit
2. Resistance
3. Adaptation
4. Renewal

The 4 Rooms of Change: Habit -> Resistance -> Adaptation -> Renewal, by the author

Everybody facing a change process moves through all 4 rooms.

How much resistance you feel depends on how the change affects you personally. For changes you’re strongly committed to, you might only feel a little resistance before quickly bouncing back. But with other changes, you might feel a lot of resistance, struggle to recover, and even decide not to deal with the change at all.

How much someone resists depends on how the change affects them personally. For changes they’re strongly committed to, they might only feel a little resistance before quickly bouncing back. With other changes, they might feel a lot of resistance, struggle to recover, and even decide not to deal with the change at all.

Why is this framework useful?

As written in the introduction, change is omnipresent. We face it daily. And everywhere.

Especially in business, change management is important because it’s a key part of every innovation process or project. In the following, I’ll focus on change projects from a business perspective.

And how does the framework help?

Its simplicity makes it very helpful. By identifying which “room” a person experiencing change is in, you can take the right steps to support them and help them handle the change better.

Applying the framework

What to focus on in each room?

• Habit: When someone is in the room of habit, it is important to make them aware that the change will come. A good strategy is to create a sense of urgency, but also some desire.
• Resistance: People in resistance need to be allowed to share their thoughts and securely work with resistance and invite people to explore the future.
• Adaptation: The best thing to do is to fuel their energy & confidence with success-building experiences (”quick wins”).
• Renewal: The objective is to keep people in this room. You can reinforce the belief in the value of the change.

Different types of people in a change project

In every change project, there are different types of people involved. There are those who are open to change and even embrace it, there are those who don’t want the change and there are indifferent people.

In a change project, it is helpful to identify the different groups to adjust your communication and change strategy. In general, there are 7 different personas:

1. The missionary: These are highly committed people who not only want to change but also convince others that the change is good. These are your best allies if you need to implement a change.
2. The believer: Believers are open to change, but they’re not deeply invested enough to persuade others to join. However, with some effort, some of them could be converted into missionaries.
3. The members of the lip service: These are people who act similarly to believers but don’t participate in the change project.
4. The hiders and refugees: This group isn’t interested in the change. They are not participating, but are also not working openly against the change.
5. The honest opponent: Opponents who are honest openly oppose the change and try to convince others of their views. Because they are honest, they can be helpful for open discussions and adjusting a change project. If you talk to them openly, you might convince them to support the change (perhaps with some adjustments), and they could become believers or even missionaries.
6. The members of the underground resistance: They are opponents who work in stealth mode and try to convince others that the change is bad. It is a dangerous group that is hard to deal with as they operate with guerrilla tactics.
7. The emigrant: They are not involved in the change at all.

And where should you focus your energy?

It is important to find allies first. So asking some believers to become missionaries can be a multiplicator for the success of a change project. But also honest opponents can be helpful. They know where a change project has issues and are willing to talk openly about it.

Don’t try to convince the emigrants. These people are indifferent - some of them might already have resigned internally.

Additional details to keep in mind

• Stakeholder Map: A tool that can be particularly helpful in a change project is a Stakeholder Map. Draw a diagram with “commitment to the change” on the x-axis and “influence of the stakeholder” on the y-axis. Then think of the core stakeholders in the project and place them on the diagram.
• Win allies: If you need to facilitate a change project, your first step is to find allies. Who is on the top right corner of your Stakeholder Map? If you don’t have allies yet, what can you do to move influential people to the top right corner of the map?
• Don’t overcommit your resources: Don’t deal with the “emigrants” in a change project. To convince them to change takes immense effort. Focus your time and energy on other person groups!
• Change Fatigue: Change requires energy. Moving from habit via resistance and adaptation to renewal costs energy. So, if you’re in a position to drive change in your organization, avoid pushing too many changes at once. If you do, people may experience change fatigue, leading to a particularly difficult resistance phase.

A quick starter

• Stay authentic.
• Make your message and listen actively.
• Focus on your circle of influence.
• Enable others to act.
• Work on structures and processes.
• Be always aware: you act as a role model.

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Thank you for reading my article on the “4 Rooms of Change”. I picked up the method in a leadership seminar I recently attended. It is based on the 5 stages of grief by Kübler-Ross.