When on the improvement journey it is important to pay lots of attention to the human elements of change, as they are the most commonly cited reasons that improvement journeys fail.
Watch the video below from our Black Maternity Matters project for an introduction to the human dimensions change.
The video introduces two models to help you understand how people react to change — Roger’s Innovation Adoption Curve, and the Kübler-Ross change curve.
Roger’s Innovation Adoption Curve
Be prepared to listen carefully to those WHO are reticent about the need for change (often from the ‘late majority’ or ‘laggard’ groups) as they can often skilfully articulate important reasons why immediate action is unwise or potentially unsafe. Often these groups can help to develop improvement measures that can be used to detect whether a change is really an improvement or not. When they can see that their concerns have been taken seriously they often become keen supporters of the improvement process.
The Kübler-Ross change curve
People will move through the change curve at different speeds, and may even move back and forth between emotions as time goes by. Maintaining good lines of communication and using empathy will help to understand how people are reacting to change.
Communication
Successful improvement is achieved through motivating people to change and so it is crucial to communicate well. Good communication does not just occur by itself, it has to be built into your approach right from the start. Even if you do this well, it is likely that at certain times in your improvement journey you will need to pay much more attention to communication than you initially thought. Read more about planning your communications.
Successful improvement is achieved through motivating people to change and so it is crucial to communicate well. Good communication does not just occur by itself, it has to be built into your approach right from the start. Even if you do this well, it is likely that at certain times in your improvement journey you will need to pay much more attention to communication than you initially thought.
Using behavioural science
The video below from the Black Maternity Matters project gives an introduction to using behavioural science to support you in exploring the human dimensions of change.
Find out more by reading the full EAST framework. The Barrier Identification Tool can help you if you are stuck.
