Four Rooms of Change
In principle I don’t write about my work (in the desperate attempt to keep bread-earning and books separate), but I stumbled over the “four rooms of change” theory thanks to my new internal consultant job and feel in a missionary mood – this stuff is really interesting.
The four rooms of change were conceived in the 70ties by a Swedish psychologist named Claes F. Janssen and his original can be found here.
The idea was then “plagiarized”, as Janssen says, into the “change house model”, which is explained (for example) here.
Anyway, I am not a psychologist and not deeply into the matter and my comments about it below are those of a lay-woman. Nevertheless, I think I represent the “corporate” level of theories like that and would like to say a few words about it from the non-psychologist, non-scientific, practical, “shop-floor” level point of view. I’m someone “out there” in the corporate business world, dealing with organizational development and the pains of change every day.
So, here is what these four rooms of change are about from my lay-woman perspective.
Before change occurs you are happy (hopefully) in the room of Contentment where you know what you are dealing with, where you are familiar with the events that occur. Then change happens in whatever form. For example big organizations (at least the company I work for) LOVE to change their organizational structures in the never ending effort to make things better (“better” from whose perspective is a totally different topic, more on that below).
Change is initiated, people drop out of their comfort zone and plunge into the room of Denial. People are overwhelmed by the change and their initial reaction is “not with me!” If things go bad they stay in the dungeon of denial – in the corporate world that usually means people quit the company or at least change departments.
Next comes the stage of confusion, you somehow get over the denial, but are still confused and in danger of landing in the “pit of paralysis”. The main slogan here is “I’m not the right person”. In corporate terms also this means that people are in danger of quitting their jobs or at least changing departments.
The big question then is how to raise people out of Denial and Confusion to Renewal where the new ideas (the change) take root. In the Renewal phase you are supposed to receive “aha” revelations. Though you still might not believe that all this is the right way to go, you gain a positive mindset and a “we can do it” attitude and implement the change. Once that is done, you return to the room of Contentment – until the next round of change occurs…
In my job I find plenty of departments and teams which are stuck in the Denial or the Confusion phase. Managers are desperate for their subordinates to please understand why this or that change is happening. What people recommend needs to be done to get out of the Denial room is for the boss to talk to every single subordinate and clarify his/her questions. In the Confusion phase people recommend training of the group that is in the process of change with the goal to elevate them to the phase of Renewal.
The trouble I see with these four rooms of change in a corporate environment though is the nature of the changes that are usually being implemented top-down. The model does not work when the change that throws you out of your comfort zone is “bad”. If the change only serves the interests of a few (bosses higher up), the process will not lead back to Contentment or better to say only to Contentment for a few.
To me the four rooms of change seem very true, I see them every day, however, the nature and contents of the change is an all decisive factor that will determine whether the change process has any chance of ever reaching the Renewal stage or not. It would be nice if all change was positive, but unfortunately we do not live in an altruistic world where everybody has only the best intentions… Many, too many, of the changes I see in the corporate world are driven by whatsoever ambitions of a few alpha-animals who want to bend the rules to their personal advantage. Who plays along might reach the stage of Renewal together with the ruthless initiator of the change, who does not play along quits, or just keeps his/her mouth shut, or howls with the alpha-animals.
One way or the other, I am grateful that my new job exposes me to such ideas (great food for thought); I did not encounter them when I was still planning and number crunching. 
