The Seven Stages of change
Stage 6: EXTEND
Gaining Acceptance
One successful trial of a planned change may disappear without a trace in a year or two unless it comes to be accepted by the system as a whole. Fortunately, there is a very large body of research on how organizations and societies adopt innovations. Any change agent should be aware of the salient findings of research, including both the predictable processes at individual, group, and system levels.
Widening the Circle of Acceptance
Real change does not result from a single trial, however successful. We can only say real “change” has happened when it is continued. When it is repeated at the same place and different places, and when we can extend these actions and their benefits to an ever-widening circle of others. The preceding five stages identified procedures that the change agent should follow in preparing for a program of change.
These early phases included:
- Delineating a concern, what seems to be disturbing the status quo
- Establishing a working relationship between change agent and client
- Working with the client system to change the concern into a diagnosis
- Acquiring information and resources that match the problem(s)
- Deciding on a potential solution and giving it a successful trial
At this point the groundwork has been laid for the actual installation of the innovation in the client system. Now is the time for transforming the trial into a successful system-wide change. It is in this stage that you find out whether or not you have a workable solution that can be accepted and used effectively by all the members of the client system.
EXTEND Sub-Stages: Five Things for the Change Agent to Consider
In the main sections of Stage 6, we will consider five inter-related issues:
- 6.1 How individuals accept innovations
- 6.2 How groups accept innovations
- 6.3 How to go deeper: solidifying adoption
- 6.4 How to go wider: diffusion strategies
- 6.5 How to orchestrate multiple diffusion strategies
- 6.6 How to extend and stay flexible
- 6.1 Acceptance by the individual
During the period of installation, each individual who will be involved in the change program must be allowed to become familiar with the innovation. Each person must learn how to use it and must come to accept it as a part of their routine behavior.
This process usually follows a six-step sequence:
Awareness —> Interest —> Evaluation —> Trial —> Adoption —> Integration
The change agent can play a key role in helping at each step.
- 6.2 Acceptance by the group – People typically accept change as members of social groups, i.e., family, neighborhood, school, community. How innovation is adopted by larger social unit is related to individual adoption, with important differences. The change agent has a big role to play in facilitating acceptance by these larger entities.
- 6.3 How to go deeper: Solidifying adoption – Repetition, re-adaptation, and integration into the on-going life of the user system are all necessary to solidify the adoption of anything new. Both technical and administrative support must be established, and the innovation must come to be seen as “just part of the way we do things around here.”
- 6.4 How to go wider: Diffusion strategies – The key to gaining wider acceptance lies in how well the new ideas are communicated. The relevant “facts” about the innovation must be conveyed to the relevant audiences clearly and accurately. In addition to the “facts,” you as the change agent must effectively convey your support and approval as attempts are made to carry out the change plan.
- 6.5 How to orchestrate multiple diffusion strategies – Gaining acceptance of something new is somewhat like a campaign for political office. It requires many different strategies to reach different potential adopters or users. Timing is crucial, for example: when is the best time to put forward a broadcast or send out a mailer? Who should be targeted and by what medium? How important is it to repeat the message on multiple media? A “campaign” is an orchestration of multiple media directed at multiple audiences over a period of time.
- 6.6 How to extend and stay flexible – You can’t think of everything. There are unforeseen contingencies. It may be that a change in plans is forced by external events, or the original concern is trumped by another concern. In any case, the change agent must be willing to review and reassess any or all aspects of a change program, including the choice of the innovation itself. Therefore, every effort should be made to prepare a schedule that is flexible as well as schematic, a difficult but crucial balance to strike.
Review the full chapter for Stage 6 in The Guide for in depth guidance for each EXTEND sub-stage.
What the Change Agent Needs to Know Most in the EXTEND Stage
A successful trial run of any significant change project is a triumph to be savored, but it is just the beginning of system change. A lot more needs to be done to secure adoption of the trial, and even more needs to be done to spread the effect and the adoption across a larger and larger segment of the client system.
There are two basic ways to view how extended adoption works. There is a predictable individual process by which people as individuals adopt something new, which we might also call the psychology of adoption, and, of equal importance, there is the group process, which we might call the sociology of adoption. Under the latter we also discussed the pros and cons of specific tactics of moving groups toward acceptance and adoption. All these tactics need to be put together with our knowledge about individual adoption to orchestrate an overall strategy, keeping in mind that any strategy, however carefully laid out, must be flexible, allowing a change of course or even a move to an alternative plan .
Get Your Free Chapter of The Change Agent's Guide
To learn more about the seven stages of change, download your free book excerpt including the first two chapters of The Change Agent's Guide.
