If we are the person leading a team of people through a period of change we need to understand how everyone travels through this process, and work out how we will need to support them differently at the different stages of the process. During the elation phase, we need to inspire change; provide a vision for the future and give people a clear understanding of what the future will look like: what they will be doing, how the change will happen and when it will happen by.

During the fear stage, we should spend time listening to any fears that people express. Once we have given our team members the chance to express their concerns, provide reassurance or solve the problems. It is easy to spend too much time talking and not enough time listening.

People create barriers in their minds that they need to express; these are often emotional rather than rational. Providing logical arguments back without listening will not reduce these concerns. Remember that we have two ears and one mouth for a reason.

During the depression phase, we need to keep listening, clarify goals and build solutions to help meet milestones. We need to re-engage the team with the reason for the change and keep focusing on the benefits of the new state.