Describe Lewin’s Three-Step Model for leading change.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The three-step model is the starting point for understanding the fundamental
process of leading change. As shown in Figure 15.3, there are three steps in the
change process: unfreezing, changing, and refreezing. First, unfreezing challenges the
status quo by shaking up assumptions; next, changing represents movement toward a
new desired state. Finally, refreezing the changes by reinforcing and restructuring is the
third phase to make the changes permanent. Think about an ice pack that you use
when you have a sports injury. When you take it out of the freezer, it is hard and can’t
be changed much. As you use it, it becomes soft and malleable (this is the changing
phase). After 20 min, you put it back in the freezer, and it becomes solid again. Change
is like this: When people and systems are in the frozen stage, you can’t change them.
You have to literally “heat things up” to soften the attitudes and assumptions about
change so that the system is malleable like a defrosted ice pack. Once you have the
changes you want in place, you reinforce the new behaviors with rewards or change the
structure to support the change (refreezing).
Employees will tend toward the status quo or equilibrium, so there needs to be constant
attention to refreezing the new system and behaviors after a change is implemented.