 Hello, my name is Marie Wittsten. I'm the Vural Leadership Specialist with NDSU Extension. I'd like to share with you a process of some ways to change, as well as some theories about the change process. So understanding and managing change is a really important topic, just knowing what change is. Change occurs when an individual, community, organization makes a transition from its current state to some desired state. So you are going to what you're doing currently to something new in the future. How does that happen? Well, there's a process called Kurt Lewin's ReFreeze process. It starts with getting people ready for change, as he calls it, unfreeze, then doing the change, and then ReFreeze is making it permanent. And so Kurt Lewin in the 50s really had some of the work that really helped us understand the change process. He also talked about the force field analysis. When we have a change happening, we have things that restrain us or keep us from changing. We have things that help us or drive us to change. So just to be aware that when we are thinking about change, these two are working either against us or for us. So be aware of that. John Cotter put these eight steps together to help us think through more as an organization, community perhaps, about what are some steps that we can take and understand about the change process. So let's go through them. The first three align with Kurt Lewin's unfreeze that we just saw. And they are increase urgency, build the guiding team, and get the right vision. So increase urgency, we need to know why we're changing. And that's an important part of it. So I'm communicating that and understanding that. We need a group of people, especially if you are working on a longer change process that will help guide it, that will keep the momentum going. They're the driving force behind the change. And then number three, get the right vision. We all need to know what is ahead? What does it look like? How does it feel? What will be different? And so that communication of that vision is really important. The next three is when we actually do the change. So in Kurt Lewin it could be change, but you can see it's called move here as well. So number four, communicate buy-in. And communication when you're actually in the change is so important. It could be that you just need to be told that you're doing well. You could be talking about how and why we're doing it. Just to communicate, people need to know what's going on. Empower action. Here's where if you're running into problems, you might need somebody to help you. Maybe solve problems or maybe go a different direction because when we think about the change and when we actually do it, sometimes you have to pivot a bit. And lastly, create short wins. We all like to see success. We all like to see change moving ahead. So those three then are really important steps in the actually when we're in the change. The last two are helping it become permanent. The refreeze Kurt Lewin's model. So number seven, don't let up. If you think about an accelerator on a car, you're wanting to keep that gas on. You're wanting the momentum to keep going. You want those driving forces to help you. And then make it stick. And this could be culturally, habits in a culture are very difficult, more difficult to change. So here's where maybe the culture needs to change, policies need to change. However, whatever needs to affect change so it can become permanent. The next one is the cycle of change. And this is more on an individual basis. The authors here are Prokraska and Declumpty. So let's go through the six steps. The first one is pre contemplation. Here people don't have them. They are not even thinking about change. If you are even in a process where you think maybe something's happening and you talk to people and they say, no, we don't need to change. That's pre contemplation. Contemplation is when we start to recognize there's a problem. We want to change for whatever reason. We start weighing pros and cons. Plus, wait, this is going to take some energy, take some initiative. Are we at a point where we're ready for that? The next step is preparation. Where you are actually now making inquiries. You are getting information. You're trying to decide what is the best way to make this change. So you're getting to the point now where it's going to be soon. You see differences because you're going to be taking some action, which is the next step. So right now in the process, you have made the change. People see the change. Here's where you need to have some cheerleaders. You need to have people supporting you where you can talk through. Boy, this feels different. I'm not sure I like it. Just all those feelings that we get when we do something different. The next step is the refreeze part of Kurt Lewin's. Don't give up. This is maintenance. And this stage is important to prevent us from going back to an old habit. Habits are very strong. And sometimes we don't know that until we start to change a habit. This is an area where we really are working hard to maintain that new habit, that new change. Unfortunately, only 20% of us make the change the first time. So don't be concerned if you get into relapse because it is 80% of us will. The important thing in relapse is to go ahead and try again. And maybe you don't have to go back to pre-contemplation or even preparation. Maybe you just need to go back to action. But somehow get to that point where the driving forces are stronger than those restraining forces. And they help you get back into an action mode. And then hopefully maintenance. So that's the second area of change. So we've talked about three of them. The one that we just finished was Procrasta and Declumpti's cycle of change. And then John Cotter's eight step model of change. And then I started with Kurt Lewin and his unfreeze model. Where you have the getting ready for change, then you do the change and then you re-freeze it and make it stick. Which really all three models have in a variety of different terminologies. A couple of quotes to end with. Change is not only what you think, it's also what you feel. That's a John Cotter quote. And it's so important to remember that we are thinking people, but we feel first. And so the things that may restrain us are also how we feel about something as much as we think about it. And then lastly, the only constant is change. The only strategy is to act. And that quote by John Picard is really absolutely true. Change is all around us. Thank you.