June 2008

At one point or another most leaders decide that it's time to make a major change in their wellness businesses - one that opens the door to huge opportunities.

You may decide to focus on a whole new philosophy - say, whole-person wellness rather than just physical fitness. Or perhaps you decide to create and sell comprehensive wellness programs to employers when all you've done in the past is offer traditional gym memberships.

When we say major, we mean a change so big that it requires entirely new ways of selling and marketing your services, bringing in completely new ways of thinking about your business, adding brand-new types of expertise to your team that you've never had before.

You're convinced of the need for the change. However, your employees will lag behind you in their understanding and acceptance. That's not shocking. You've given it a lot more thought than they have. And it's likely that a change this big will affect their day-to-day jobs in ways neither of you fully realizes yet.

Here's what to expect once you announce the new direction:

Phase 1: Wondering About The Future

In this stage, people are on the sidelines by necessity. They don't know what to expect or what's going to happen next - only that change is planned. So they're waiting to see what really happens.

Phase 2: Confronting A New Reality

When people reach Phase 2, they begin to confront reality. They're beginning to realize that you're serious about making this change, so it's really going to happen. It's not just the "flavor of the day".

Phase 3: Realizing The Implications

Once you start making noticeable changes to the business - say, hiring new types of wellness professionals - your staffers begin to realize that that there's no looking back. Nothing will return to the way it used to be.

Phase 4: Missing What Was

Employees in this phase go through what can almost be described as a grieving process for the past. For example, they may intellectually understand why expanding to employers is desirable. But they miss the old days when your attention was exclusively focused on their area of the business.

Phase 5: Accepting The New Reality

Now, people begin to accept the change. They probably still have some doubts, but they're not actively resisting the change. And they're probably beginning to see some benefits from the new approach.

Phase 6: Embracing The New Reality

People in this phase have fully accepted the new state of affairs. They may even say "I can't believe we used to..." or "We should've done this a long time ago."

Now, individual employees move through these phases at different speeds. And sometimes they move back and forth between different phases or even skip a phase.

Remembering these phases will help you understand how best to support them as they assimilate the new direction.

Related articles on growing your health & wellness business:
Getting Ready To Grow Your Wellness Business
Vital Friends: The Team That's All About You
The Confucius Checklist: Secrets of Knowledge Transfer to Employees & Clients