House of Change
The original approach serves to support change processes as well as innovation and development processes of individuals, teams and organizations – and has often been simplified in the past. How did this happen?
Claes Janssen
“Unfortunately, it can happen that what you are shown is a piece of plagiarism – a four square diagram with the same psychological content as the Four Rooms has, perhaps with changed names in one or two of the frames, perhaps even that. I have seen at least three examples of such plagiarism in Sweden alone. An international example is called the CHANGE HOUSE.”
The Four Rooms of Change Part I 2011
House of Change –
not the original approach
of Claes Janssen
If you search the Internet, you will find various versions of the House of Change. The four rooms are integrated into a house, which seems understandable, as Claes Janssen wrote: „Four Rooms are in us all“.
Then it gets lively. The room of CONTENTMENT is not translated into contentment, but is even misunderstood as “self-satisfaction”, in German “Selbstzufriedenheit”. The room of CENSORSHIP/CONFUSION is described as rejection and resistance. In the room of CONFUSION, the most crucial point in the room, the zero point, is not mentioned at all. A cellar is added or a sunny balcony.
Anything is possible, but it has nothing to do with the results of Claes Janssen’s research.
The question now is: how did this development come about and why isn’t the original Four Rooms better known? Is the House of Change really a copy, a plagiarism, and what are the main differences to the original?
Differences between
the House of Change and
the original “Four Rooms of Change”
The Four Rooms were developed on the basis of Claes Janssen’s research into the two different perspectives on life.
He calls it the inner Yes/No conflict and the resulting influences on the phases of change. The 4 rooms are developed on this basis.
The House of Change and the additional rooms are not linked to Claes Janssen’s scientific findings and are also not necessary in practice.
In addition, they are often misused in practice. For example, managers are told that they should bring their employees out of the room of contentment to achieve change.
But: the room of contentment generates productivity and efficiency and wanting to bring all employees into denial and confusion is absurd and counterproductive.
As all change practitioners know, it is difficult to help people realize that things have changed. The desire to get back to the “old contentment as it used to be” does not work. Precisely because the situations have changed.
The great challenge is not contentment per se, but the transition from ‘false contentment’ back to ‘new contentment’.
“False contentment” is expressed in the unconscious denial to realize and accept that a change is necessary and that you then have to go through the room of confusion – with all the uncertainties and negative feelings. This is the only way to return to a “new contentment”.
It is important that individuals walk through the rooms, not organizations or teams.
For example, when an organization changes, some people are inspired because they think the new direction is right. Others think the change is right, but don’t know what it means for them – and are therefore more likely to be confused. This means that everyone goes through the rooms individually.
House of Change:
Easy, but insufficient
A key finding of Claes Janssen’s research was that people deal with change differently depending on how they view life. It is therefore wrong to assume that all people in the same situation are in the same room. This is particularly confirmed by resilience research.
The simplistic assumption developed in the House of Change from a management perspective of “taking everyone through the rooms” at the same time therefore does not help to successfully shape change processes.
Organizations do not move through change in the same way. The aim is to keep as many people as possible in a room of contentment and inspiration. When there is clarity about goals, strategies and one’s own role, when people can rely on each other, when there is psychological security and trust in the team, it is much easier to embrace in new ideas and challenges with energy and together.
This happens in the room of inspiration. The two rooms of contentment and inspiration influence each other positively, just as the two rooms of censorship and confusion influence each other negatively.
The original Janssen’s Model®
Depending on the situation, we are in a different room. Our perspective on life, i.e. how much stability, security and a sense of belonging we need, or how much we want to “do the right thing”, or our urge for freedom, influences HOW we move through the rooms and how easy or difficult it is for us to make the necessary decisions. Claes Janssen calls this step the “ZERO point”: the moment of letting go of the past. It is a crucial step in the change process, but one that does not feature at all in the House of Change.
Four Rooms offers a systemic approach to change that considers both the individual and the organizational level and also provides tools for dealing with and managing change holistically. It is more in line with the “Leading Change” approach developed in recent decades, which goes beyond change management.
Change management is the controlled, well-planned management of a defined change process in which disruptions are avoided as far as possible and everything is kept under control. Small, trained teams manage the project.
The House of Change
as an expression of its time
in change management
The House of Change was developed in the 1990s by Paul Kirkbride in collaboration with the Ashridge School. The Four Rooms of Change were simplified – and provided with additional extensions that were intended to show the most extreme possible manifestations of human behavior in change processes and meet the requirements of change management:
Manage change projects in a planned and controlled way, with as little disruption as possible.
In the context of change management descriptions, this simplification is understandable, assuming that ‘people’ can be managed in the same way as processes.
The House of Change Model or Change House Model is a clear and helpful model.
Responding to the understandable desire of many to have a ‘how to’ manual, it provides a sense of security with its very helpful recommendations on how to manage change projects so that they run as smoothly and successfully as possible.
Over the years, it has been integrated and trained by the renowned Ashridge Business School and many other providers of management training courses; it reflects the management theory of the time and has a much wider reach than the Swedish consultancy that worked with the original.
But as we all know, the reality is different, even for manageable change projects. The high failure rate of 70% for change projects has a lot to do with how stakeholders are involved in different roles.
However, when it comes to more complex changes that affect many people, traditional change management methods are no longer sufficient.
Four rooms
for change leaders in times of
multiple crises and transformation
Change leadership focuses on the vision, strategy and motivation associated with the implementation of a change initiative.
Change leaders act as the ‘engine’ for these initiatives, guiding and motivating their teams throughout the implementation process. If you don’t just want to “manage” change projects, but are convinced of the importance of involving people in change processes, then you should use the original.
The willingness to change is strengthened right from the start. The Four Rooms of Change are not simply taught, but are developed directly through the participants’ own experience. In a process developed by Claes Janssen over a period of 7 years, the people involved work through the Four Rooms themselves, develop a better understanding of why they act differently and have a common language to deal with the emotional level in change processes and thus allow disruptions to occur and deal with them constructively.
It is an approach that involves those affected by complex changes and, as required in classic organizational development, turns them into contributers. The approach provides change leaders and change consultants with a set of tools that support individual and organizational development and the ability to change.
The House of Change is still visible everywhere on the Internet, and as Claes Janssen wrote: “Thoughts are free.
It is often said that the model originated with him – but the question is: why not use the much better and more effective original? Ashridge Business School decided in 2004 to use the Four Rooms of Change, the original!
CONTUR is the exclusive partner for Janssen’s Model® in Germany and China and offers certifications for Four Rooms of Change. The certification is recognized by the ICF International Coaching Federationals CCE (Continuing Coach Education), as an ICF certified coach can prove 20 hours of training. Please contact us for more information!
Further information
Author
Dr. Angelika Schrand is Managing Director of CONTUR. With her extensive HR and change management expertise from working in various industries and company sizes, she is particularly interested in the topic of change and sustainability management.
As a consultant in change processes, she often uses Janssen’s Model® and is so convinced of its effectiveness that she is a Certified Global Program Leader and has acquired the exclusive partnership for Germany and China for CONTUR.
Author
Dr. Angelika Schrand is Managing Director of CONTUR. With her extensive HR and change management expertise from working in various industries and company sizes, she is particularly interested in the topic of change and sustainability management.
As a consultant in change processes, she often uses Janssen’s Model® and is so convinced of its effectiveness that she is a Certified Global Program Leader and has acquired the exclusive partnership for Germany and China for CONTUR.
FAQ’s
Many change management approaches work on the cognitive level and describe process steps – such as Kotter’s 8 steps, Lewin’s phases and others. They often describe what should be done to engage people. Four Rooms of Change connects the cognitive with the emotional-social level and this in a very plausible, comprehensible way. Especially for people not trained in psychology.
The theory allows us to recognize how we are influenced by our mindsets in everyday life and thus provides an explanation of why. This enables individuals and teams to take responsibility and action themselves. In doing so it sterengthens immanently systematic processes and self-organization. Thus the approach is easy to apply for coachees – without long theoretical explanations in advance.
We very much welcome the fact that many people use the Four Rooms in their training courses and workshops. This shows the easy accessibility and the benefits of the Four Rooms as an explanatory model.
During certification, you will recognise how much power and energy the development process based on Claes Janssen’s theory triggers in people. The link with the underlying theory enables more intensive reflection and thus also expanded options for all users in a wide variety of everyday situations in management, coaching, negotiations, conflict management and, of course, in all forms of change.
As a certified user …
- you can use an internationally tested training guide
- you work with the original in a licensed and legally compliant manner and on the basis of the underlying scientific theory
- increase your expertise with internal or external customers, and enable transparency and successful implementation with the holistic approach
As a certified user, you become a member of the international FOUR ROOMS network and …
- have access to the analytical tools and training guidelines
- can use all licensed Four Rooms instruments
- have access to the national and international network of professional users of the Four Rooms
- will be listed as a licensed consultant on the CONTUR homepage
If you want to get to know Four Rooms first and find a helpful change and development model for yourself that you want to use with internal and external clients, the Introduction is very suitable.
If you work as a coach or consultant and want to gain a deeper understanding of transformation and change, the extended learning journey is the right place for you. If you want to use other integrated instruments that are innovatively supported by digital tools and AI, we offer you the opportunity to expand your service portfolio for your customers in a scalable way.
Many change management approaches work on the cognitive level and describe process steps – such as Kotter’s 8 steps, Lewin’s phases and others. They often describe what should be done to engage people. Four Rooms of Change connects the cognitive with the emotional-social level and this in a very plausible, comprehensible way. Especially for people not trained in psychology.
The theory allows us to recognize how we are influenced by our mindsets in everyday life and thus provides an explanation of why. This enables individuals and teams to take responsibility and action themselves. In doing so it sterengthens immanently systematic processes and self-organization. Thus the approach is easy to apply for coachees – without long theoretical explanations in advance.
We very much welcome the fact that many people use the Four Rooms in their training courses and workshops. This shows the easy accessibility and the benefits of the Four Rooms as an explanatory model.
During certification, you will recognise how much power and energy the development process based on Claes Janssen’s theory triggers in people. The link with the underlying theory enables more intensive reflection and thus also expanded options for all users in a wide variety of everyday situations in management, coaching, negotiations, conflict management and, of course, in all forms of change.
As a certified user …
- you can use an internationally tested training guide
- you work with the original in a licensed and legally compliant manner and on the basis of the underlying scientific theory
- increase your expertise with internal or external customers, and enable transparency and successful implementation with the holistic approach
As a certified user, you become a member of the international FOUR ROOMS network and …
- have access to the analytical tools and training guidelines
- can use all licensed Four Rooms instruments
- have access to the national and international network of professional users of the Four Rooms
- will be listed as a licensed consultant on the CONTUR homepage
If you want to get to know Four Rooms first and find a helpful change and development model for yourself that you want to use with internal and external clients, the Introduction is very suitable.
If you work as a coach or consultant and want to gain a deeper understanding of transformation and change, the extended learning journey is the right place for you. If you want to use other integrated instruments that are innovatively supported by digital tools and AI, we offer you the opportunity to expand your service portfolio for your customers in a scalable way.