Lewin’s Change Model

Lewin’s Change Model

Lewin’s Change Model is one of the earliest and most influential frameworks for understanding organizational change. Developed by Kurt Lewin in the 1940s, the model presents change as a structured, three-stage process: unfreezing, changing, and refreezing. Its simplicity has made it widely adopted across disciplines, from organizational development to community health to education.

Lewin’s framework is not a detailed action plan but a conceptual map for how change occurs and how resistance can be managed. It emphasizes the psychological and social dynamics of behavior, especially the balance between driving and restraining forces. Though often considered basic by today’s standards, the model remains foundational in many change theories that followed.

The Three Stages of Change

Lewin described change as a dynamic process involving shifts in both individual behavior and group norms. The three stages are meant to describe the sequence of psychological states individuals or groups move through during transformation.

Unfreezing

The unfreezing stage involves preparing people to let go of existing attitudes, habits, or ways of working. This is often the most difficult phase, as it requires disrupting the status quo and confronting inertia or resistance.

Common features of the unfreezing process include:

• Creating awareness of the need for change

• Challenging existing beliefs or routines

• Generating discomfort with the current state

• Building motivation to consider alternatives

Unfreezing can be triggered by external events (e.g., market shifts, new leadership) or internal reflection (e.g., performance data, employee feedback). The goal is to reduce the psychological attachment to the old state so that people are open to new ideas.

Changing (or Transition)

Once the system is unfrozen, the second stage involves moving toward a new way of being. This is the active process of learning, adopting, and experimenting with new behaviors or processes.

During this stage, individuals may experience:

• Confusion or uncertainty

• Trial-and-error learning

• Role shifts or new relationships

• Varying levels of commitment or resistance

Support is crucial in this phase. Training, coaching, communication, and visible leadership all play roles in helping people navigate the transition. The “changing” phase is rarely smooth or linear—it often involves cycles of progress, doubt, and readjustment.

Refreezing

The final stage involves consolidating and stabilizing the new behaviors so they become part of normal operations. Without refreezing, people may revert to old patterns as soon as external pressure diminishes.

Key elements of refreezing include:

• Reinforcing new behaviors through recognition or feedback

• Aligning systems, policies, or structures with the new way of working

• Integrating changes into culture and identity

• Monitoring and adjusting as needed

Refreezing does not mean rigidity—it means embedding the change so it is sustained over time. In dynamic environments, this stage is sometimes reframed as “rebalancing” rather than locking into a permanent new state.

Force Field Analysis

Lewin also introduced the concept of force field analysis as a way to understand resistance and support for change. In this model, any current behavior or system is held in place by a balance between:

• Driving forces that push for change (e.g., new goals, external threats, innovation)

• Restraining forces that resist change (e.g., habits, fear, vested interests, norms)

Effective change involves increasing the driving forces, reducing the restraining forces, or both. This perspective encourages change agents to identify and address the specific psychological and structural forces at work in a particular context.

Strengths of the Model

Lewin’s model is still in use more than 75 years after its creation for several reasons:

• Simplicity: The three-stage structure is easy to remember and apply.

• Psychological realism: It reflects the emotional and social dimensions of change, not just the technical ones.

• Diagnostic utility: The stages can be used to analyze why a change effort is succeeding or failing.

• Adaptability: The model can be paired with more detailed tools or processes depending on context.

It provides a useful narrative arc for leading change, especially in environments where stability and continuity are important.

Critiques and Limitations

Despite its influence, Lewin’s model has several limitations:

• Oversimplification: Real change is often non-linear, recursive, or ongoing. The model may imply a neat progression that rarely exists in practice.

• Inflexibility in dynamic contexts: Critics argue that the concept of “refreezing” is unrealistic in today’s fast-paced environments where continuous adaptation is required.

• Lack of tactical detail: The model describes phases but offers limited guidance on how to execute each one effectively.

• Underemphasis on power and politics: The model assumes rational, cooperative behavior, but many organizational changes are shaped by conflict, negotiation, or political maneuvering.

• Focus on individual and group psychology: It pays less attention to structural or systemic barriers to change.

Despite these critiques, the model remains relevant as a high-level mental model for thinking about how people and systems transition from one state to another.

Implications for Corporate Learning and Development

For L&D professionals, Lewin’s model offers a useful framework for aligning learning activities with the psychological stages of change.

Support the unfreezing process

Learning can play a key role in raising awareness, challenging assumptions, and preparing people for change. Examples include:

• Pre-change briefings or orientation sessions

• Reflective activities that surface dissatisfaction with the current state

• Learning experiences that expose people to new possibilities or threats

Enable learning during the transition

The “changing” phase aligns closely with the core function of L&D. Training, coaching, simulations, and practice environments help individuals acquire and test new knowledge, behaviors, or mindsets. Just-in-time support is especially important when roles or tools are shifting.

Reinforce new behaviors during refreezing

L&D can support sustainability by embedding new practices into:

• Onboarding for new employees

• Leadership development programs

• Performance systems and feedback loops

• Peer learning communities

When learning interventions are sequenced to match the emotional and cognitive stages of transition, they are more likely to be effective and well received.

Conclusion

Lewin’s Change Model provides a foundational framework for thinking about change as a psychological and social process. By breaking change into three stages—unfreezing, changing, and refreezing—it offers a narrative structure that leaders, teams, and organizations can use to guide transformation efforts.

For corporate learning professionals, the model reinforces the idea that learning does not occur in a vacuum. It must be situated within the broader process of psychological adaptation—and tailored to meet people where they are. When learning initiatives are timed and designed with this in mind, they can help reduce resistance, build competence, and sustain new ways of working.