How to identify the stages of grief in COVID-19 messages
As organizations work through their anger, fear and denial around the economic disruption and health impacts of coronavirus, it’s helpful to use the Kübler-Ross model.
It is definitely not business as usual in the U.S., with travel restrictions, event postponements, closures, runs on toilet paper—and time is not on our side. We need millions of people to change their fundamental beliefs, attitudes and behaviors, stat!
I’ve found it useful in past crises, and especially helpful in the current COVID-19 crisis, to apply elements of the grief model when guiding clients.
It also works as a way to take my own emotional pulse when confronted by terrible news and as a framework for identifying public mindsets, too.
The five stages of grief
Anyone who took a 100-level psychology course in college knows about the Kübler-Ross model which outlines five stages of grief:
The faster you as a communicator work through these five stages (particularly the first three) and get to acceptance, the better you can counsel your clients or executives to move them towards action. You can also think of your role as helping your publics—whether that means employees, customers, parents, students, patients, residents or citizens—through this process.
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