Helping Teams Navigate Change with Design Accelerator
- Erin Helcl
- Oct 7
- 2 min read
What We Believe at New Helio
At New Helio, we believe design isn’t just about creating new products, services, or experiences. Design is how we help people move through change. Every meaningful change, whether it’s a new service model, a new system, or a new way of working, isn’t just a design challenge. It is a change journey, and people rarely move through change in a straight line.
The Change Curve
Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross first mapped the emotional journey of change in the 1960s. Known as the Change Curve, it has become a trusted way to understand how people respond when something new is introduced.
The curve describes how people experience:
Shock and Denial when change is first introduced.
Frustration and Depression as the reality sets in and energy dips.
Acceptance and Experimentation when they begin to test new behaviors.
Decision and Engagement as momentum builds and change sticks.
Most organizations accept the “dip” in the curve as inevitable, something to be endured. We have seen something different: design accelerators can help people move through the curve faster, with less resistance, more ownership, and stronger results.
What We've Seen Work
We are working with a client right now who completely understands this. They are redesigning their service model, but they know it’s not just a design exercise. It is a change management intervention.
Together, we are using design accelerators like interviews, journey mapping, co-creation, and prototyping. Their leaders are creating the conditions for people not just to adapt to change, but to help shape it. That mindset is helping them build momentum while also ensuring the changes they make will last.
How New Helio Accelerates the Change Curve
Instead of a generic toolkit, here’s how we bring design accelerators to each stage of change to move people more quickly through it:
Change Done To vs. Change Done With
Sometimes the best way to see the difference is through a simple vignette.
Top-Down Change often sounds like a rollout: “Starting next week, we’re rolling out a new system. You’ll get instructions.”
With Design Accelerators, the conversation looks and feels different: “Let’s map the process together so your input shapes how this works.”
This simple shift is the difference between resistance and engagement.
Why This Matters
This is not theory for us. It is what we practice. We believe organizations don’t have to wait for people to “get through” the valley of change. With design accelerators, you can bring people along from the very start, reduce resistance, and create change that sticks.
If you are embarking on any size of change in your organization, and want to help your teams move through it with clarity, confidence, and ownership, let’s talk.
We’d love to help.
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