In my work as a coach, I’m often called upon to help people manage change and transitions. While some may use the terms change and transition interchangeably, they are not the same.
Change is situational, and external: the company moves to a new site, a CEO retires and someone replaces her, a reorg means workers are on a new team. Change is an event.
Transition describes a psychological process, and is internal: it’s about the predictable pattern of internal, emotional, response to changes. Transition is a response to the event of change.
You may be familiar with the psychological stages of grief identified decades ago by psychiatrist Elisabeth Külber-Ross. In similar fashion, there is a predictable path of emotional and psychological response that occurs during transitions, as people resist, then eventually embrace, change. Understanding that process is essential if the change is to succeed.
Every organization must adapt to change. Change is a part of growth, it is inevitable. Even if we don’t go looking for change, it continues to happen around us: technological advances, market shifts and so forth cause the business environment to change almost constantly. Employees may leave our company, loyal customers may leave or even go out of business themselves. Much change happens apart from us and is beyond our control.
Healthy companies and leaders must make changes to adapt to or even anticipate the ever-changing environment, but should be careful not to make meaningless changes. Changes that we initiate should improve a process or the bottom line, or correct a problem.
That said, it isn’t the changes that do us in. It’s the transitions. How do we respond to change? How do we come to terms with the new situation, whether it is a reorg, a transfer, or a new boss? The better we understand the normal responses to change and manage the transitions in a healthy way, the stronger our leadership. If we handle transitions well, change will benefit rather than hurt us.
Knowing the difference between change and transition will help you to move forward and manage transition well. Not understanding transitions can derail the improvements you’re making by changing in the first place. Many change initiatives fail. Understanding and managing transition will increase the chances for successful change.
Here are four things you must do to manage transitions:
- Understand the transition process.
William Bridges, in his book Managing Transitions, identifies the three stages of transition which happen to anyone going through change:
- Ending, Losing, and Letting Go.
- The Neutral Zone.
- The New Beginning.
(For greater detail on this, read Bridges book or see this helpful summary at Mindtools.com)
Stage one should come as no surprise: people typically don’t like their routine disrupted, their job responsibilities changed. Knowing that the resistance, complaints and even anger are normal and expected will help you to deal with them.
Be aware that people have different personalities and differing levels of comfort with change. Some seek it out and embrace change easily, others resist change and will complain and drag their feet. Consequently, people will move through these stages at different speeds. You need to figure out what each person needs to move forward, yet let them each move at their own pace.
Understanding what to expect, and communicating clearly, will help you manage a transition much more easily.
- End what was before you begin what will be.
Before you can begin something new, you have to end what used to be. Before you can become a different kind of person, you must let go of the old identity. Before you can learn a new way of doing things, you have to unlearn the old way. So beginnings depend on endings. The problem is, people don’t like endings. But it will help if you let them grieve what they are losing, and have some closure–that is, let them end what was.
Leadership is essential for healthy transitions. And that sometimes means acknowledging the way things are now, but also casting a vision for why the organization or team cannot stay where they are now, why things are not working, why things need to change.
- Manage what is called the neutral zone.
Just when you’ve decided that the hardest part of managing transition is letting go of the old ways, you enter a state of affairs in which neither the old ways nor the new ways work satisfactorily. The neutral zone is a place nowhere between two “somewheres.”
Leaders must take a company or team from here to there, from where they are now to where they want to be. However, they have to go through the neutral zone to get to “there.”
The neutral zone occurs in the lives of individuals, organizations and even whole nations. We see, for example, individuals looking for new work who can’t find the right work; organizations refuse to change and end up doing nothing; nations become stagnant to new innovative and improved technologies. While the neutral zone is part of the process, you must manage it well and move forward through it so that you don’t get stuck in that place.
A great strategy in this stage is to allow everyone to play a part in the change that’s occurring, to even make them a part of the change team. Clearly spell out the benefits of moving forward.
- Direct and sustain the energy of the New Beginning
Eventually, if you do the first steps, people will make the transition. They’ll be excited and ready to move forward. Keep that energy going by fully embracing the new way of doing things. Explain the “why” behind the changes and the benefits of moving forward, and keep repeating that message when the going gets challenging.
Provide training and support for people so that they fully understand the new way, and can do it successfully. Set people up to win by communicating repeatedly until the new ways of doing things feel “normal” to everyone.
Leave a comment: tell us about a transition that was handled well–what did you (or another leader) do to make the transition successful?
