We have all heard the saying the only thing constant is change.

This goes for everything - from the human life cycle to the stars
above. However, it is also a basic truth that people, being creatures
of habit, are resistant to change. Especially when it threatens
something that means a lot to them - their day to day way of living,
such as major changes in their place of employment.
As corporations are not immune to change, what with mergers,
corporate re-organization, bankruptcy and the like, it falls upon
leaders to show their subordinates the way through rough times
caused by changes. However, changes are not always managed
properly.
Transition is what occurs during the time when the old and the new
ways of doing things are being sorted out, and is undeniably one of
an organization's biggest growing pains. Managed well, it can
become the chrysalis that turns the organizational caterpillar into a
butterfly. Managed poorly, however, and the whole process has the
potential to become a multi-million dollar squashed bug.
It does not, however, mean that transition is meant for the suffering
of employees. William Bridges shares techniques in managing
transition, turning a potential for disaster into an opportunity for
radical growth and the building of a foundation of a company's
future.
Managing Transitions
Author: William Bridges
Publisher: Perseus Publishing
Date of Publication: 2003
ISBN:
Number of Pages: 160 pages
0738208248
About the Author
The Big Idea
William Bridges, Ph.D.
William Bridges, Ph.D., is a
pioneer and leader in the field of
transition management, Bill Bridges
is widely recognized for his
breakthrough thinking on how to
help people to deal productively
with change. He has brought his
expertise and insight to hundreds of
busi ness and pr of essi onal
audiences, and he has consulted to
the leaders of several hundred
major reorganizations, mergers,
and strategic shifts. One of the most
wi del y quoted management
advisers in America, he is the
author of ten books, including his
best selling Transitions and
Managing Transitions. He also
wrote two widely read studies of the
modern workplace, Job Shift and
Creating You & Co. His most
recent book, The Way of
T r a n s i t i o n i s a p a r t l y
autobiographical study of how to
turn a difficult loss into a time of
self-renewal.
He is a frequent keynote speaker at
c o r p o r a t e me e t i n g s a n d
professional conferences, and the
Wall Street Journal named him one
of the ten top independent
executive development presenters
in America. A past president of the
Associ at i on f or Humani st i c
Psychology, he is also a founding
member of the Financial Times
Thought Leader Dialog group.
For more i nformati on, vi si t
. http://www.wmbridges.com/
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2003 BusinessSummaries All rights reserved. No part of this summary may be reproduced or transmitted
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Making the Most of Change (2nd Edition)
All living things have life cycles, and the same goes for organizations. Like human
beings, they grow and develop, and when they can no longer develop to keep up with
the market or meet the needs of operation, it dies or closes down. Change occurs
when a certain thing has been outgrown and must be replaced with something new.
For example, the operating system used by a startup company of twelve people can
hardly be used by an international corporation with twelve hundred employees.
Bridges points out that the seven stages that follow are not necessarily cut and
dried, and that these are but a way of showing how organizations develop and
where they could possibly meet with change and transition.
The beginning of everything, this is when the founders begin to conceptualize an
idea for a business entity. Most of the activity in this period is simply brainstorming
and conceptualizing, trying to get the idea into words that can be articulated and
understood.
This is literally the birth of a company. Some dreams never get to this phase, but
those who do, get to go through infancy and childhood.
Some ventures flounder during their first months before things pick up, while some
ventures flourish almost overnight. However, the measure of a venture is not its
profit or the number of clients, but how they operate. Usually ventures will have a
very loose, very informal system in place. There are no hiring policies, no SOP, no
fixed rules. For now, the company runs on a making it up as you go basis.
When a company reaches the Organizing stage, it begins to lose some of its steam.
This is because the people within it are forced to slow down and take stock of where
they're going.
They realize that they need to have systems in place because the natural energy of
the founders isn't enough to sustain the new company's growth, and that it's going to
need a reliable system in place of the frantic movements of people
During this stage, roles become more specialized, and policies are spelled out and
enacted.
[ 2 ]
Managing Transitions (2nd Edition) By William Bridges
What Causes Change?
Seven Stages of Organizational Life
Stage 1: Dreaming the Dream
Stage 2: Launching the Venture
Stage 3: Getting Organized
Finally, the corporation comes into the adult stage of its life. This is the point where
it is finally stable enough to face competitors head-on, and has a solid basis for future
growth.
This stage is a little different in the sense that the moving on from this stage to the
next isn't characterized by a drastic feeling of the inadequacy of the current situation,
but is preceded by dissatisfaction with the external factors. Examples are the
realizations of that the company needs a more professional-looking logo, larger
headquarters, or a uniform for the employees.
This stage is less doing and more being. That is, it achieves the status of being a
prime mover in the industry. It stops fighting for the territory in the chosen market and
enjoys the status that comes with having arrived. The company also arrives at a
period when there is a loss of concern for moving on, and there is less talk of growth.
Arriving at this stage usually means that there is almost no forward movement in the
company. It has become set in its ways, and becomes an increasingly
unresponsive bureaucracy.
This stage also marks the loss of contact between the organization and its
environment. There is an excessive inward focus of management and employees,
and all around it the system collapses.
Unless the Closing In stage is averted, this is the final result. Companies may go
bankrupt, or they may be bought, or they could simply cease to exist.
The function of transitions is to bring transformation into an organization. These
are growth periods for companies in order to avoid becoming obsolete. Without
this dynamic period in between phases, a company would inevitably end up
dying.
According to Bridges, there are rules that govern organizational development and
the transitions that accompany it, and these are as follow:
[ 3 ]
Stage 4: Making It
Stage 5: Becoming an Institution
Stage 6: Closing In
Stage 7: Dying
Transitions Role in Organizational Growth
The Laws of Organizational Development
Managing Transitions (2nd Edition) By William Bridges
1. The successful outcome of any phase triggers its demise by creating
challenges it is not equipped to handle.
The move from one stage to another is programmed into an organizations
DNA, that is, moving from one stage to another is natural and inevitable if a
company is growing. Once an organization has gotten to a certain point in its
development, change is signaled by certain things that suddenly cease to
work for example, a small, semi-unorganized sales force will not be able to
handle a large influx of clients.
2. During the first half of the cycle through the Making It stage not to
make a transition when the time is ripe for one to occur will cause a
developmental retardation in the organization
There is no avoiding transitions, or changes, in an organization's life.
Resisting to move when the time calls for it will effectively cripple an
organization by removing conditions for further development. Such an act
could threaten the very existence of an organization.
3. Those who are most at home with the necessary activities of one
phase are the ones who are most likely to experience the subsequent
phase as a severe personal setback.
Those who are most comfortable with the current way that things are going
will be least happy about the change. However, managers cannot let these
few disgruntled people stop the company's growth. It is the role of a
manager to help these people realize that change is inevitable, and help
them get through the changes with as minimal a drop in morale as possible.
4. In any significant transition, the thing that an organization needs to
let go of is the very thing that has gotten it this far.
Because every new phase are a naturally occurring process and stem from
the old phase, it is also a given that what has to be left behind is what got you
there in the first phase simply because it doesn't work for the new phase.
5. Whenever there is a painful, troubled time in the organization, a
developmental transition is probably taking place.
This goes without saying change may produce chaos. But it also means
that transformation is happening. An organization that has been stable
too long could grow complacent, less competitive, and fall behind the
times.
The most common problem is that managers confuse change with transition. To be
able to manage both, one must be able to tell them apart:
A change is something that occurs within your physical environment. It is external
and situational, and can be completed within a single day. The relocation of an
office, the resignation of a beloved boss, or a company merger are all examples of
[ 4 ]
So, Whats a Transition?
Change
Managing Transitions (2nd Edition) By William Bridges
change.
Transition, on the other hand, occurs internally, on the psychological level. Unlike
change, transitions don't always manifest clearly, and need to unfold over a period of
time instead of happening all at once. Because transition is linked so closely to the
internal workings of the person making the transition, there are almost as many ways
to transition as there are people making it.
A common mistake that managers make is believing that just because the change
was accomplished, the transition will take care of themselves. They focus too much
on the results and forget about the human factor. Without recognizing that the
transition process is what is affecting the employees, they pressure employees to
get with the program.
Left to flounder on their own, employees often feel confused and lost. They cling to
the old way of doing things trying to keep things as they used to be because it's more
comfortable, or because it's always been this way. This kind of resistance is what
gave rise to the adage Just because things have changed doesn't mean that
anything's different around here.
In the end, a mismanaged transition will be just like a costly way of rearranging
furniture you may have changed how things look, but it's still the same room.
Part of the reason that a transition is so complex and time consuming is that because
transitions have three phases that need to happen before it can be successfully
navigated.

These three phases are:
Ending
Neutral Zone
Beginning
While there are three phases to transition, it does not mean that they occur one after
the other in an orderly fashion. In fact, they may all be occurring at once within an
individual.
It's a clich, but endings are only beginnings of something new. To begin to learn a
new way of doing things, one must learn to let go of the old way it could be as simple
as leaving a cubicle, or as complex as using a whole new system.
[ 5 ]
Transition
The Three Phases of the Transition Process
Endings
Managing Transitions (2nd Edition) By William Bridges
The problem is that people don't like endings. Because everything is suddenly
unfamiliar, people will begin to question the wisdom of this change. They will refuse
to let go of the old ways because they have grown attached to them and the new way
threatens many of their old ideas. Most employees will claim that a change can't be
done or is too hard for them to do, because losing the old way seems too hard to
fathom.
Don't pretend that losses didn't happen
The first step in the ending process is to acknowledge that there have been
losses. All too often, employee losses are ignored by bosses who are too
much in a hurry to get to the end product to see that their subordinates are
dragging their feet.
An employee retained in a merger might have lost a valuable mentor, or an
employee who suddenly finds that he must re-learn a whole new method of
encoding data feels that he has lost his competence at his job. To ignore
these losses would increase the feeling of confusion and doubt that they
already have, and would be a major managerial mistake.
These losses, when ignored, become the source of festering unrest, and
could come to the surface quite violently in the future. To avoid this from
happening, acknowledge the loss, and allow people a certain time for
grieving. It doesn't mean that you have to allow the employees to wallow in
their misery, but you have to help them understand the loss and to accept it.
You could talk to the employees about their losses. First, identify who's
losing what, and then be sure to walk them though the letting go phase.
Bridges suggests the following actions when planning to undergo transition:
Describe the change in as much detail as you can.
Try to foresee as many secondary changes that your main change
will effect.
Identify who will have to let go of something, and identify the object
that will be lost.
Ask your people. Simply asking When we did X, what did you have
to give up? or What's different, now that we have X? will help you
understand what losses your employees are going through and will
better equip you to help them.
Expect overreactions
People may overreact to something as small as a desk re-assignment
because they may have had previous resentments that they have chosen to
overlook, such as the time when a co-worker whom they were particularly
fond of was moved off the team. These resentments simmer below the
surface, looking for an outlet. They can be triggered by little changes that
remind the employee of the past resentments.
[ 6 ]
Managing Endings
Managing Transitions (2nd Edition) By William Bridges
Compensate for the losses
Ask yourself, What can I give back to balance what's been taken away?
Remember that for a transition to go smoothly, employees need to feel that
they are getting back something for something that they give up. If a new
system makes them feel insecure about their competency or their place in
the company, think of something that will help bring the feeling of confidence
back.
Define what is ending and what isn't
Make sure that your employees know that just because something is ending,
it doesn't mean that everything is.
Inform people
Make sure that people know what's happening. Tell them in detail about the
change, and the expectations that go with it. Also, make sure that you keep
reminding them through different media the office newsletter, meetings,
bulletin boards. Unpleasant news takes quite a while to sink in, but once the
workforce is reminded on a regular basis, they'll eventually get the message.
Mark the endings
Ceremony and ritual are a great help in grieving. Do something physical that
reminds people that things are now supposed to be different. It makes the
change more real, and snaps some people out of the disbelief that is bound
to follow bad news.
Treat the past with respect
Don't disparage the system that got you there in the first place. You'll earn
the animosity of the workers who appreciated the old way of doing things.
Let people a bring a part of the past
When appropriate, let people take souvenirs. Company pads with the old
logo, or an album of their old team.
Show how endings ensure the continuation of the company
Make sure you communicate that the changes are not done simply to make
life difficult for your employees. Share with them the vision that the company
has, and make sure they know that this is for the betterment of the company.
The neutral zone is a time when the old way of doing things has been let go of but the
new way hasn't taken hold yet. It could last a long time, and during this time, chaos
reigns. It is a very difficult time for bosses and employees alike. Employees going
through the neutral zone feel lost and confused, as though they are wandering
through a fog with no idea where they're going. It's a natural reaction people have
likened this stage to being in between trapezes, where you have just let go of one
handle but there's nothing to hold on to to tell you you're safe.
[7 ]
The Neutral Zone
Managing Transitions (2nd Edition) By William Bridges
Many dangers lurk in this place employees are overloaded, confused, and irate, the
company is vulnerable to outside attack, and the turnover rates skyrocket. Do not let
this dissuade you. The neutral zone has to be faced or transition cannot be
successful. It is an opportune time for creativity and making steps in the right
direction if you only recognize it for what it is.
A lot of employees are rushed out of the neutral zone and not allowed to process
what's happening. However, this is something you must not do. If a transition is to be
successful, people need to go through the neutral zone, where they will begin to
understand where they are headed, and come to grips with the realities of the
transition.
The key to getting through the neutral zone is to normalize and redefine the period
that you're going through. Accept that there will be chaos, but never allow yourself or
your subordinates to lose sight of your goal.
The neutral zone is not a time waster, nor is it a war zone. Allow your employees this
time of adjustment, but make it feel like business as usual, albeit that it may be
slower than usual. You should take this time to reorient people and redirect their
efforts. Make sure you seem to know that everything is going to be all right no sense
in worrying the employees unnecessarily, but don't make promises you can't keep.
Try to focus on the bright side of things. Instead of making the whole change sound
like a journey to the hangman's noose, get people to visualize it as a challenging hike,
or a marathon where only victory lies in wait for them.
Don't underestimate the power of your words. Calling the changes going on a
voyage instead of a trial will do wonders.
During this time, remember to strengthen your group's rapport and working
relationships. The neutral zone has proven to be a lonely place, and people work
better when they feel that they're not going it alone.
You can also use a monitoring team that will help you keep tabs of people's reactions
to the changes going on around them. Knowing how people would feel and react will
help you formulate your action plan with better care.
Beginnings happen when people embrace the new identity and focus their efforts on
[ 8 ]
Managing the Neutral Zone
Normalizing
Redefining
New Beginnings
Managing Transitions (2nd Edition) By William Bridges
the new way of things. They become comfortable with the new system and breathe a
sigh of relief that the worst has not come to pass.
One must remember that beginnings are not like starts in the way that transition
is not the same as change. It is an organic process that cannot be created or
forced, but can be managed and planned for.
People fear beginnings in the same way they fear endings because a beginning
signifies that the past is really over. Some may be afraid of what lies ahead,
especially since a beginning marks uncharted waters.
To overcome such fears, it is important to implement 4 Ps in your planning:
Communicate the purpose of the beginning. What is the problem you're trying to
solve with the new system? What are the concerns you expect to address?
Take time to explain it to your people in layman's terms and make sure that your
employees understand that they are leaving the old system for something that will
make their lives better, not worse.
Make sure that your subordinates can see the vision that you have as clearly as you
can. Just like Moses used the image of the Promised Land to keep his people
inspired through the long journey through the desert, you can use imagery to
motivate your people.
Paint a verbal picture of how you see the company after all the changes have been
implemented and are running smoothly. Help them imagine how it will feel to
become a part of the all-new, overhauled system. This vision will generate energy
and hope.
Lay out a step-by-step plan for your subordinates to follow after all, the unknown isn't
too threatening if one has a guide. Concrete plans help people focus.
People need a tangible way to participate in the new system to make them feel like a
part of the company. Outline their individual roles and make them feel that they are
an important part of this venture. After all, they'll have to deal with the changes on a
[9 ]
Managing New Beginnings
Purpose
Picture
Plan
Parts to Play
Managing Transitions (2nd Edition) By William Bridges
daily basis in order to bring the vision to life.
Once begun, you'll need to recapture the old vibrancy and the feeling of
accomplishment that the employees used to have. Doing so will help reinforce the
image of the beginning as something positive.
Be consistent
Don't send mixed messages to your people. If you want a paperless office,
don't ask them to hand in a written report on how they're achieving this.
You could also reinforce the new system by rewarding new behavior that is
in line with your new goals and ceasing to reward behavior rooted in the old
system.
Ensure quick success
Set your people up to succeed to boost morale. Failure during this time will
only enforce the idea that we can't do it and undermine whatever positive
steps you have undertaken.
Notice and reward small steps taken in the right direction, as this will
reinforce the idea that things are going somewhere.
Symbolize the new identity
Have something physical to symbolize the new order. The new symbol
must still resemble the old but still be markedly different. A brand new color
of ID tags, for example.
Celebrate the success
When all is said and done, remember to take the time to congratulate your
subordinates on their overcoming the difficulties of transition. Give them a
moment to breathe and have a We Did It! moment.
[10]
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Reinforce the New Beginning
Managing Transitions (2nd Edition) By William Bridges