Managing transitions
Transcript of Managing transitions
TRANSITIONSMANAGING
William Bridges
The Author
(1933-2013)
“One of the ten most popular executive development consultants in the United States”
--- Wall Street Journal
Many people believe …
changeTransition
Re-organization Relocation Company Merge
All of these are changes
Re-organization Relocation Company Merge
None of them is a transition
Re-organization Relocation Company Merge
Transition is the psychologicalprocess of accepting and working through the change
The importance of managing transition is almost self-evident
Yet many companies
Overlook forget ignore
Managing transition means
helping people move through it Smoothly
the key
confidencetrustis to build
The transition is a three-process phase
Ending Neutral zone beginning
ENDING
NeutralZone Beginning
They can happen in sequence or concurrently
Without careful management of the processes …
New Beginning will
neverTake place
Ending
“Before you can begin something new, you have to end what used to be.”
Be very clear
END
What is going to end
Who is going to suffer
A strategy is needed to help those people work through the inevitable shock
We can achieve that by taking simple but indispensable steps
Help people understand
of the change needs to be defined as clear as possible
unintended consequence
And, even
Once the change and its consequence are understood,
we have to identify
whoare those peoplegoing to lose
we have to identify
exactly they are
whoare those peoplegoing to lose
what going to lose
subjective and emotionallosses are as real as any other kind of loss
Strong reaction will follow
People may seem to overreact -- Strong responses are not overreactions--
understandtheir pain points
sincere sympathy communicate clearly with
and offer compensation
Never lieNever hideAlways keep people up-to-date
Be firm about the ending
Spanish ConquistadorHernando Cortez
(1485-1547)
even in some dramaticway to make the point
burnt his ships at Vera Cruz, Mexico
Spanish ConquistadorHernando Cortez
(1485-1547)
no way back to Spain
making it very clear to his men
Spanish ConquistadorHernando Cortez
(1485-1547)
Neutral Zone
As one phase ended and new phase has not yet begun
chaoticconfusing
and the neutral zone is
A time of
Breakdown BreakthroughA time of
or
It can be …
Keep our demands reasonable
limit the number of changes to
one at a time
If several changes are going to happen simultaneously …
prepare people and help them to
overall picture understand what is the
Creativity is the key
Old policies and ways of working
harderthan it needs to be
always make the transition
be prepared to
breakold rules
and ,let your creativity flow
concise goals
Set concise goals
achievablein the short term to keep spirits up
well and help people to communicate among themselves
GOalcommunicate
most famous example of passage through a neutral zone
40-years sojourn of the Israelites in the desert
to which Moses led them
It was in the desert where Israelites became a nation strong enough to invade and conquer Canaan
However, on the border of Canaan, The people were afraid and wanted to return to Egypt
They complained about the leader and Rebellionsbroke out
In neutral zone, there is
no easy time
Beginning
No one knows the future New beginnings are always
risky
To Succeed at the new beginning, remember the four “P’s”
PicturePurpose Plan
Part
Make the objective of the new beginning clear and leave no doubts
Purpose
Picture
the transition plan addresses personal, subjective, and psychological aspects of the process
Plan
PartEveryone must play a part in the transition It is teamwork
Additional few rules will also help us to keep the new beginning on track
Our actions should reinforce and support
the goal we communicated
CONSISTENCY
to boost the team’s confidence early and low-risk wins
the new beginning
Symbols are powerful tools to deliberately reinforce
to mark the new beginning success party with a celebration
In Summary …
Organizations, like people
changeall the time
Where there’s change, there’s
transition
The transition is a three-process phase
Ending Neutral zone beginning
Managing transition is aboutHelping people deal with
uncertainty fear &
The core elements are
truthfulness
claritycommunication
Consistency
your commitmentsHonor never lie
It will help your transition
Promised landProgram to reach its
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