I love my “Managing Transitions” book by William Bridges. In the first two chapters he highlights some things he thinks are important to tackle early in a transition process. Bridges presented these recommendations as part of a case study on customer service. Although your specific situation may be somewhat different, I think the principles still apply.

Figure out exactly how individuals’ behavior and attitudes will have to change to make teams work. To deal successfully with transition, you have to determine precisely what changes in their existing behavior and attitudes people will have to make. It isn’t enough to tell them they have to work as a team.

Analyze who stands to lose something under the new system. You can’t grasp the new thing until you’ve let go of the old thing. It’s this process of letting go that people resist, not the change itself. You have to understand the pattern of loss to deal with resistance or even sabotage.

“Sell” the problem that is the reason for the change. Most leaders put 10% of their energy into selling the problem and 90% into selling the solution to the problem. People aren’t in the market for solutions to problems they don’t see, acknowledge, and understand.

Put team members in contact with disgruntled clients, either by phone or in person. Let them see the problem firsthand. (Again, this was relevant to the case study.) This is part of selling the problem. If you are the only one with first-hand experience of the problem, it is going to remain your problem. The key is to make it everyone’s problem.

Talk to individuals. Ask what kinds of problems they are having with “teaming.” When an organization is having trouble with change, managers usually say they know what is wrong. But the truth is that often they don’t. They imagine that everyone sees things as they do, or they make assumptions about others that are untrue.

Talk about transition and what it does to people. Offer leaders training on how to manage people in transition. Everyone can benefit from understanding transition. A coordinator will deal with subordinates better if he or she understands what they are going through. If they understand what transition feels like, team members will feel more confident that they haven’t taken a wrong turn. They’ll also see that some of their problems come from the transition process and not from the details of the change.

Start holding regular team meetings. Even before you can change the space to fit the new teams, you can start building the new identity by having those groups meet regularly. The plan had been to hold meetings every two weeks. Bridges immediately changed that: the teams met for 10 minutes every morning for the first two months. This frequent clustering helped override old habits and self-images and built the new relationships that teamwork requires.

Bridges follows with four more categories of specific tasks:

• Those that are important but require more planning
• Those that may be beneficial depending on how they are implemented
• Those that are not very important and may even be a waste of time, and
• Those that should be avoided at all costs.

“The first task of change management is to understand the desired outcome and how to get there. The first task of transition management is to convince people to leave home, to leave what is comfortable and known. You’ll save yourself a lot of grief if you remember that.”