William Bridges

Book: “Transitions Making Sense of Life’s Changes” by William Bridges

Posted on by Seniye Groff

“Every transition begins with an ending.  We have to let go of the old thing before we can pick up the new one—not just outwardly but inwardly, too.” William Bridges is famous for his transitions framework and this latest book rehashes his three phases of change.  The initial phase of Endings involves acknowledging and processing the losses associated with the old ways of doing things. It’s crucial to allow individuals time to grieve and accept that something is ending before they can move forward. Let’s face it, we are always in a constant state of change given how quickly our world moves.  And whether or not you like change, it is a fact of life so wouldn’t it be effective to have strategies in place to help you with the ending and what is to come afterwards?

During the Endings:

  • Clearly define what is ending.
  • Sort out what parts or aspects you will keep and what you will leave behind.
  • Identify what do you need to unlearn?

In order to end something a few things need to happen.  First, Disengagement, which essentially says you need to feel less attachment to the thing, person or process so ask yourself how you can do that.  Then you need to Dismantle or take apart the structure.  For example, if you have a particular route you take to work but you lose your job, you need to undue your automatic action to take that route in the morning.  One then moves to Disidentification.  Ask yourself, “In what ways are you no longer the person you were?” Then consider Disenchantment to define what no longer holds appeal about that thing or person.  And finally, Disorientation.  What is disorienting to you about this ending? Journaling is a great way to work through these stages.

After the Endings comes the Neutral Zone. This is the “in-between” phase where the old is gone but the new is not fully established. It can be a time of uncertainty, confusion, and even resistance as individuals navigate the unfamiliar.  During this “empty” time take some moments to appreciate this white space to problem solve and creatively process so that new ideas can emerge.  Open yourself to possibilities.  Renewal is the heart of the Neutral Zone.  You begin to see a new way of life, a way of being,  a fertile time for ideas and energy.

This final stage involves embracing the new ways of doing things and building new habits, skills, and relationships called the New Beginnings. Have a plan and purpose.  Focus on achieving small, quick successes.  With each success comes confidence that the change or new thing will eventually feel right.

Read more here.

How can you use this model during your next transition?

Managing Transitions and William Bridges

Posted on by Seniye Groff

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.”

 

 

Change Management

Posted on by Seniye Groff

Change is omnipresent in our daily lives.  Every year companies initiate thousands of changes. Statistics show that between 50% – 75% of those changes do not produce the expected results. Research points to several reasons for this. The top reasons are:

  • Lack of Executive Leadership or buy-in surrounding the change
  • Lack of proper planning or funds
  • Employee Resistance.

Often, people resist change based on their perceptions of four factors
identified by William Bridges as C.U.S.P. factors:

Control:  How much control do people feel they have over the current situation?

Understanding:  Do the people involved understand specifically what is happening and why, in language and terms that are meaningful to them?

Support:  Do people feel they have the emotional and practical support necessary to help them get through what they are experiencing?

Purpose:  Do people feel they have a purpose in the current change that gives meaning to what they are doing and feeling?

William Bridges, in Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, discusses the idea that successful changes are accomplished by managing the transitions that people must go through. He draws a distinction between “change” and “transition” as illustrated below:

Change

  • Situational
  • Physical
  • External
  • Set time frame
 Transition

  • Psychological
  • Emotional
  • Internal
  • Variable time frame

Transition is the process people go through when adjusting to a change in their lives. There are three phases of transition that must be managed to be able to positively function within the new environment.

Ending

Whenever a change takes place, people lose something. They may lose power, relationships, familiar surroundings, a process they were comfortable with, anything that they had an emotional attachment to. To effectively manage the transition, it is necessary to identify who is “losing” what and acknowledge the loss.

The Neutral Zone

 Between the place where the old ways are over but the new ways haven’t quite settled in is the Neutral Zone. People in the Neutral Zone don’t really know what to do. Processes, both new and old, might get dropped. Customer service might go down due to confusion over procedures. To effectively manage the transition, it is necessary to communicate, over and over and over, what part people should be playing, how the change is progressing, and what is over.

However, the Neutral Zone isn’t all “life in limbo.” The Neutral Zone is where the most creative energy lies. During this phase, people are better able to come up with new ways of doing things. Given proper encouragement and authority to innovate, people in the Neutral Zone can really add value to the company.

The New Beginning

When the change finally kicks in and people have accepted the “new order” they have reached the New Beginning. In this phase, the new processes and procedures start to “feel right.”

Change is going to happen whether we like it or not, so why not be a little more thoughtful about the process.  I highly recommend reading William Bridges’ work and trying some of the strategies he suggests.  Change is inevitable but how we react to the transition is up to each of us.