Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

by William Bridges

In the neutral zone, people are overloaded, they frequently get mixed signals, and systems are in flux and more unreliable. It is only natural that priorities get confused, information is miscommunicated, and important tasks go undone. It is also natural that with so much uncertainty and frustration, people lose confidence in the organization’s future and turnover begins to rise. 2. Given the ambiguities of the neutral zone, it is easy for people to become polarized: some want to rush forward and others want to go back to the old ways. Under the pressure of that polarization, consensus easily breaks down and the level of discord rises. Teamwork is undermined, as is loyalty to the organization itself. Managed properly, this is only a temporary situation. But left unmanaged, polarization can lead to terminal chaos. For this reason, some organizations never emerge from the neutral zone.