Managing Transitions Quotes

“The purpose, the picture, and the plan all omit something: a part for them to play. Until that is provided, many people will feel left out and will find it difficult to make a new beginning.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“The transition management plan differs from the change management plan in several ways. First, it is much more detailed, addressing the change on the personal rather than the collective level. It is much more person-oriented because it tells José, Stella, and Ray how and when their worlds are going to change. Second, it is oriented to the process and not just the outcome. It lays out the details of what’s going to be done to help those individuals deal with the effects of the changes. It tells them when they can expect to receive information and training, and how and when they can have input into the planning process.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“the plan for the changes, not the transitions. The plan we are talking about outlines the steps and schedule in which people will receive the information, training, and support they need to make the transition. It lays out the nature and timing of key events that mark the phases of the transition: a ceremony marking the disbanding of a group, the formation of a transition monitoring team, the scheduling of a visit to another site, an all-hands question-and-answer session with the site manager, and the start of a training program.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“Some people really respond to the picture. Once they get it in their heads, they find a way to reach the destination that has captured their imagination. Many executives and planners fall into this group, and because they don’t feel as much of a personal need for a plan that spells out the details of the route from here to there, they underestimate how much others need such a plan. For many operationally minded people, the picture is interesting, but the real question is, “What do we do on Monday?”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“This picture in people’s heads is the reality they live in, and one of the losses that takes place during the ending phase of a transition is that the old picture—the mental image of how and why things are the way they are—falls apart. Much of the pain of the neutral zone comes from the fact that it is a time without a viable organizational picture.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“Purposes are critical to beginnings, but they are rather abstract. They are ideas, and most people are not ready to throw themselves into a difficult and risky undertaking simply on the basis of an idea.1 They need something they can see, at least in their imaginations. They need a picture of how the outcome will look, and they need to be able to imagine how it will feel to be a participant in it.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“Successful new beginnings are based on a clear and appropriate purpose. Without one, there may be lots of starts but no real beginnings. In fact, there may be one start after another in a sequence of changes that tires out everyone without solving the underlying problems. Without a beginning, the transition is incomplete. And without transition, the change changes nothing.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“You need to explain the purpose behind the new beginning clearly. You may discover that people have trouble understanding the purpose because they do not have a realistic idea of where the organization really stands and what its problems are. In that case, you need to “sell the problems” before you try to sell a solution to those problems. If that wasn’t done during the ending phase—when it should have been done—now is the time to provide answers to these questions:”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“Part You can give each person a part to play in both the plan and the outcome. People need a tangible way to contribute and participate.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“Purpose You can explain the basic purpose behind the outcome you seek. People have to understand the logic of it before they will turn their minds to work on it. Picture You can paint a picture of how the outcome will look and feel. People need to experience it imaginatively before they can give their hearts to it. Plan You can lay out a step-by-step plan for phasing in the outcome. People need a clear idea of how they can get where they need to go.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“A start can and should be carefully designed, like an object. A beginning can and should be nurtured, like a plant. Starts take place on a schedule, as a result of decisions. They are signaled by announcements: “On March 25, the 24 district branches will be consolidated into 6 regional offices.” Beginnings, on the other hand, are the final phase of this organic process that we call “transition,” and their timing is not set by the dates written on an implementation schedule. Beginnings follow the timing of the mind and heart.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“Even though there is a new situation in place and they have started to grapple with it, people are still in the neutral zone, feeling lost, confused, and uncertain. The beginning will take place only after they have come through the wilderness and are ready to make the emotional commitment to do things the new way and see themselves as new people. Starts involve new situations. Beginnings involve new understandings, new values, new attitudes, and—most of all—new identities.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“To equip your people to take advantage of the opportunity for innovation that exists in the neutral zone, you need to foster a spirit of entrepreneurship among them. An entrepreneurial outlook is the surest antidote to becoming uneasy with change. It is entrepreneurial opportunism that spells the difference between success and failure in using the neutral zone creatively, and this depends on a willingness to take risks.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“restrain the natural impulse in times of ambiguity and disorganization to push prematurely for certainty and closure. It is tempting to rally around, to have “everyone pulling together,” in the neutral zone, but be careful that you don’t unwittingly squeeze out dissent or other ways of thinking.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“Look for opportunities to brainstorm new answers to old problems. You have lived with them for so long that you may have unwittingly given up any hope of solving them. Break through this block, not by finding the single right answer but by finding 10 or 20 new answers—the crazier, the better.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“Embrace losses, setbacks, or disadvantages as entry points into new solutions.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“Encourage experimentation. People always have ideas that they have been wishing they had the chance to try, and they naturally generate solutions to problems they’ve been living with. What they seldom do, without encouragement and support, is try their ideas. Too often experimentation seems to people a risky undertaking that requires someone else’s blessing. Give it yours.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“Encourage learning in the areas of discovery and innovation. This is the time for even more creative thinking and greater focus on innovation.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“Provide opportunities for others to step back and take stock, both organizationally and individually: schedule offsites, process reviews, surveys, and open conversations; offer people the chance to review their careers and refocus their efforts in areas of growing interest to them.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“Establish by word and example that this is a time to step back and take stock, a time to question the “usual,” and a time to come up with new and creative solutions to the organization’s difficulties. Explain how business as usual chokes off creativity and explain why the present is the best possible time to generate and test new ideas. Model this new manner yourself by taking time to step back and question how your own job is done.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“But immune systems carry a price tag: even good germs get filtered out or killed off. The pre-transition immune system choked off creativity in its own manner, and no matter how loose and free the post-transition way of doing things is, its immune system will also make creativity difficult in some different way. It is during the gap between the old and the new that the organization’s immune system is weak enough to let a seedbed for novelty form.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“Capitalize on the break in normal routines that the neutral zone provides to do things differently and better. In the neutral zone the restraints on innovation are weakened. With everything up in the air anyway, people are more willing than usual to try new things, and should be encouraged to do so.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“In the neutral zone, be wary of any arrangement or activity that shows a preference for one group over others. During this middle phase of transition, people want to feel that “we are all in this boat together”—another good metaphor. They will put up with a lot of discomfort if everyone must do so as well.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“Communications help to keep people feeling included in and connected to the organization. Many companies have used online newsletters and other social media outlets as a way of maintaining contact with, and showing concern for, employees in the neutral zone. Communicating in real time can give employees new information, dispel rumors, and answer questions.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“STRENGTHEN INTRAGROUP CONNECTIONS The neutral zone is a lonely place. People feel isolated, especially if they don’t understand what is happening to them. As I have already noted, old problems are likely to resurface and old resentments are likely to come back to life. For these reasons it is especially important to try to rebuild a sense of identification with the group and of connectedness with one another.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“Hierarchy often breaks down in the neutral zone, and mixed groupings, such as task forces and project teams, are often very effective. People may have to be given temporary titles or made “acting” managers.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“Review policies and procedures to see that they are adequate to deal with the confusing fluidity of the neutral zone. The “rules” under which you operate were set up to govern ongoing operations when things weren’t changing as much as they are now.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“People can deal with a lot of change if it is coherent and part of a larger whole. But adding unrelated and unexpected changes, even small ones, can push people to the breaking point.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“You can try hard to protect people from further changes while they’re trying to regain their balance.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

“it is natural to feel somewhat nervous and confused at such a time. As the old patterns disappear from people’s minds and the new ones begin to replace them, people can be full of self-doubts and misgivings about themselves and their leaders. As their ambivalence increases, so does their longing for answers.”
― William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change