Leading Through Transition
A Case of When? and How?
The wisdom behind this quote is that people invest time and effort into developing processes and practices that help them succeed. When we ask people to work in a different way we are really asking them to sacrifice their previous investments and invest in something new. That can take a lot for people to get their head around and they will feel a sense of loss of the old before eventually, hopefully, investing in the new.
So, there is a difference between ‘Change’ and ‘Transition’:
Change
The moment when something old stops and something new starts. This can happen quickly – a strategic decision can change people’s worlds in an instant.
Transition
The time consuming process that people go through when they are asked to depart from an old way of doing things into a new way.
Leading people through a period of transition will also take time and will require us to support them in the right way at the right time.
Bridges’ Transition Model
Bridges’ Transition Model can really help us here. Bridges argues that people experience 3 stages of transition before they can fully embrace change. Let’s consider the 3 stages and then think what leaders can do to support people through each stage.
Bridges’ Transition Model
Firstly, the model itself:
Bridges suggests 3 stages of transition:
Ending what has been
Feeling neutral about the change
Embracing new beginnings
These can be seen in the diagram, going from left to right. Click the image to view more detail.
The vertical axis on the diagram relates to the importance or impact of the change on the individual. The horizontal axis relates to the time taken to transition through the stages. Transition will take longer for some people than others. Also, the bigger the impact of change, the longer it is likely to take for people to work their way through the stages.
Ending What Has Been
In this first transition stage, not much time will have passed since the change took place. Understanding the consequences of the change is important to those being impacted. They are likely to identify more with a sense of the things they are losing than the things they will be gaining.
They are likely to realise that in order for this change to work they are going to have to give up on all their hard work that made things work well for them in the old regime. Not only that, they will have to invest in new ways of working. Ways of working that may not be around for that long either!
It’s no wonder that during this stage people might experience feelings of denial, anger, frustration, grief and resistance.
The Neutral Zone
Following the Ending stage people will, with support, transition into the second stage of the model: the bizarrely named Neutral Zone. Some may even start here.
Contrary to its name, this is where some people start to think about the opportunities that the change brings and face up to the challenges they once railed against. For others it can feel like entering no man’s land. People are bouncing between looking back at the old world with woe and looking forward to the new world with doubt. Then they discover that things aren’t that clear just yet!
People feel anxious and confused as the situation lacks certainty. However, at the end of this stage we may start to see shoots of acceptance growing, this is often a time of creativity as people visualise what the future could look like.
New Beginnings
Finally, with time, good leadership, and the right guidance, people start to embrace the change and transition into this final stage: The New Beginning.
As people achieve clarity on what the new world is going to look like, they see how they will be gaining. The loss of the old world becomes less significant than the gain of the new.
As people start to integrate with the new normal we can expect to see people feeling hopeful for the future. We will witness a release of positive energy and enthusiasm from people.
Leading Transition
Leading Transition
As leaders of change, there is a lot we can do to ensure our stakeholders feel able to move at their own pace through each stage.
Click the image to view more detail.
Leading Through Ending What Has Been
It's important to accept people's resistance and understand their emotions. Allow them time to accept the change and let go. Try to get everyone to talk about what they're feeling – their frustrations, their lack of belief in this new way of doing things. In these conversations, make sure that you listen empathically and communicate openly about the road ahead.
Help people see how their skills and knowledge fit with this new world. Then show how they will be supported towards this new state of being. Explain how you'll give them what they need (for instance, training and resources) to work effectively in the new environment.
People often fear what they don't understand, so the more you can educate them about a positive future, and communicate how their knowledge and skills are an essential part of getting there, the likelier they are to move on to the next stage. Organisations often make and share a powerful case for change. This will describe why the change is needed and what the change is. Finally, it gives a vision for how the future will look and feel.
Leading Through The Neutral Zone
Your guidance is incredibly important as people go through this neutral period. This can be an uncomfortable time because it feels like that we are grinding through the gears and everything seems to be taking a long time – our processes don’t feel slick and we are using new practices which seem to have only limited value. As leaders we must be rigorous role models of the change being made.
Because people might feel a bit lost, create regular reflection time to help them see the path ahead, focus on the team’s goals, and encourage them to talk about what‘s going right and what needs improving.
Meet with your stakeholders frequently and establish mutual feedback. It's also important to set short-term goals during this stage, so that people can experience some quick wins; this will help to improve motivation as well as giving everyone a positive perception of the change effort.
They key thing during this stage is to help people see how they are contributing to the success of the change. You may also need to help people manage their workloads, either by deprioritizing some types of work, or by bringing in extra resources.
Leading Into New Beginnings
As people begin to adopt the change, it's essential that you help them sustain it. Try helping people and teams link their own goals with the long-term objectives of the change.
Take time to celebrate individual and team successes whilst maintaining forward momentum.
Remember that not everyone will reach this stage at the same time, and also remember that people can slip back to previous stages if they think that the change isn't working.
When people make mistakes we should help them to reflect on what has gone wrong and to plan how they will better sustain the new world in future.
Leading Transition with an anAgileMind
We can use Agile values, principles and practices to help lead the transition from old to new:
Inspecting and adapting will be key to continually reviewing where people are in their transition from old to new and the effect this has on our performance
During transition teams will need to apply even greater rigour & discipline to the way we review priorities, understand the team’s capacity and capability and manage customer expectations
Team autonomy will be tested whilst the landscape around the team is unclear. This will require greater coaching skills from leaders
Practices such as retrospectives will be vital if the team wants to assess how far they have come in their transition journey.
Dedicated reflection time can also be used to celebrate small wins, agree new ways of working and keep moving forwards.
Bringing it all together
Change happens quickly for people. Transitioning from the old world towards the new world takes time. The bigger the change for people the longer their transition journey will be. In any case, different people will take different amounts of time to work their way through the stages of transition. Some may never make it.
Leading teams through change can be aided by embracing Agile values and principles and associated practices.
To see similar transition models, see the ideas page on this topic and please let us know your thoughts.