Transitions

One day a colleague invited me to go visit Bill. He was on his way to work with him and I ended up working with him advising him on maybe the best direction to go in terms of his personality and style, and how to build a larger organization.

We ended up merging our companies in the late nineties and we were married at that time. So, we worked as partners together until his death several years ago.

Rachel Salaman: So how new and different was Bill's model of transition when he published his first book, "Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes," which was in 1980?

Susan Bridges: It was very new and different. And change management – different models of change management – were being implemented in companies because of the significant and dramatic changes they were going through. And Bill took it from the more humanistic approach in looking at... When you do strategic planning and change management planning, you're looking at an outcome, you're looking at the end result. What do you want it to be, and what plans and processes do you need to put into place?

Transition management is the human side of change. What is happening with these people who you need to be able to effect a successful change? And so, he started at that time to offer both sides of a change effort – that if you do not pay attention to the human side, and what people are actually experiencing psychologically and emotionally in dealing with the change, [then] you won't have a good outcome with the change.

Rachel Salaman: How well do your clients understand that distinction between change, which as you say is situational, and transition, which is how people experience the change? How do you help them understand that?

Susan Bridges: I have found in organizations that when I describe it to them, I get a long, "Oh!" And they grasp it pretty quickly. They may not be as willing to devote time and energy and resources to going through a process – they may say, "Well, how quickly can we get them through this? Can we push it faster?" And the answer is no, of course.

Individual clients do understand it, and I think it's reassuring to them that there's not something wrong with them, they don't need to panic, they don't need to leave the company, that there is a process. And it's time-tested and true that there are the different phases that people experience in going through transition, and as they start to understand that and come to terms and know what to do during each of those phases, it's reassuring and it helps them [to] come back to a place where they feel that they can manage this.

I think that the hardest part for individuals is that they're thrown into such a state of confusion and anxiety and uncertainty, and they keep wanting to go back to the way things were, or as in 2020, "When can we go back to normal?" So, this process helps them to identify where they are now.

Rachel Salaman: Let's talk a little bit about the three parts to the process. As you say, it has these three parts. First there's an ending, then there's a neutral zone, where people sit with how they feel, and finally, there's a new beginning. Could you talk a little bit more about those three parts and then share with us a personal transition that you went through that helps us understand that process?

Susan Bridges: Endings is very hard for people to understand, and leaders want to start with the beginnings, "Here's what we're going to do now." That's a beginning; it's not a new beginning, it's a start.

Endings is where you have to start when there's a change. It's like, "Whatever I knew to be true is now over, it's gone, it's not there anymore. What do I take from that, what do I learn, how do I identify what I've lost and what I've let go of?"

And then moving into the neutral zone, which is very discomforting because you really don't have your boundaries and your guidelines, and you're kind of feeling your way, and it's uncertain. There are a lot of times when you aren't sure what's going to happen or what to do, and that you need to find a way to have some landmarks there.

Then you go to the new beginning, which is when you have identified, or there are maybe seeds of new growth and ideas and creativity that have come up that you carry forward into a new identity.

I think that the biggest transition that I went through in my life was when I was diagnosed with lymphoma, many years ago. And it was a moderately aggressive lymphoma, and I do remember Bill and I sitting in the doctor's office the afternoon when my doctor told me that I had lymphoma, and I knew what lymphoma was because my father died of lymphoma. So, many of our plans, everything that I thought I was going to do, I didn't, I couldn't.

Then I entered the time of final diagnosis – biopsies, that type of thing – and then determining the kind of treatment, which included surgery and chemotherapy and radiation. During that time, you really don't know what's going to happen, and I started reading more about uncertainty and the discomfort with uncertainty – and that's of course what we talk about in the neutral zone, living comfortably with uncertainty and not knowing the future – and that's very hard for people, it was very hard for me.

But, once I'd kind of relaxed into that, I started to see more creative ideas and possibilities. I started to think and write more, and come up with ideas that could impact our work, and really flesh out that entire experience of being in the neutral zone. So, I look back on that and I have to say that was one of the most creative and richest times of my life.

Now as I came out of treatment, I was advised not to work for two years, and then Bill had a stroke and that upended our lives. It's like completing one transition and moving into the next. So that's another thing that I want to emphasize: transitions happen simultaneously. It's not one transition, you're over it, you're normal and moving on again – your personal life, professional life, is always in transition of some kind.

Rachel Salaman: That's so interesting, so when you were going through your experience with your lymphoma, and when you talk about it now, you clearly map the model onto that experience. When you were actually going through it, were you consciously applying the model?

Susan Bridges: Oh yes, because I knew it so well internally. And that's the thing: you can know this, you can teach it, you can work with it, you can write about it – you still have to go through it.

Rachel Salaman: Bill's first book, "Transitions," was designed to help people going through personal and individual transitions, like the one you just described. About a decade after it was published, in 1991 he published, "Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change," which is aimed at organizations. You were working with him at the time, do you recall how easy it was to adapt the model so that it could be used for groups and systems?

Susan Bridges: Yes, I do remember that time. Bill was a gifted speaker and he spoke in a way that everyone, any person, could find relatable, whether it was a CEO or a teacher or anyone who listened to him. So companies started to invite him in to speak, and as he came in to speak they started to say, "Would you work with us?"

And so, he began to put the ideas into a framework of what was happening in the organization – mergers, acquisitions, new products, competition, that type of thing. From there we developed a training program. First of all, we would work with the senior leaders so that they understood what was taking place, and then we developed versions of the program which addressed the issues of managers and then individual contributors. So, it really caught on.

Rachel Salaman: So that book, "Managing Transitions," is now in its fourth edition which has been revised by you. What's new in that edition?

Susan Bridges: What I did was I went through and I kept the essence of the work because that doesn't change, but I updated examples and stories, developed some new case studies and applications. I interviewed many people in organizations, and just brought in more current thoughts and ideas, issues – examples of that type of thing that were more consistent with what was happening in 2016 when I did this, than it had been years earlier.

Rachel Salaman: So, for a manager going through an organizational change right now, what's your advice for the first part of the transition model, which is the ending?

Susan Bridges: First of all, we help them understand that if you don't manage transition right at the outset, it's going to make the change chaotic.

Then we help them understand what we call the "marathon effect." And if you think about the executives and the board and the leaders of the organization, they've probably spent a couple of years analyzing what needed to be done, what needed to happen – if it was a merger there would have been talks ongoing for a long time. But they've had the opportunity to think through and deal with their own discomforts, and ask the questions back and forth, how to make it effective.

What they tend to do then is to announce it one day to the company, and because they get it now, they expect everyone else to be there with them. You need to realize that once you make the announcement, they're not going to be at the finish line with you.

So, we advise them to communicate why the change is taking place, what led up to it? To communicate often, and to describe what they can that's not confidential. Then to find ways to help employees give a voice to their endings – to allow them the room to talk about and define and describe what is over and how do they feel about it. Then, what other changes are going on in their life that are putting them in transition in that part, because, as I said earlier, this is not a linear process – there will be always be some impacts.

One of the things we do too with leaders is try to get them – back when what we were doing off-sites – is try to get them off-site and then have them go through a very personal transition and work on that. Which oftentimes they were uncomfortable with, but then they got it, then they understood, "OK, this is what it's about." Which helped them have more empathy in working with their employees.

So, as I said, change is only going to be as successful as you are in addressing the transition, and realizing that change puts people in crisis, and the starting point is not going to be the outcome, but with the ending points that people experience in leaving the old situation behind.

Rachel Salaman: Could you share an example that shows how this ending phase can work in practice?

Susan Bridges: I have a very favorite client that I worked with. And when they learned that they were going to be acquired, they obviously went through a lot of difficulty as they started to acknowledge endings, and we were working with them. As I kept working with them, they started to become really engaged in the endings.

They had two big buildings that were connected with a glass walkway. And people had to walk through that glass walkway every day because they needed to be in both buildings. What they did was they set up what they called a "Hall of Fame," and they brought out everything – they brought out all of the photos, everything that they had developed, t-shirts, mugs, awards, that kind of thing – and they just told the story of the company. And it was fascinating to walk through there because you obviously had to take some time and take a look at this.

And at the end of it, when it was time to move on, they kept for their library the stories and the examples and that type of thing, and they gave everything else to charity and then had a celebration of who they were and who they had been and how to cherish that. It was very positive; I just was very impressed.

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Rachel Salaman: So once the ending has been clearly defined, communicated, understood, and felt, importantly, people enter the neutral zone. What's your definition of this in an organizational context?

Susan Bridges: I describe it as an interim period. It's the time between what you knew and what you're moving towards.

It is a time that is uncomfortable. It's a time when it's not clear what's going to happen: who is going to do what? If teams are going to be reorganized, or if it's an acquisition, what's the culture of the new company? But people want to know, "What do I do now? And is my job secure, and will I still be working with the people that I have been working with, and what about this project that I'm working on, and how will that change, and what do I have to do?"

It's a time of insecurity because people have built up skills and expertise over the years, and have a sense of confidence in their competence, and this tends to shake that. And so, what we advise is that people start to create temporary structures. So, for now we're going to do this, for now you will be working with this team, here's what you're going to do.

And during that time there's an opportunity to start to explore different ways of working, different ways of approaching a project, different ways of addressing an issue. And if it's in a manner – if it's presented in a manner – where people feel that it's safe to brainstorm and throw out ideas, whether they're good or not, knowing that sifting through that some pretty good possibilities may come, that's what that time is about.

It doesn't mean that you're going to not miss people or regret what you were doing before, but now you're exploring new ways of being.

Rachel Salaman: As you've outlined, the neutral zone can be a difficult time – what dangers should people be aware of?

Susan Bridges: One of the dangers of the neutral zone is that leaders and managers are often uncomfortable with emotions, and they try to ride over the process – or, as someone came to me one day during a workshop and said, "What can we do to get them through the neutral zone faster?" So that's something to be aware of.

And the other thing is that managers will encounter resistance, and they don't know why. And, again, it's the inability or the difficulty with letting go that causes people to be resistant, and then it's important to really communicate with them.

Rachel Salaman: You mentioned timing there, and in the individual version of this model we're encouraged to stay in the neutral zone for as long as we feel we need to. So, during organizational change, does everyone need to go through the transition out of the neutral zone together? How does the timing usually work?

Susan Bridges: Well, that's not possible! Because it would be possible to start doing new things in synchrony, but you have to remember that there still may be parts of the work that are undefined, or not clarified, and emotionally people are going to be all over. [As] I keep saying, it's not a linear process.

So, you can be absolutely ready for a new beginning, and ready to move into it, but still have some questions and doubts and concerns, and occasionally – when things aren't working well – longing for what you knew and was good in the past. So, communication is absolutely the key to keep defining where are we now, what are the new structures, what are the new guidelines for this phase. "Where are we going?" And then describe it organizationally, but recognize that people's emotions may be a little inconsistent.

Rachel Salaman: The final step, new beginning – in this step there are four Ps to think about, which are Purpose, Picture, Plan and Part to play. What tips can you share with us about how those four Ps work together in the context of a new beginning?

Susan Bridges: It's very helpful for leaders to be able to define the four Ps. As you move into the new beginning, people cannot overcommunicate during this time. And it's also really important for senior leaders and managers to try to use the same language in what they're describing.

So, we may want to give people a sense again of the purpose: why are we doing this and what do we hope to attain by this? But to continue to say, "This is the reason we're doing this, this is how we came to this decision," and then to form a picture of it – help people get, if not a visual, but just an idea of what the new situation will be and could be – is very helpful.

To share the plan of how this is going to take place... What have we put in place here for the steps of the process, and what different teams and organizations, and who is going to be doing what? And then finally, what is the individual's part, what is your part? You in this group, in this team, are you leading this team? What is your part, what is your role, is important to understand.

Rachel Salaman: So, after the four Ps, what else do you recommend for managing this final part of the transition?

Susan Bridges: I would describe this as new beginnings, and that each phase well-integrated will flow into the next. And to remember the marathon effect, that we talked about earlier. And, as you move into the new beginning, don't stop what you're doing: keep communicating, keep alive, keep dynamic, keep talking about what's happening. It's not that, "OK, we took this seminar, we went through transition, we get it and now it's done." But this is a new beginning – it's a new way of living and it needs to be reinforced and it needs to be kept alive for people.

Rachel Salaman: There's a section in the book that deals with "non-stop change," and 2020 has seen more non-stop change than many of us could imagine. How can we make the transition to change as "the norm," as Bill puts it in the book?

Susan Bridges: My advice – and my counsel, in working with both individuals and companies – is that the more you can determine the difference between change and transition, and the more comfortable you can become with transition, and always use that lens to look at what's happening in any part of your life, the more resilient you become.

The resilience is: still you're very upset, you're very distraught, you're frustrated, you're confused, but you know where you are and you know that there's a path and there's a process, and that you will get through this and something else will come up, and then you can identify where you are in the transition process. But you get more comfortable with the fact that both change and transition are going to be with us – [they] have always been with us but are more predominantly with us and visible now.

Rachel Salaman: Now, trust in the people making decisions in turbulent times is really important to motivate teams and hold them together. What are some tips for building and maintaining trust, especially in virtual teams?

Susan Bridges: I think it's very important... Again, I keep coming back to communicate, communicate: talk about what you know, what you don't know. The problem with virtual teams – while it's been very successful and companies are starting to think about maybe a certain percentage of our workforce would be better off being virtual – but you do miss out by not being on-site. You miss out on the casual hallway conversations and popping in and out of someone's office to just stay in touch with what's happening, who's doing what.

And it seems that people are on Zoom calls all day, every day. And they become very intense and it becomes hard to have these kinds of casual conversations that really hold people together, and keep a shared vision, and get new information that will help them in the work that they're doing.

I think that finding new ways to stay in touch with people, as they work virtually, is going to be important. Because they may not see the visible effects of what people are experiencing in transition, [then] they want to, again, overcommunicate and just be as honest as they can with what's happening, and even the things they're not sure about. And that builds trust.

Rachel Salaman: Great, that all makes perfect sense. Just before you go Susan, the word transition has taken on a very specific meaning in recent years, used when someone changes an aspect of their identity, for example their gender. I just wondered if you had any thoughts on that, since your work is all about transitions.

Susan Bridges: I have not specifically worked with groups, or even with individuals, but anecdotally and in my network and with people who write to me and people I talk with, they are going through transition, and the name of what they're going through if they are transitioning. And, again, what I try to do in my own mind is recognize that they're changing from one gender to another, or whatever their process may be.

I had a fabulous conversation in an Uber one day with someone. I asked him about the underlying, the emotions, the feelings, that he was experiencing at each stage of this transition into the new identity. So, that's what I would suggest to other people, ask the questions that are about the internal transition while they are going through, what's being defined as, the external transition.

Rachel Salaman: Susan Bridges, thanks very much for joining us today.

Susan Bridges: Thank you, Rachel. It's been a pleasure.

Rachel Salaman: The two books we discussed were, "Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes," and, "Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change," both by William Bridges Ph.D. with Susan Bridges.

I'll be back in a few weeks with another Mind Tools Expert Interview from Emerald Works. Until then, goodbye.