Managing Transitions (25th anniversary edition): Making the Most of Change

I am a certified Career Counselor and taught in my University's Career Development Program since the 1980's. I recently gave a copy of this book to a good friend who was moving to a new location. It is the best book regarding TRANSITIONS I've ever read. Highly Recommended as a text book and lay person's guide.

Imagine this! Patrick Lencioni at age 23: “I first met [William Bridges] before I knew he was a world-renowned author and thinker. I was introduced to him for an informational interview of sorts, just to learn about the world of organizational consulting.”Fast forward to Lencioni’s foreword in the 25th anniversary edition of "Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change." Lencioni writes, “All too often, people and organizations that are confronted with change find themselves struggling and don’t know why. They’ve applied every practical solution, quantitative method, and technical approach to managing change, and they’re at a loss for why it’s not working."Lencioni adds (with gratefulness), “And then they learn about the Bridges transition model and realize that change and transition are very different animals.”I never met William Bridges, but here’s what I said in my 2007 review of this national bestseller:Bridges writes, “Imagine that the change [you’re planning] is a cue ball rolling across the surface of a pool table. There are lots of other balls on the table, and it’s going to hit a few of them, some because you planned it that way and some unintentionally. Try to foresee as many of those hits as you can.”When this book was first published in 1991, it was recognized as the definitive guide to dealing with change. It still holds that position. If it’s not on your organization’s resource shelf, it needs to be.William Bridges writes, “It isn’t the changes that do you in, it’s the transitions. Change is not the same as transition. Change is situational: the new site, the new boss, the new team roles, the new policy. Transition is the psychological process people go through to come to terms with the new situation. Change is external, transition is internal.”Being the boss is not always what it’s cracked up to be. When the book was first published, according to Bridges, employees were winning more than half of the wrongful discharge cases filed. “Stress-related disability, including the claimed stress of working for you, is another increasingly common complaint.”The 25th anniversary edition describes the book as “the best-selling guide to dealing with the human side of organizational change.” I’ve recommended the book to almost every one of my clients.Change is a given—but how thoughtful leaders, managers, and board members handle the psychological impact of transitions requires both understanding the problem and executing three critical steps:Step 1: Understand that transition begins with letting go of something. (See also Henry Cloud’s insights in Necessary Endings, my 2011 book-of-the-year.)Step 2: Enter the neutral zone (the no man’s land between the old reality and the new). Some will abort in this zone, not wanting the pain. But it’s also the place where creativity, renewal and development will often occur. “The neutral zone is thus a dangerous and opportune place, and it is the very core of the transition process.”Step 3: Celebrate the new beginning, but it’s often torpedoed because leaders don’t mark an appropriate end to the neutral zone (or skip it altogether). The new beginning can only be effective when your people go through the first two steps.I love books that include pithy quotations—and I counted a whopping 87 quotes in the generous margins, including this from G.K. Chesterton: “An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly understood. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly understood.”Before you announce the next big change at your organization, read this book!

This book was purchased for my college course. There are many concepts throughout that can be applied at any job/career. I found it very useful to apply for any aspect of life transition as well.

Informative and easy to read with case studies. One you can refer back to as necessary.

Change is situational—stuff happens—but transition is psychological. And psychological transition is a three-step process: Ending (grieving the loss of what used to be); the Neutral Zone (that period of uncertainty between the old and the new); and the New Beginning (launching the new adventure). It’s vital for a leader to help people move through each of these stages. Transitional leadership requires insightful, persistent and attuned leadership, or both the organizational and personal costs are great. By definition, endings cause losses for those involved, and proper endings must allow people to grieve the loss of what used to be. It’s much like losing a friend or a loved one. The grief of such a loss takes time and requires steps of grieving, which may not be skipped without significant consequences. The Neutral Zone represents the period between the ending of the old and the New Beginning. Filled with uncertainty and angst, this period typically takes time but is the place where innovation most often takes root. Remember, it took Moses 40 years to lead the Israelites through the desert! Finally, the New Beginning marks the shift from the old to the new and can inject new energy and purpose to make change work; however, many insecurities and doubts are associated with anything new. Throughout these three transition phases and the entire transition process, leaders must model the way by being engaged, sympathetic and intrepid. Above all, leaders need to communicate often and transparently about the transition—not ignore or shy away from it.

The book was concise yet full of necessary information. I ended up highlighting many sections and I’m sure I will be referring back to this book again.

I read this for a colleague. Let's get this out of the way: it's a business book. I'm not a fan of the genre, and if you are, you might want to consider refocusing your reading on novels and such.That having been said, this one has nice, concrete examples of poorly managed transitions (mistakes are useful to learn from).On the other hand, the authors over-state the distinction between "change" and "transition." I don't find it useful when people try to dictate nuance, trying to turn definitions of words into "ah ha" moments of insight into reality. Words are just grunting noises in the end.I think a good use of the book is to compare communication practices in your company with what is recommended and not recommended in this book. If that is all you get out of this book, you might get your money's worth right there.

Change is a constant in our world today. Transition is more about how we handle/manage the changes that are coming our way. This is a great book that examines how people/leaders/organizations handle that different aspect of change. so much has changed in the past few years, and yet lots of people have no clue as to how to make the transitions to the new realities. This book will definitely help.