Fluent Essays

following the book I give Read:Bridges and Bridges- Chapter 3 The answers to your quiz questions are always in last weeks readings. 1. What are the two ways of looking at and responding to change? Which is the more fruitful area of discovery? 2. What is the difference between conscious and unconscious incompetence? 3. Explain Kob’s learning cycle. 4. What would you do to maximize learning if you were writing a book on change? 5. Which are you: an activist, reflector, theorist, or pragmatist? Why? 6. Explain the four ways behaviourism uses positive or negative rewards or punishments. 7. Explain which beliefs/assumptions that managers had had better results according to McGregor? 8. Why do you think that Herzberg’s hygiene factors did not motivate workers? 9. How is setting goals important in the cognitive approach to change? 10. Write your own affirmation. What do you feel when you read it? What do you see? What would you hear? 11. In the Kubler-Ross model briefly describe the 5 adjustments in the process of change. 12. In Schein’s model describe the two principals for transformative change. 13. What are the four guidelines for the four approaches for managers of change? 4th Edition • OVER 650,000 COPIES SOLD THE BEST-SELLING GUIDE TO DEALING WITH THE HUMAN SIDE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MAKING THE MOST OF CHANGE TransItIons William Bridges , PhD with Susan Bridges Author of the best-selling Transitions Foreword by PAT RIC K lEN C ION I, best-selling author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team PRAISE FOR Managing Transitions "Pick up any business book today and you will find words about unending change. What better guide for this unrelenting change than someone who has spenr decades studying and reporting on how to survive it? If you need that guide-grab this book! William and Susan Bridges provide a road map to get through the most difficult work and life passages." -Beverly Kaye, founder, Career Systems International; coauthor, Love <Em or Lose <Em "This richly updated new edition of insightful Managing Transitions, by William Bridges, filled with fresh and compelling examples, will be indis- pensable for leaders trying to guide their organizations through a period of unsettling change by managing the pain and uncertainty of the neutral zone. A timely update to a timeless book." -Sally Helgesen, author, The Female Vision, The Web of Inclusion, The Female Advantage, and Thriving in 2417 "Managing change is a way of life in today's organizations, yet too often it's handled poorly. That's why Managing Transitions has become the essential guide on how to do it right. This new, revised edition deftly guides the reader through the organizational change process from start to finish, offer- ing practical advice grounded in the authors' vast experience working with every size and type of organization. This book is must reading for every leader, manager, and employee undergoing a change process. Come to think of it, doesn't that include just about everyone?" -John Alexander, president, Leadership Horizons and former president and CEO of the Center for Creative Leadership "The most important idea I have encountered about organizational change is this: great change requires human transition. Decades of experience have proven that no magic set of steps, no financial incentive, no clever argu- ment, and no threat can guarantee that a workforce will embrace change. People need real help in psychologically transitioning to a new situation- and that help is available here. In this fourth edition of Managing Transitions, William and Susan Bridges further expand their proven ap- proach for helping people and organizations embrace real change." -Walter McFarland, coauthor of Choosing Change and board chair emeritus for the Association for Talent "Managing Transitions is an essential guide for leaders and Chief People Officers who are navigating transitions and change within any organiza- tion, It is also a handbook in life for dealing with endings, new beginnings, and the disruptive 'neutral zone' in between. This book provides a pathway to human and authentic leadership and a way to gracefully navigate through the changes we all face in life." -Gabrielle Toledano, EVP and chief talent officer, Electronic Arts, Inc. "Susan Bridges has done something generous, courageous, and brilliant with her updating of this classic and treasured book by Bill Bridges. In a collaborative process with the ideas of her late husband and business part- ner, she has made the language, concepts, and examples fresh again and available to a new audience. Bill's ideas have been fundamental to my own practice, and now they will inspire a new generation of leaders and change-makers to be wise, humane, and strategic, as they move their com- plex organizations through an increasingly challenging and complex set of realities." -B. Kim Barnes, CEO, Barnes & Conti Associates and author of Exercising Influence: Making Things Happen at Work, at Home, and In Your Community "Change is constant in today's global business environment, and yet change management continues to be a challenge for most organizations. That's why Managing Transitions remains an important book; it identifies the critically important role that understanding the human side of transition plays in effective change management. This updated edition is a must-read for any- one who wants to lead change successfully." -Tony Bingham, president and CEO for the Association for Talent Development Managing Transitions OTHER BOOKS BY WILLIAM BRIDGES Transitions The ~y of Transition JobShift Creating You & Co. The Character of Organizations Surviving Corporate Transition A Year in the Life Managing Transitions MAKING THE MOST OF CHANGE 4TH EDITION By William Bridges, PhD, with Susan Bridges Oa Capo C\J II FE LONG A Member of the Perseus Books Group Copyright © 2016 by William Bridges Associates Foreword © 2016 by Patrick Lencioni All rights reserved. No part of thi s publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address Da Capo Press, 44 Farnsworth Street, 3rd Floor, Bosto n, MA 02210 Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in rhis book and Da Capo Press was aware of a trademark claim, th e designations have been printed in initial capital letters. Editorial production by Lori Hobkirk at the Book Factory Designed by Cynthia Young Set in Adobe Garamond Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Bridges, William, 1933- author. I Bridges, Susan Mitchell, author. Tide: Managing transitions: making the mOSt of change / by William Bridges,PhD , with Susan Bridges. Description : 4th edition. 1 Boston, MA: Da Capo Lifelong Books, [2016)1 Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016035565 (p rint) I LCCN 2016048583 (ebook) I ISBN 9780738219653 (ha rdcover : a1k. paper) I ISBN 9780738219660 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Organizational change-Management. I Industrial management. I Personnel management. Classification: LCC HD58 .8 .B75 2016 (print) 1 LCC HD58.8 (ebook) 1 DDC 658.4/06--dc23 LC record available at https:lllccn.loc.govI2016035565 Published by Da Ca po Press, an imprint of Perseus Books , a subsidiary of H achette Book Group, Inc. www.dacapopress.com Da Capo Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the U.S. by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Depa rtment at th e Perseus Books Group, 2300 C hes tnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail [email protected] 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Dedicated to the memory of WiLLiam Bridges and the legacy he left Contents Acknowledgments IX Foreword by Patrick Lencioni xi Introduction xiii PART ONE: THE PROBLEM 1 It Isn't the Changes That Do You In 1 2 A Test Case 13 PART TWO: THE SOLUTION 3 How to Get People to Let Go 27 4 Leading People through the Neutral Zone 45 5 Launching a New Beginning 65 6 Transition, Development, and Renewal 87 PART THREE: DEALING WITH NONSTOP CHANGE IN THE ORGANIZATION AND IN YOUR LIFE 7 How to Deal with Nonstop Change 109 PART FOUR: THE CONCLUSION 8 A Practice Case 133 9 Conclusion 151 Afterword: by Steven Kelban 155 APPENDICES A: Assessing Your Transition Readiness 159 B: Planning for Transition 163 C: Setting Up a Transition Monitoring Team 167 D: Career Advice for Employees of Organizations in Transition 173 E: The Leader's Role in Times of Transition 177 Index 183 About the Authors 189 vii Acknowledgments One rainy evening in Paris just before New Year's 2015 , I was leaving my hotel for dinner when an email arrived. Would I be interested in doing a revision of Managing Transitions for its twenty-fifth anniversary? While the original concepts had remained timely and relevant, this was the perfect occasion to bring my thoughts for fresh and updated material, stories, and case studies into the work. Of course I would! It has been inspiring over the years to hear how clients have developed the lifelong skills to manage transitions in their organizations and individ- uallives. It is gratifYing to learn from them and share with you the ways in which they harness power for continued growth, renewal, and improved lives. Consultants, experts, clients, and colleagues enthusiastically contrib- uted perspective, expertise, and stories about the global impact of change and how it puts organizations and industries in nonstop transition. Their generous time and engagement made all the difference in these updates. My thanks to each of you. A toast to Claire Ivett, my editor, who has been delightfully supportive, encouraging me every step of the way. Alex Camlin , creative designer, brought forth a lovely new cover for the book. Kevin Hanover and Jillian Farrel in marketing have steadily done wonders to keep this book alive. Lissa Warren, publicist, has provided timely coaching and significant re- sults over the decades. I am especially grateful to John Radziewicz for his quiet guidance over the years. A special thanks to John Flood for his considerable expertise in con- ducting research and interviews, and for his editorial assistance. Out friends at Linkage, Inc. have been valued partners in delivering William Bridges' certification and training programs during the past IX x Acknowledgments decade. I continue to be delighted with their innovative and leading-edge ideas about how to keep our materials fresh, stimulating, and creative. They have reached thousands more than we ever could have on our own. Thank you for keeping the legacy alive. As members of The Learning Network-a consortium of thought lead- ers, writers, and consultants in the field of leadership--Bill and I formed many deep friendships with our colleagues during the past twenty years. I am deeply grateful for your advice, wisdom, humor, and comfort. To my dearest friends, and Bill's, and our families, I treasure you for your encouragement throughout this process. Bill and I met nearly thirty years ago as professional colleagues, married a decade later, merged our businesses, and began an extraordinary journey. We shared a mutual respect, laughter, support, encouragement, and stead- fast love through the years, as we partnered in life and work. In navigating the transitions in my own life since Bill's passing in 2013, I continue to be inspired by his timeless wisdom. I am reminded daily that the essence of life lies in transition, where hope and creativity, insight, and possibiliry reside. He leaves a rich legacy in his work, which continues today. -Susan Bridges, 2016 Foreword by Pat Lencioni July 2016 Bill Bridges' work on transition has played such a fundamental role in my life, personally and professionally, that it is hard for me to know how to describe its power. So I'll start with how I came to learn about it. I first met Bill 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. Bill was kind and patient with me, a twenty-three-year-old searching for a meaningful career. Little did I know I would be spending the next thirty years using his work to help clients, friends, and family members navigate the most difficult and productive times in their lives. The breadth of people and situations I've seen benefit from the transi- tion management model is astounding. From my CEO clients who are trying to merge two companies or introduce a new product line, to a priest who is trying to reform his religious order, to a family friend struggling with a new baby or a new job or the departure of her last child going off to college, every last person I've introduced to Bill Bridges' work has had the same reaction. "This changes everything." 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 manag- ing change, and they're at a loss for why it's not working. And then they learn about the Bridges transition model and realize that change and tran- sition are very different animals. They finally come to grips with the fact that the human element, the wonderfully unpredictable part of business and leadership and life that academics and experts so often overlook, is the difference between success and failure, between transformational growth Xl xii Foreword by Pat Lencioni and painful decline. I will never get tired of seeing clients and friends expe- rience the palpable relief they experience when it all comes together. Beyond the jaw-dropping power of Bill's ideas, there is the timelessness of it all. It is as relevant and easily applicable today as it was when he first taught it to me back in the 1980s. At the time, it would have been easy for me to wonder whether the power of Bill's principles was merely a function of the kindness and thoughtfulness of the man who was standing there teaching it to me. Three decades later, even after Bill has passed on, it is clear that his ideas continue to serve in profound ways . I hope you are able to find as much relief, encouragement, and insights in this book as thousands and thousands of others have over the years. In- cluding me. Diseases always attack men when they are exposed to change. -HERODOTUS, GREEK HISTORIAN (FIFTH CENTURY BCE) Introduction I t has been twenty-five years since the publication of the first edition of Managing Transitions. In working with organizations and individuals over the years, we've heard everyone talk about how much faster change is occurring. Indeed, many people feel that they have never before experienced the types of unprecedented changes that they are now. Once-powerful companies unable to nimbly manage transitions have vanished, industries across the board are reinventing themselves, and in many cases government is transforming the whole game. All around us we see the ways in which technology is altering how business is done. Start- ups are disrupting well-established industries. The Internet, social network- ing platforms, and mobile applications have transformed the entire nature of communications. We are now in a 24/7 environment where informa- tion is found and shared instantly, with far-reaching implications on gov- ernments and societies. Those organizations that refuse to adapt will be left out in the cold, while more savvy competitors will leap ahead. Adapting to the realities of this new world, leaders are confronted with a serious problem: in a quickly transforming landscape, they must be able to move their organizations from an initial idea to full-scale implementa- tion with little to no time for employees to adjust to the new way of doing things. What's more, they must contend with a pervasive sense of Xlll xiv Introduction economic uncertainty. Employees are uneasy about their financial future and wonder how long the tumultuous economic environment will last, what will happen next, and if they will "make it." Meanwhile, the workforce itself continues to change. There is more diversity and inclusion of people with different cultural and religious back- grounds in the workforce, more women in leadership roles, colleagues from multiple generations, and often workets in remote locations. People must be allowed to think for themselves, work both independently and collaboratively with greater flexibility, be creative, take risks, and go the extra mile for the customer for optimal results. Employees have to bring both their hearts and their minds to work. But how are leaders to encour- age this when many people are paralyzed by fear and worried about their ability to make mortgage payments, pay down debt, provide childcare, and cover health care costs? We know that managing people and organizations during times of tu- multuous change are some of the most difficult tasks a leader faces. We are beginning to get glimmers of the future, but there are still many unknowns and much uncertainty. During such times, a leader might be tempted to take short cuts, or to focus on new tactics for accomplishing quick results. We caution against that. But the good news is that while the changes we are facing differ from any we've experienced before, the transition process by which people get through change is well mapped. There are many things about this new world that we cannot yet understand, but we do know what change does to people and how to help them get through it. It is helpful to remember the essential insight at the heart of our first book, Transitions: "Chaos is not a mess, but rather it is the primal state of pure energy to which the person returns for every true new beginning .... " In managing the transitions that flow from the changes, we have a set of oars that is tried and true. As we step back from the unknown aspects of the changes, we can gain comfort from knowing that we understand what is happening and know how to navigate through the multiple transitions we are experiencing. We find that there is a way to get from one place to another. First, it is still true, as we wrote in 1991, that the results you are seek- ing depend on getting people to stop doing things the old way and get- ting them to start doing things a new way. And since people have a personal connection with how they work, there is just no way to do that im perso nall y. And, second, transition management is based on some abilities you al- ready have and some techniques you can easily learn. It isn't an undertak- ing that will offend anyone 's sense of personal privacy, theirs or yours. Instead, it is a way of dealing with people that makes everyone feel more comfortable. We have shared a lifelong interest in organizational change and why it does not happen, even when logic and common sense seem to be on its side. We have spent decades consulting with organizations of all kinds- private, government, non-profit, and social-as specialists in helping peo- ple through organizational change. We have learned how self-defeating it is to try to overcome people's resistance to change without addressing the threat the change poses to their world. Practicing transition management skills taps into innate wisdom that you have sharpened through the years, and gives tools and methods for learning new ways. Understanding this will give you the opportunity to lead with confidence, communicate with clarity, and reassure your people that they are following a roadmap. People can take comfort in the message that we've been here before. We're not saying that transition management is easy-just that you can do it. This is a good thing, since you don't really have a choice. If you want to know where-and how-to start charting a way through chaos, this book is for you. Introduction xv PART ONE The Problem The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names. -CHINESE PROVERB It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead-and find no one there. -FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT, AMERICAN PRESIDENT It Isn't the Changes That Do You In I t isn't the changes that will do you in; it's the transitions. They aren't the same thing. Change is situational: the move to a new site, a new CEO replaces the founder, the reorganization of the roles on the team, and new technology. Transition, on the other hand, is psychological; it is a three-phase process that people go through as they internalize and come to terms with the details of the new situation that the change brings about. Even though you probably won't find it in the change document, tran- sition isn't an optional "if-you-get-around-to-it" add-on to the change; it's not icing on the cake that can be forgotten until things ease up and you've finished with the important stuff. Getting people through the transition is essential if the change is actually to work as planned. When a change hap- pens without people going through a transition, it is just a rearrangement of the chairs. It's what people mean when they say, "Just because every- thing has changed, doesn't mean anything is different around here." It is what has gone wrong when some highly touted change ends up costing a lot of money and producing disappointing results. But as important as 3 CHAPTER 1 4 Managing Transitions going through transition is to getting the results that organizations are seeking, they lack a language for talking about it. Here's an example. Benetton, the big, Italian clothing firm, came up with a promising-sounding diversification plan. l It decided to buy some top-notch sporting goods companies-Nordica ski boots, Kastle (later Nordica) skis, Rollerblade in-line skates, Prince tennis rackets, and Killer Loop snowboards-with the idea that buyers of those brands could also be sold cross-marketed workout and after-workout clothing made by Benetton. It sounded like an interesting idea, and Benetton spent almost $1 bil- lion buying the companies. It went about things, as big companies often do-by imagining that everyone would be delighted to become part of a super-successful international brand. It folded the companies into its new parent, seeking the kinds of synergies and economies of scale that are al- ways featured in stories about acquisitions . It began by combining the sales forces and marketing groups and tightened the bonds by moving the units in question to the site of the new Benetton Sportsystem division in Bor- dentown, New Jersey. The trouble was that, in the words of the man who subsequently tried to save the acquisitions after things had headed south, "The people who are in these businesses are often in them because they love that activity . . .. If you sap that, you have nothing-internally or competitively." At Roller- blade, for example, employees spent their lunch hours skating through Minneapolis' lovely lakeside parks and playing roller hockey outside the headquarters building. Benetton hadn 't thought through the implications of that fact-or of the impact of terminating a large percentage of the em- ployees, three-quarters of them at Rollerblade. The man trying to save the acquisitions got the twenty-one survivors to move to New Jersey but only by giving many of them raises, promotions, and a promise that if they wanted to return to Minnesota within a year of the move, they'd be moved back at no charge and receive severance pack- ages of up to two years. When they got to New Jersey, many of them found that they were reporting to (former) Nordica reps. (That was better than what happened to the tennis racket crew from Prince, who were all fired.) The bottom line-that mythic measure that justifies anything-was that during the year when all this happened, Benetton went from making a u.s. profit of $5 million to posting a loss of $31 million. Incidentally, It Isn't the Changes That Do You In 5 twenty out of the twenty-one Rollerbladers took the company up on its offer and moved back to Minnesota. Not all mismanaged transitions turn out so badly, but this one contains just about all the elements. Managing transition involves not just whop- ping financial deals but the simple process of helping people through three phases: Time --------i.~ The Neutral Zone Figure 1.1 The three phases of transition. 1. Letting go of the old ways and the old identity people had. This first phase of transition is an ending and the time when you need to help people to deal with their losses. 2. Going through an in-between time when the old is gone but the new isn't fully operational. We call this time the "neutral zone": it's when the critical psychological realignments and repatternings take place. 3. Coming out of the transition and making a new beginning. This is when people develop the new identity, experience the new energy, and discover the new sense of purpose that makes the change begin to work. Because transition is a process by which people unplug from an old world and plug into a new world, we can say that transition begins with an ending and finishes with a beginning. 6 Managing Transitions In its disastrous sortie into sporting goods, Benetton managed the change-combining staffs and moving them-and forgot the transition. They had a difficult ending, which the planners of the change didn't even acknowledge. The employees incurred huge psychological losses (a fa- vored location, a corporate identity tied to an activity they loved, the esprit de corps that comes from shared interests, and involvement in a curting-edge activity), and the company treated those losses as just an- other cash deal. The company neither offered nor acknowledged the need for any support during the difficult neutral zone, and its notion of help in making a new beginning was new titles and higher performance targets. Changes of any sort-even though they may be justified in economic or technological terms-finally succeed or fail based on whether the people affected do things differently. Do the employees let go of the old way of doing things, go through that difficult time between the old way and the new, and come out doing things the new way? If companies don't help employees through these three phases, even the most wonderful training programs often fall flat. The leaders forget endings and neutral zones; they try to start with the final stage of transition. And they can't see what went wrong! In another example, an insurance company launched a program to generate cost-saving ideas . I don't know what it cost, but it must have been expensive since it involved coordinating the activities and output of forry-eight teams. The director of the effort reported (with no apparent awareness of the irony of what he was saying) that this was the most cre- ative idea submitted to date, which supported the best intentions of the program, and had a potential annualized savings of $140,000. If paper inserted into a fax machine is inserted sideways, it will cut transition time 15 percent. But then he added that he thought they'd have trouble im- plementing the idea because it would mean changing behavior. 2 Well, scratch that idea! Let's find one that doesn't mean changing behavior. All the significant ones involve changing behavior, you ask? Turning the paper 90 degrees before you put it in the fax machine is a minor change compared to the behavior changes needed to make a merger, a reorganization, or a new corporate strategy work. Those changes trigger thousands of smaller changes, all of which require people to stop It Isn't the Changes That Do You In 7 doing things an old way-which earned them rewards, gave them the satisfaction that comes from doing things "right," and got them the re- sults that made them feel successful-and try new and unfamiliar behaviors. What happens in such a case reminds me of one of my early transition management projects, which involved setting up self-managed teams in a factory of a 105-year-old company. The company offered workshops (pretty good ones actually) on how self-managed teams work, but they offered no help to the supervisors who had to let go of "supervising" and start "facilitating" those teams. In other words they had to stop being "bosses" and work in a more collaborative manner with peers, which called for a big change in mindset and behavior. At the end of one of these workshops the instructor asked if there were any questions . "Yeah, " growled a grizzled old supervisor. "Will you run that 'fassiltating thing' by me one more time? " The idea of no longer telling people what to do and punishing them when they didn't do it was so incomprehensible to the man that he just couldn't say the word for what he was supposed to do in its place. Several important differences between change and transition are over- looked when people think of transition as simply gradual or unfinished change or when they use change and transition interchangeably. 3 With a change, you naturally focus on the outcome that the change produces. If you move from California to New York City, the change involves cross- ing the country and then learning your way around the Big Apple. The same is true of your organization's change to a service culture or its reor- ganization into global teams. In such cases the affected people have to understand the new arrangements and how they'll be affected by these changes.