In Managing Transitions, organizational change consultants William and Susan Bridges offer a step-by-step guide to support organizational leaders in effectively managing change. They argue that the external changes we experience are not nearly as challenging as our internal, emotional process of coming to terms with those changes, and therefore it’s critical that organizational leaders support their teams through the internal transition process.
William and Susan Bridges collaboratively run William Bridges Associates, a consulting firm dedicated to helping organizational leaders better manage the “human-side of change.” Both well-renowned experts in the field of change management, the couple has published multiple books on the topic. Leaders and management consultants still use the Bridges Transition Model, developed by William Bridges in 1979, as a tool for navigating the challenges of organizational change.
In this guide, we’ve organized the authors’ ideas into three parts:
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William and Susan Bridges explain that to effectively manage transitions, you must first understand the difference between a change and a transition. In this section, we’ll start by defining these key terms.
The authors make an important distinction between change and transition:
(Shortform note: While psychologists have long distinguished between external changes and how humans internally process those changes, the language of “change” and “transition” became more common after the introduction of the Bridges Transition Model. When defining the difference between change and transition, psychologists often cite the work of William and Susan Bridges. Psychologists have applied the Bridges...
In the previous section, we defined the difference between change and transition. Next, we’ll briefly discuss why it’s critical for organizational leaders to learn how to manage transition effectively.
Simply put, organizational leaders must learn to manage transition because every organization experiences transition. All organizations will naturally change over the course of their lifetime as they grow from an idea to a start-up to an established company. A well-managed transition is critical if an organization is to move successfully from one stage of its evolution to the next.
(Shortform note: William and Susan Bridges emphasize the importance of managing people through the stages of organizational growth. Implicit in their argument is the importance of broader cultural change during these periods of transition: Get enough people (or the right people) on board, and it triggers the necessary cultural change for the organization to evolve. But just like internal psychological transitions, [cultural change can’t be...
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In the previous section, we touched on the importance of managing transitions in the context of the organizational life cycle, and the impact of revitalization in the longevity of an organization. In the next section, we’ll expand on the idea of transition and introduce the three phases of transition in the Bridges Transition Model:
In order to successfully implement changes, organizational leaders must guide their teams through each phase of this transition process intentionally.
(Shortform note: For each stage of transition, the authors outline a different set of management strategies. While the suggested strategies are...
The Bridges Transition Model makes a clear distinction between change and transition. William and Susan Bridges suggest that being able to effectively manage change requires understanding the difference between the two.
Think of a change you experienced recently in a professional context. Describe what changed.
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When leading a team through a transition, William and Susan Bridges recommend the following strategies for each stage of the transition process: planning ahead, leading with empathy, and communicating with intention. Imagine that you’re crafting a transition plan that accounts for each of these strategies.
Think of a change that needs to be implemented at work. Briefly describe it here.