Meet with your people frequently to give feedback on how they're performing, especially with regard to change. Remind them of team goals, and encourage them to talk about what they're feeling. What the change even is and where you're headed may be unclear during the neutral zone, so let the team know that it's OK to feel lost or unsettled. This can be an uncomfortable time, because it can seem unproductive, and it can seem that little progress is being made. Your guidance is incredibly important as people go through this neutral period. This is a great time to encourage people to try new ways of thinking or working. Skepticism about the change initiative.ĭespite these, this stage can also be one of great creativity, innovation, and renewal.Anxiety about their role, status or identity.Resentment towards the change initiative.Think of this phase as the bridge between the old and the new – people may still be attached to the old, and it probably won't yet be clear what the new even is. Depending on how well you're managing the change, they may also experience a higher workload as they get used to new systems and new ways of working. In this stage, people affected by the change are often confused, uncertain, and impatient. 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. Explain how the best parts of the past will be remembered and celebrated, but equally how you'll give people what they need (training and resources, for example) in the new environment. Įmphasize how people will be able to apply their accumulated skills, experience, and knowledge once you've implemented the change. In these conversations, make sure that you listen empathically and communicate openly. Encourage everyone to talk about their memories, to express what they will (and won't!) miss, and what they're proud of having achieved. Allow them time to reflect on the current situation before demanding that they let go of it. It's important to accept people's resistance, and understand their emotions. If you don't acknowledge the emotions that people are going through, you'll likely encounter resistance throughout the entire change process. People have to accept that something is ending before they can begin to accept the new idea. This stage is often marked with resistance and emotional upheaval, because people are being forced to let go of something that they are comfortable with.Īt this stage, people may experience these emotions: People enter this initial stage of transition when you first present them with change. Mind Tools Club members can listen to our Expert Interview with Susan Bridges, business partner and spouse of the late William Bridges, and learn more about the Transitions Model directly from Susan. Let's examine each stage in greater detail. Reprinted by permission of Da Capo Lifelong Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc. For example, those who are comfortable with the change will likely move ahead to stage three quickly, while others will linger at stages one or two.įrom Managing Transitions by William Bridges, copyright 1991, 2003, 2009, 2017.

These are:īridges says that people will go through each stage at their own pace. The model highlights three stages of transition that people go through when they experience change. Change can happen very quickly, while transition usually occurs more slowly. Transition, on the other hand, is internal: it's what happens in people's minds as they go through change. Change is something that happens to people, even if they don't agree with it. The difference between these is subtle but important. The main strength of the model is that it focuses on transition, not change. The Transition Model was created by change consultant, William Bridges, and was published in his 1991 book ' Managing Transitions.' This is why it's important to understand how people are feeling as change proceeds, so that you can guide them through it and so that – in the end – they can accept it and support it.īridges' Transition Model helps you do this. This can lead them to resist it and oppose it. People are often quite uncomfortable with change, for all sorts of understandable reasons. Prepare your team for a transition by guiding them through the stages of change.

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