If you are living in the world today there is no doubt that you have faced some transitions in your life. I have participated, observed, and have been impacted by many transitions in my life.
My parents divorce, changing schools, graduating high school, getting a job, graduating college, moving, changes in relationships, getting married, having a child, changing jobs, roles and careers, Company buyouts, corporate acquisitions, Friends and relatives births, deaths, illnesses
Just to name a few….
A model that has helped me over the years to understand transitions and the inevitable emotions and feelings that go with them is William Bridges Ph.D., Transition Model.1
What I love about the model is its simplicity. There are three phases to the model. The first phase is described as the Ending, Losing, and Letting Go phase. Then it moves into the Neutral Zone and finally into The New Beginning phase.
Currently, many of my colleagues and I are going thru a series of transitions due to company acquisition, a new CEO and new organizational structures. We are very much in the ‘Neutral zone’ of the transition if you apply Bridges Model.
So, many folks are nervous, anxious, stalled, and few are optimistic. Motivation and morale is low, and few know what the final outcome of the organization will be and what it will mean to them. So, what can you do to help yourself continue to move forward and not get ‘hung up’ in the emotion and negative thinking and Flow with Change?
The first thing I suggest is to recognize the transition, the transition phase, and acknowledge the people!
- Lend an ear to those who need it, and really ‘hear’ what they say. Feeling heard and listened to is so important to people and it is so often ignored.
- Acknowledge what they are going thru. Don’t sugar coat or brush aside the feelings and emotions or downplay or put them down!
- Don’t ignore the situation. Every transition impacts a person differently. It could have an emotional, financial, community, social or security impact on people.
- Help to focus people on what may be possible and what’s next.
- Help or teach them to network, gain a skill, build their confidence, take a course, exercise, go for walk, unplug.
- Be honest.
- Be human and treat others with respect and dignity. Not all the people may be in the “know” but that doesn’t mean that they don’t know that whatever decisions will be made will impact them in some way.
Remember people will be in different phases of the transition. So if you have moved into the new Beginning phase, don’t forget that others may still be in the neutral phase. Remember how you felt in that phase and not knowing what the future held for you.
1 William Bridges Ph.D. Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, Perseus Publishing. 1991, 2003