Many of us are working in, dealing with, adjusting to or impacted by organizations in the midst of some sort of change. In most cases this change doesn’t feel too good which can cause people to make either hasty career decisions or become paralyzed and not make the right career decision.
Years ago I was introduced to Bill Bridges, the author of a best selling book, ‘Managing Transitions’. The book is written with a simple but powerful premise – organizations change but people don’t. They transition. So while company’s are changing directions, org charts, roles, processes, etc., people aren’t changing as much as they are transitioning from the old way to the new. They go through the ‘ending zone’, where the old ways (and sometimes the people you worked with) go away, to the ‘neutral zone’, where chaos exists as the old and new try to co-exist, to the ‘new beginnings’. Understanding how to personally manage the transition from old to new can make the change easier to digest, helping you to see things clearer and make better decisions.
As a side note, I recommend this book as a must read for any organizational leader. In my experience, most organizations handle the change process horribly because they ignore the transition side of change.
For more on this topic, I have added the book to my ‘Great Reads’ area on the blog. Click on the link for more info.
3 Connections 