Volume 2. No 1 Information Technology News of the University of California, Davis October 1993

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Book Review: Managing Transitions

by Dr. Carole Barone, Associate Vice Chancellor - Information Technology

I am reviewing this book by William Bridges because my staff insisted that I read it -- they even bought me a copy. Having now read the book, I think they wanted me to understand that we made a few mistakes as we muddled our way through a major transition in our organization.

In Managing Transitions, Bridges provides practical advice that really works. Too often, well-conceived strategic plans languish; they never seem to reach their full implementation. Bridges asserts that the reason is because managers underestimate the role of people in the change process. His insights and strategies come from fifteen years of experience in helping people and organizations manage transitions.

Changes in process rely on changes in people. However, we tend to focus on the process we want to change and then blame the people when the expected outcomes do not materialize. We usually fail to consider the process that has to occur inside these individuals. Discussion of this human side of the change process constitutes the core of the Bridges book.

Bridges points out that things may not go as expected even when we are careful to involve members of the organization. It is easy to confuse information dissemination efforts with real understanding on the parts of the recipients of the information. Moreover, our expectations of how thoroughly and how quickly people will adapt to changed circumstances may be quite unrealistic.

Bridges terms the transition through which individuals must pass from letting go of the old and finally "launching a new beginning" as the "neutral zone." While in the "neutral zone," people express their anxiety with the uncertainties of the situation by exhibiting a lack of motivation. Conditions seem, and probably are, chaotic; people feel overloaded and frustrated with the rapidity, or the slowness, of the change.

I recently engaged in a discussion with the members of a unit that was struggling with the transition to a new identity. The members were having difficulty making a graceful ending to the former identity. There were moments in that meeting when I was convinced that the participants were following a script that Bridges had written. The congruence was uncanny. Consequently, I followed his good advice and started selling the problem instead of the solution. I now believe that this unit and I, together, will make a successful transition.

Managing Transitions is brief (125 pages), entertaining, peppered with quotations from throughout history on the topic of change, and full of good and easy-to-follow advice. Even if you make some of the mistakes he admonishes you to avoid, the book helps you to diagnose the problem and act to solve it. After reading Managing Transitions, I feel better equipped to venture into future transitions.