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Worry
About Transitions
Not Change
Three Reasons Why
Leaders Ignore Transitions at Their
Peril
One of the most widely accepted
beliefs is that is that people find change
difficult. Not necessarily so. Or at least,
it’s not what leaders and managers should
worry about.
What trips up most people, and
organizational change effort, is not
change but
transition.
Change and transition go hand in
hand but they are not the same. What’s the
difference? Think of change is a discreet
event, while transition is protracted process
or state of mind. For example, selling your
car and buying a new one is a change. Getting
used to the new car, how it handles and
knowing where all the controls and switches
are located, requires a period of transition.
The change to a new vehicle is quick, perhaps
driving to a dealer with your old car and
driving out with the new. The transition,
however, could last for days, weeks, or
months.
This same distinction applies to
acquiring a new residence, a different job, or
adopting a new company policy. The specific
change is typically quick, whereas the
transition takes some time...and effort.
Below are three reasons why
transition is often the difficult aspect of
change initiatives.
Transition requires new learning
and new patterns of
behavior.
Most of what we do – 95% according
to some researchers – is done automatically,
unconsciously, what I call being on autopilot.
Driving is a good example, as anyone knows who
has arrived at a destination not quite
remembering how they got there. Once we learn
something and it goes on autopilot, we free up
attention to focus on what is immediately urgent
or to learn something new.
When there is a major change in
our environment, we must re-learn patterns
that used to be on autopilot. Inherently, we
are less competent in the new behaviors than
the old. It’s no wonder that without
motivation and effort, people slip back into
older patterns of behavior. It’s easier and
more comfortable.
Transition
requires emotional
regrouping.
Major changes involving anything
we care about generally bring a multitude of
mixed feelings. These emotional responses help
us adjust to change, however, they may also
make us very uncomfortable.
Transitions typically take us away
from a sense of routine into three
other states: ending,
abeyance, starting.
-
Routine
is a baseline state that carries an
emotional sense that things are as they
should be. Sometimes we experience
changes but perceive them as routine.
Change that has personal impact and
implications, however, typically pushes
us into other transition
states.
-
Ending
are a time of good-byes, and a time of
disengaging ourselves from what we had
previously known. Following a change, our
inner selves may need acknowledgment that
something has closed before we can move
on. Since endings involve loss, it is a
stage marked by grief and all the
feelings that accompany it.
-
Abeyance
is often experienced as a time of simply
waiting, characterized by low energy,
lack of interest in anything, or simply
confusion. People in this state may feel
they are simply going through the motions
of daily living or ‘not getting anything
done’. This state can be greatly
distressing - especially for
professionals who see themselves as
energetic and decisive.
-
Starting
are a time of energy resurgence, of
vision, of trepidation, and of hope. Old
things are given a new approach, and new
things are tried. This can be a state of
excited anticipation and exuberant
activity.
This four state model helps us
understand transition states of mind, but be
aware not every transition experience follows
this process in a neat order.
Transition
requires large energy and attention
expenditures.
Both new learning and emotional
responses take energy and attention – lots of
it. Loss of productivity in a time of
transition is practically inevitable. If
managed well, however, this loss is only
temporary. Managed poorly, transitions can
seed a toxic culture that can burden a company
for years.
Leaders and managers do well to
give as much emphasis to planning how to manage
transitions as they do to what change to make.
Doing so goes a long way to ensuring a change
effort is successful.
Leadership
Quotes
There is nothing like
returning to a place that remains unchanged to
find the ways in which you yourself have
altered.
~ Nelson Mandela
Some people change when they see the light,
others when they feel the heat.
~ Caroline Schoeder
Change always comes bearing gifts.
~ Price Pritchett
Leadership Book
Review
What Got You Here Won’t
Get You There
How Successful People Become Even More Successful
by Marshall Goldsmith (2007)
Marshall Goldsmith is one of the worlds premiere
executive coaches, and this book is a gem of clarity
and insight.
Goldsmith outlines twenty workplace habits that
sabotage careers and reduce performance of otherwise
highly successful professionals and executives.
Goldsmith likens these habits to an actor blowing a
line, writer misusing commas, or a chef leaving out a
key ingredient - small things that nevertheless undo
achievement.
Identifying these habits is critical, but the author
warns of the trap of wasting time trying to
understand them. What is important is how to change,
and Goldsmith offers seven key actions that get
people on the right track: obtaining
feedback, apologizing, advertising
intentions, listening,
thanking, following-up, and
practicing feedforward.
I found his final chapter on the challenges for
people in charge particularly interesting, with
realistic and relevant insight for those carrying
executive responsibility. Goldsmith is a thought
leader in the executive coaching world. Leaders who
seek excellence, and coaches who help them along the
way, will benefit from this book.
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"Leadership is
the art of giving people a genuine
choice whether or not to follow, while
making the choice to follow
compelling."
~ Tom
Stevens
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