If You Want Your Team to Embrace Change, Stop Rushing the Transition. Here’s What to Do Instead.

Renowned organizational consultant William Bridges built his career around the concept of transition — and, in particular, the difference between change and transition. Change, in this context, is what happens externally. It’s taking on a new job or a disruption in your usual workflow. Change is the thing that you can easily name.

Transition points to how you feel about an upcoming change. It’s defining your relationship to the change that has or is about to happen. Transition is internal, and we all move through it differently. More often than not, a transition can take a long time — it’s what’s more commonly called today “processing.” You may make a big change on a specific day and time, but processing (or moving through that transition) doesn’t follow the same timeline.

When transition hits

Several questions and concerns arise during transitions. As a leader, you may suddenly feel doubt after a change. You may also be filled with remorse or be holding out for comfortable past patterns. You may also feel a sense of wanting to hold your breath until all aspects of a change are accepted by every team member. I see these same patterns arise with teams of every size following a big change. Because the fact is that change makes people (even if you’re the one who planned the change) nervous.

​The leadership goal when implementing change is to move an organization forward, but that can’t happen while teams are still in transition. It can be hard to wait and let people adapt, but it is a necessary step towards the neutral zone — or the place where there’s no longer any intense pushback or resentment. The neutral zone is the place where changes are finally implemented and accepted. But first, you have to let those you lead acknowledge and move through the end of what used to be.

Getting to neutral

Accepting the end and moving on to a new beginning is a process. It’s a form of grieving the old ways and being ready to accept the new. I’ve never witnessed a change that doesn’t start with taking the time needed to mourn the old and move to the next phase on a team’s own terms. I’ve had clients ask how long a transition will take (often with some level of frustration), and the answer is that it depends on how well you acknowledge the space between.

If you push your teams to adapt to change immediately and leave no room for the emotions that arise during transition, you’ll find resentment surfaces. This isn’t because the people you lead don’t want to try something new; they want to continue doing what’s comfortable (even if that means mediocre output).

Your job as a leader is to address these concerns for as long as people have them. This doesn’t mean giving up or stalling implementation, but it does mean leaving your door open to discuss the silences, the questions, the apprehension.

The neutral zone is a chance for growth

The neutral zone is not full acceptance or reluctance. It is a chance for growth and a push for presence. The people you lead who have a hard time with change, do not know what to do with discomfort, struggle to regulate emotions and often feel untethered, grapple the most with neutral. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Guiding teams through the neutral zone means allowing for change to happen. It’s standing back and watching people adapt and emerge as a different version of themselves. It can also be a time to encourage creativity or bring the feelings related to change into the new process. You can help people navigate through the neutral zone and into a new place that’s both well-worn and stiff with newness. It’s an awkward place for all involved but one that will bring your teams closer. 

But when will it happen?

This is often the question I hear most when clients make changes that teams don’t immediately embrace. The answer is that it takes as long as it takes. But rest assured that patterns will begin to form and crevices will be made. You can’t rush this process but you can silently guide by being present, allowing for conversation and being open to any discussion (even if it seems like resistance). Adaptation will happen, however slowly.

Until, that is, the next big change. At that point, you will be able to recognize the signs of transition, ask the right questions and allow your teams to find and move through the neutral zone at the pace required. The phases teams go through when learning to adapt can seem frustrating, but in reality, those difficult discussions often lead to innovation, collaboration and the trusted knowledge that no conversation is off limits. This is when your team really begins to grow and flourish.

Renowned organizational consultant William Bridges built his career around the concept of transition — and, in particular, the difference between change and transition. Change, in this context, is what happens externally. It’s taking on a new job or a disruption in your usual workflow. Change is the thing that you can easily name.

Transition points to how you feel about an upcoming change. It’s defining your relationship to the change that has or is about to happen. Transition is internal, and we all move through it differently. More often than not, a transition can take a long time — it’s what’s more commonly called today “processing.” You may make a big change on a specific day and time, but processing (or moving through that transition) doesn’t follow the same timeline.

When transition hits

Several questions and concerns arise during transitions. As a leader, you may suddenly feel doubt after a change. You may also be filled with remorse or be holding out for comfortable past patterns. You may also feel a sense of wanting to hold your breath until all aspects of a change are accepted by every team member. I see these same patterns arise with teams of every size following a big change. Because the fact is that change makes people (even if you’re the one who planned the change) nervous.