Book SummaryManaging Transitions, by William Bridges and Susan Bridges

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Managing Transitions

In Managing Transitions, organizational change consultants William and Susan Bridges offer a step-by-step guide to support organizational leaders in effectively managing change. They argue that the external changes we experience are not nearly as challenging as our internal, emotional process of coming to terms with those changes, and therefore it’s critical that organizational leaders support their teams through the internal transition process.

William and Susan Bridges collaboratively run William Bridges Associates, a consulting firm dedicated to helping organizational leaders better manage the “human-side of change.” Both well-renowned experts in the field of change management, the couple has published multiple books on the topic. Leaders and management consultants still use the Bridges Transition Model, developed by William Bridges in 1979, as a tool for navigating the challenges of organizational change.

Our guide will first define the authors’ distinction between change and transition. Next, we’ll clarify why it’s important for organizational leaders to focus on transitions. Then, we’ll outline the three phases...

Managing Transitions Summary Understanding Change vs. Transition

William and Susan Bridges explain that to effectively manage transitions, you must first understand the difference between a change and a transition. In this section, we’ll start by defining these key terms.

The authors make an important distinction between change and transition:

• Change is external. It happens to us and around us. For example, a canceled flight is an external change—something beyond our control.
• Transition, on the other hand, is internal. Transition is the psychological process by which we deal with change. For instance, when our flight gets canceled, we have to emotionally come to terms with a new plan we didn’t anticipate.

(Shortform note: While psychologists have long distinguished between external changes and how humans internally process those changes, the language of “change” and “transition” became more common after the introduction of the Bridges Transition Model. When defining the difference between change and transition, psychologists often cite the work of William and Susan Bridges. Psychologists have applied the Bridges...

Managing Transitions Summary The Importance of Managing Transition

In the previous section, we defined the difference between change and transition. Next, we’ll briefly discuss why it’s critical for organizational leaders to learn how to manage transition effectively.

Simply put, organizational leaders must learn to manage transition because every organization experiences transition. All organizations will naturally change over the course of their lifetime as they grow from an idea to a start-up to an established company. A well-managed transition is critical if an organization is to move successfully from one stage of its evolution to the next.

(Shortform note: William and Susan Bridges emphasize the importance of managing people through the stages of organizational growth. Implicit in their argument is the importance of broader cultural change during these periods of transition: Get enough people (or the right people) on board, and it triggers the necessary cultural change for the organization to evolve. But just like internal psychological transitions, [cultural change can’t be...

Managing Transitions Summary Phase 1: Closing

So what does strategic transition management look like? Here are the three phases of transition in the Bridges Transition Model:

• Phase 1: Closing (referred to in the book as “Ending/Losing”). The closing is the first stage of the process when people experience sadness or loss about what is ending.
• Phase 2: The Bridge (referred to in the book as “The Neutral Zone”). The bridge is the second stage when an organization is in between systems and everything feels uncertain.
• Phase 3: Emerging (referred to in the book as “A New Beginning”). Emerging is the final stage of the process when the changes have been implemented and there is widespread buy-in within the organization.

In order to successfully implement changes, organizational leaders must guide their teams through each phase of this transition process intentionally. In this section, we’ll focus on strategies for managing Phase 1: Closing.

(Shortform note: For each stage of transition, the authors outline a different set of management strategies. While the suggested strategies are unique to each phase of the transition process, they all fall under three main themes: planning ahead, leading with empathy, and...

Managing Transitions Summary Phase 2: The Bridge

In the previous section, we discussed the importance of the first step of managing transition: helping people acknowledge and navigate the loss associated with ending. The next stage of any transition is what the authors refer to as “the neutral zone”—the time period when the organization is in between the old way of doing business and the new. We’ll refer to this stage as the bridge moving forward.

The bridge stage can be short, but depending on the scope of the change, can last for years.

This stage is especially challenging because everything is changing and uncertain and not everyone is on the same page. However, the bridge stage is also full of opportunity. When so much is up in the air, people are more likely to ask questions, experiment, and challenge established workplace patterns and systems. For this reason, the bridge stage is the most creative stage of the transition process.

(Shortform note: In Uncertainty, Mark Runco suggests that creativity isn’t just possible during a period of uncertainty—it depends on uncertainty. When our...

Managing Transitions Summary Phase 3: Emerging

The previous section discussed strategies to effectively manage the tumultuous bridge stage of the transition. After muddling through the bridge stage, organizations have the opportunity for what the authors refer to as a “new beginning.” We’ll call this stage emerging.

William and Susan Bridges emphasize that the emerging stage doesn’t happen the same day that the changes take place. Even though new policies or team configurations have been implemented, it takes time for people to come to terms with the changes. Emerging can’t happen until there’s buy-in from your team. They’ll need to let go of the past, understand and accept the reason for the changes, and implement the changes required.

(Shortform note: Many leaders approach getting team buy-in with a “describe and defend” strategy. In these instances, leaders develop an idea and then sell it to their team as the logical way forward. However, a team is more likely to buy in to change when they have had the opportunity to discuss, question, and debate the idea. Including your team from the beginning of the...

Managing Transitions Summary The Challenge of Managing Ongoing Change

Up until this point, we’ve focused on the process of a single transition. Unfortunately, rarely do changes occur only one at a time.

Organizational leaders often grapple with multiple coinciding and related changes that require them to manage multiple coinciding and related transitions. Moreover, while there has never been a time in our history when change hasn’t occurred, many people would argue that the rate of change has increased dramatically in recent years.

For instance, consider the example of how much changed for the global workforce with the outbreak of Covid-19. Employees and managers, already managing typical changes in their field, were quickly forced to navigate the exceptional transition of remote or hybrid work and asked to implement new strategies and technologies that were previously unimaginable.

Because transitions don’t occur in isolation, the three stages of the transition process often happen concurrently and converge on one another.

The Importance of Agility

While not a strategy mentioned by William and Susan Bridges, German entrepreneur Stefan Hansen argues that [agility is what matters most when responding to continuous change....

Shortform Exercise: Differentiate Between Change and Transition

The Bridges Transition Model makes a clear distinction between change and transition. William and Susan Bridges suggest that being able to effectively manage change requires understanding the difference between the two.

Think of a change you experienced recently in a professional context. Describe what changed.

Shortform Exercise: Plan for Change

When leading a team through a transition, William and Susan Bridges recommend the following strategies for each stage of the transition process: planning ahead, leading with empathy, and communicating with intention. Imagine that you’re crafting a transition plan that accounts for each of these strategies.

Think of a change that needs to be implemented at work. Briefly describe it here.