This article was originally published at A Leadership Beyond. See the original here.
A Leadership Beyond is a collaboration between Positive Delta Founder, Adrienne Guerrero and Tom Rosenak of Diamond Mind Enterprises. Published bi-monthly, it features articles, interviews, and videos that will connect you with a diverse panel of experts who share strategies, tools and techniques for leadership.
“It isn’t the changes that do you in, it’s the transitions. They aren’t the same thing. Change is situational – the move to a new site, the retirement of the founder, the reorganizations of roles on the team, revisions to defined benefits. Transition on the other hand, is psychological. It’s the process people go through as they internalize and come to terms with the details of the new situation that the change brings about.” -William Bridges, Managing Transitions, 3rd Edition.
We usually feature a guest on our bi-monthly podcast. This time Tom and Adrienne chat about leading transitions. This conversation is timely as we enter a new season. Summer disrupts schedules for all of us. Our schedules have been disrupted for multiple reasons over the last couple years. Add this “normal” transition to the mix and emotions run high.
Adrienne points out, in agreement with the Bridges quote, it’s not the change, it’s the uncertainty. As the founder of Positive Delta Adrienne has been guiding global leaders to navigate change for over fifteen years. An expert isn’t magically immune to the turbulence of change. Change is not a project but rather a process. She (and we) must remember to practice what she teaches. The same dynamic happens on the individual, team, and organizational level.
The purpose of this conversation is to capture a few gems on effectively managing transitions (while maintaining sanity):
We pull it all together with these 5 Steps: Pause > Name it > Claim it > Document it > Communicate it.
As always, we’d love to hear from you about your insights, challenges, and successes around leading (self and others) through transitions.
Tom & Adrienne