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Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change
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Customer Reviews
Rating:  - Wonderful tool for handling transitions of all kinds
Whether we are leading a team, a family, or even ourself through a transition, this book gives us the necessary tools to thrive through it. You get the theory and the practice. Since we all undergo change which sparks transitions, this book will benefit everyone.
Rating:  - Start-ups and Managing Transitions
The focus of the venture capital community is on the change a new disruptive company intends to bring to the world, and little, if any, attention is paid to the changes and transitions that the company, as it moves from concept development to full commercialization, will have to negotiate to achieve its vision. "Transition Management" provides an excellent `how to' book for young, fragile companies as they negotiate the never ending changes and transitions that they will be forced to make.
As author William Bridges points out, change is situational and transition is psychological. "People are the ones who have to embrace new situations and carry out the corresponding changes. The psychological shifts that accompany the situational shifts can be difficult for people and must be managed to have everyone on board." Change and transition management is crucial to focus, execution, and organizational productivity.
Those of us experienced in start-up management know first hand the changes that we will have to manage - some expected, some unexpected. But few of us have been schooled in the management of the transition that accompanies change. Generally, decisions to create change are made and implemented whether the people are on board or not. A spirit of "they will have to just accept them" is the operative mantra.
But, as Bridges points out so well, we can do much to ease these transitions and keep our employees "on-board and involved." It is self-defeating to try to overcome people's resistance to change without addressing the threat that change poses to their world. For successful change to take place, people must have a purpose, a mental picture, a plan for, and a part to play in change. In short, successful change takes place only when everyone is actively involved.
Key changes that create transitions that must be managed in a start-up include, but are not limited to:
* The addition of new functions.
* The addition/replacement of key executives.
* The addition/replacement of key board members.
* The addition of new, actively involved investors.
* Significant workforce expansion/reduction.
* Relocation to larger facilities.
* The relocation of some functions to a second facility.
* The addition of new actively involved investors.
* The infusion of significant new capital.
* The move from project management to multi-functional management.
* The move from being privately held to being publicly held.
* Events that affects cash usage, business value, and the ability to raise capital.
Bridges shows us that transitions are a process by which people unplug from an old world and plug into a new world. They start with an ending and finish with a beginning. Once he explains the three phases of transition, he goes on to show how to manage the entire process.
B-schools would be well advised to include a transition management course in their entrepreneurial studies programs. Changes of any sort - even though they may be justified in economic or technological terms - finally succeed or fail on the basis of whether the people affected do things differently. And it is this getting people to do things differently that comes through in this excellent book.
Rating: - Managing Transtions through people
The book underlines the fact that while change may be planned, systemic and structural actions taken by the managers and decision makers within the organizations, it?s the transition within the employees? mind that actually dictates the realization of desired objectives of change. The book is a step-wise guide to managing the transition in employees mind.
Managing transition involves helping people through three phases; letting go the old ways, going through the in-between when the old is gone and new is not fully operational and the new beginning phase. Author clearly delineates challenges and provides strategies for addressing employee emotional needs while experiencing these phases. The strategies focus on addressing four Ps: The Purpose (beat the problem), The Picture (of envisioned tomorrow), The Plan (resources, schedule etc.) and finally the Part for each player.
Author has very lucidly mapped the transition challenges as the organisation goes through its seven stages of life cycle (as he puts it) ie: Dreaming the Dream. Launching a Venture, Getting Organized, Becoming an Institution, Closing in and Dying. He also provides some management guidelines to make organizations break the cycle and move towards organisation renewal instead of closing-in.
In a very informative manner, author describes the most important steps, the planned steps and the blunders in managing transitions, using case studies. Comparing self analysis of the cases with the proposed solution forces reflection and facilitate understanding and imbibing of concepts.
The book can be viewed as a learning guide for all managers involved in initiating, planning and managing initiatives. The book is refreshingly different from the ?prescriptive model- centric? change management books. The gain for the reader would be decided by his ability to work with the book, than pick it for an arm-chair reading.
Rating: - A Must Read!
This is one of the most succinct and clearly written business books you will ever read. Author William Bridges uses language with care and precision, delivering the goods without any superfluous jargon. He cites many welcome quotations on change and innovation from a wide range of writers and thinkers whose work is not usually found in business books. He places these quotations in context with aptly chosen examples of recent business transitions, bringing intelligence and sensibility to a subject too often addressed only with clichés and cant. Only those who have read many business books can fully appreciate the value of such an approach. Others will merely find that they are able to read this book from cover to cover without at any point having to wonder what the author really means to say. Managing transitions is really about helping people deal with fear and uncertainty - the key is to build trust and confidence. Everything Bridges says flows from that common sense insight, and seems obvious and necessary once he says it, though it may not seem as evident to you until you read his book. We highly recommends that you do so.
Rating: - MANAGING change and more!
This book shows you how to MANAGE transitions and why transitions fail. It is an excellent read. If you want to know how to make the MOST of change, you have to be an Optimal Thinker. So read Optimal Thinking: How To Be Your Best Self too.
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