Project change and transition management

- Projects are really about implementing changes for a business, and you'll hear a lot of people talk about the importance of change management, but William Bridges developed a unique perspective where he drew a distinction between the work that we're doing and the way that people respond and adapt to it. He argued that the work we do on a project creates a change, and the way that people respond to that change is what he called the transition. There are three steps that we go through in any transition. First, we go through a period of ending or letting go. Basically we deal with the loss of the old way of doing things. Then we go through a period of uncertainty called the neutral zone. When we're in the neutral zone, we can often feel lost and confused. Finally we move into a period called the new beginning. This happens when we've come to accept the changes that have occurred and we're ready to move on and get back to work. Those three phases apply to any kind of change that happens in our life. You can probably think about times when you've gone through those phases, maybe when you changed jobs or moved to a new city. For project managers, knowing that people go through those phases means that we can prepare for it. In our project plans we can build in activities that help our team and our stakeholders make the journey from letting go, through the neutral zone and into a new beginning. For example I communicate with project stakeholders early on to help them prepare for the change and begin the process of letting go. During the project, I make sure that there are clear points of contact so that anyone can get their questions answered quickly when they're in the neutral zone. And when the project is complete, I like to have a celebration to kick off the new beginning. Projects are all about implementing changes to your business, but in order to get the full value from a project, we need to have the buy-in and support of our stakeholders. Using the Bridges model is one way to ensure that you bring the people along with you as you implement changes with your projects.