It is now a cliché that change is ubiquitous and never ending. Mostly beyond our control. It strips us of agency. Increases our anxiety. Makes us passive recipients as opposed to considered and empowered creators.
Then there is transition. The movement of people with the change. Does this need to strip us of our agency and control? Or is this the space where we can exert influence and design our future? William Bridges saw transition as an opportunity for people to exert influence over how change impacted them. Recognising endings. Innovating in the neutral zone. The optimism of a new beginning. Each stage posed opportunities for the creativity of people.
Good Change — Kaizen
Lately I have been reading extensively about Kaizen and continuous improvement. Slow, daily steps to improve. Small improvements compound to significant change over time. Change conducted in this way is manageable because it is small and achievable — and this is motivating.
Few workplaces approach change in this way. Often change, to use Jason Little’s expression, “is dropped through the hole in the floor”. Employees are left to adjust, often with mechanical support through one-way communications and consultation.
These are necessary aspects of change management. Employees need information and processes that incorporate due process and procedural fairness. Employees also need an opportunity to provide feedback on the detail of the change.
Moving from Change to Transition in Implementation
Returning to Bridges, implementation plans should devote thinking to managing the transition. The exciting piece where employees subject to change can exert some control over its implementation. This raises the question: where can control be exerted?
Most change I have been involved with involves the redesign of a workplace. Positions are lost as new structures are born. New structures with new roles mean new ways of working. There is also the risk of losing knowledge and the need to adapt old knowledge to emerging circumstances.
These tasks all align with transition management, often seen in the movement from endings into the neutral zone. Bridges talks about the role of Transition Management Teams prior to and during the implementation of change. These teams bring together people from within the organisation with a desire to shape their future while acknowledging the past.
Their work includes maintaining business continuity, respecting the past, capturing critical knowledge and experimenting with new ways of working. These activities are led from within the organisation, are respectful and give back some control and agency to impacted employees.
It is becoming clear to me that implementing change is twofold. Yes, there is a need for formal processes of communication and consultation. Equally important is the need to manage the transition. The space where people are led by their own through the change.
In the transition space, leaders can draw on Kaizen to engage people incrementally and respectfully in maintaining business continuity and developing new ways of working. Their role is to facilitate this work. Bringing people together to capture critical knowledge, clarify responsibilities and test new approaches. Small, daily steps. Learning and adjusting together.
Perhaps this is what leader led change implementation should look like. Leaders and their teams will not have control over every decision. But together they can identify where they do have influence and make something of it. Helping people shape the future they are being asked to work in.
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