LITERATURE IN REVIEW
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Transitions is a book primarily for individuals , while Managing Transitions is about organizations . An observation that seems especially apt for teachers is that “ Within organizations , you may begin to notice a widening gap between you at 40 and the younger employees . It is as though some unmarked boundary had been crossed unawares , and you are now in another country . The young and the old seem to have their own places in the structure , but the middle-aged have lost a sense of belonging .” At just this point , some teachers decide it ’ s time to take on a significant administrative role , while others affirm their commitment to teaching for the duration . ( I began my first transition into administration in my mid-30s , completed that transition a few years later , and had a third and fourth transition in my 50s .)
If you are in the first group , Bridges offers encouragement : “ Gandhi discovered at 50 his real mission in nonviolent resistance . Cervantes was older than that when he began his career as a novelist .” Handel composed Messiah at 57 , and Edith Hamilton “ did not even begin her work as a mythographer until after she retired from teaching at 60 .”
Naturally , some of Bridges ’ ideas for systemic transitions are not applicable to schools , but many of his most important suggestions will work for a school as well as a business . Consider a few of his “ Very Important . Do this at once ” items .
• Figure out exactly how the behavior and attitudes of individuals will have to change to make the transition work .
• Analyze who stands to lose something under the new system .
• “ Sell ” the problem that is the reason for the change .
This last is often a temptation for leaders who may have spent a great deal of time examining a problem , only to announce a solution to employees who haven ’ t noticed anything wrong with the ways things have been done .
On the other hand , he warns against an approach that may be tempting to some schools .
• Turn the whole thing over to the individual contributors as a group and ask them to come up with a plan .
Above all , he argues against any strategy that is impersonal .
• Don ’ t explain the changes again in a carefully written memo .
• Don ’ t give everyone a copy of the new organization chart .
• Don ’ t give everyone a T-shirt with a new “ teamwork ” logo on it .
But Bridges doesn ’ t offer only checklists and bullet points . As someone who transitioned from a career as a college English teacher , he provides details and examples for his principles , and fills his books with quotation and analogy . For example , he chose for the epigraph of his Transitions chapter on “ Endings ” the familiar passage from T . S . Eliot : “ What we call the beginning is often the end / And to make an end is to make a beginning ./ The end is where we start from .”
Page 18 Fall 2022 CSEE Connections