The New
Beginning
The Neutral
Zone
Ending, Losing,
Letting Go
Figure 1: William Bridges’ Transition Model
A Transition Model
The dynamics of organizational change are well laid out in the late William
Bridges’ Transition Model. Bridges, an author and management consultant,
stressed the importance of managing transitions in the workplace. He
described “transition” as the psychological process of adapting to change. In
his model, Transition consists of three phases: Endings, or letting go of the
past; moving through a Neutral Zone; and making New Beginnings.
Transitions can be difficult to navigate in any field. For example, we know a
technician whose job in a mammography lab was simplified significantly by her
department’s move from analog to digital systems. What used to involve mul-
tiple steps (prepping the patient, positioning multiple plates, taking multiple
images) was reduced almost to the press of a button. Her job got easier and the
department became more productive. Patients were happy with the change, as
appointments were shorter and they received results faster. Yet the technician
still struggled with the change, taking months to become comfortable with the
new process.
This can also happen to employees involved in a cloud transformation initia-
tive. Take a systems engineer whose position is being transitioned to cloud
architect. This person is taking on an exciting new job that is important to the
organization’s move to the cloud. Good, right? Well, it may not be perceived
that way by everyone. As people are faced with change, they experience a
series of losses – loss of control, loss of confidence, loss of competence and loss
68 | THE DOPPLER | FALL 2018