Transitioning from the old to the new
This month, I’ve really noticed the challenge of how easy it is to talk about embracing change, yet how difficult it can actually be to really do it! I have had my laptop for almost 5 years – it’s my primary business tool, and some of the letters on the keypad have worn off with constant use. The battery has seen better days, and it began to just shut down at inconvenient times, causing me to lose my work. I went and bought a lovely new replacement model. Updated software, much faster, better, newer, more efficient. I brought it home and put it next to my “old” one.
What do you think I did next? Yes, I started it, did all the configuration steps, began to transfer files, and then as I tried to use it, realised how uncomfortable it felt. The keys were stiff, the screen looked alien, the windows operating system is different. I had to learn a new navigation system, and it wasn’t fun! Even though my old one was unreliable and dodgy at best, I kept going back to use it, because it “felt part of me”. I was willing to lose work / take longer to complete things just because it felt familiar.
I know the new one is better. I know it is more stable, will deliver faster and smarter results. Yet, I need a transition time… a time where I can “say goodbye” to my old habits and familiar ways of doing things, and make a gradual change to the new one. So too with organisational change. Just because we know we need to move to new and better ways of doing things doesn’t mean we can do it easily.
I turned to the wise advice of William Bridges, author of “Managing Transitions – Making the most of change”, who suggests it’s not the change we’re afraid of, it’s the transition. He offers that transition consists of three phases: Ending, Losing, Letting Go / The neutral zone / The new Beginning. Changes of any sort, even though they’re better for us, finally succeed or fail on the basis of whether the people affected do things differently. How do we let go of how we’ve always done things, go through that tough time between the old and the new, and come out doing things the new way?
