making-sense-of-change-management

The underpinning theoryand it is often free! This part of the cycle is important to motivatepeople to give them the energy to tackle the next change process.STICKY MOMENTS IN THE MIDDLE OF CHANGEAND HOW TO GET UNSTUCK• Forecasts fall short. Change leaders must be prepared to acceptserious departures from plans, especially when they are doing somethingnew and different.• Roads curve. Expect the unexpected. Do not panic when the path ofchange takes a twist or a turn.• Momentum slows. When the going gets tough it is important to reviewwhat has been achieved and what remains – and to revisit the mission.• Critics emerge. Critics will emerge in the middle when they begin torealize the impact of proposed changes. Change leaders shouldrespond to this, remove obstacles and move forward.Source: Kanter (2002)Bridges: leading people through transitionWilliam Bridges (1991) has very clear ideas about what leaders need to doto make change work. Bridges says that what often stops people frommaking new beginnings in a change process is that they have not yet letgo of the past. He sees the leader as the person who helps to manage thattransition. We see this as a particularly useful frame of thinking when aninevitable change such as a merger, acquisition, reorganization or siteclosure is under way.In Chapter 3 we referred to his three phases of transition:• ending;• neutral zone;• new beginning.170