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Summary: Start-ups and Managing Transitions
Review: The focus of the venture capital community is on the change a new disruptive company intends to bring to the world, and little, if any, attention is paid to the changes and transitions that the company, as it moves from concept development to full commercialization, will have to negotiate to achieve its vision. "Transition Management" provides an excellent `how to' book for young, fragile companies as they negotiate the never ending changes and transitions that they will be forced to make.
As author William Bridges points out, change is situational and transition is psychological. "People are the ones who have to embrace new situations and carry out the corresponding changes. The psychological shifts that accompany the situational shifts can be difficult for people and must be managed to have everyone on board." Change and transition management is crucial to focus, execution, and organizational productivity.
Those of us experienced in start-up management know first hand the changes that we will have to manage - some expected, some unexpected. But few of us have been schooled in the management of the transition that accompanies change. Generally, decisions to create change are made and implemented whether the people are on board or not. A spirit of "they will have to just accept them" is the operative mantra.
But, as Bridges points out so well, we can do much to ease these transitions and keep our employees "on-board and involved." It is self-defeating to try to overcome people's resistance to change without addressing the threat that change poses to their world. For successful change to take place, people must have a purpose, a mental picture, a plan for, and a part to play in change. In short, successful change takes place only when everyone is actively involved.
Key changes that create transitions that must be managed in a start-up include, but are not limited to:
* The addition of new functions.
* The addition/replacement of key executives.
* The addition/replacement of key board members.
* The addition of new, actively involved investors.
* Significant workforce expansion/reduction.
* Relocation to larger facilities.
* The relocation of some functions to a second facility.
* The addition of new actively involved investors.
* The infusion of significant new capital.
* The move from project management to multi-functional management.
* The move from being privately held to being publicly held.
* Events that affects cash usage, business value, and the ability to raise capital.
Bridges shows us that transitions are a process by which people unplug from an old world and plug into a new world. They start with an ending and finish with a beginning. Once he explains the three phases of transition, he goes on to show how to manage the entire process.
B-schools would be well advised to include a transition management course in their entrepreneurial studies programs. Changes of any sort - even though they may be justified in economic or technological terms - finally succeed or fail on the basis of whether the people affected do things differently. And it is this getting people to do things differently that comes through in this excellent book.
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Summary: The first step of any project should be to read this book.
Review: The main message of this book - "Never lose sight of the fact that is not so much that you are starting something new but it is that you are stopping something old". The something old that you are stopping is the system that people have used for years. It might be the worlds worst system but it was theirs and you are going to take it away and replace it with something they neither understand or have been a part of selecting. This book helps you deal with that issue. Read it first - then start re-engineering.
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Summary: Okay, but...
Review: This book is good, but you also need Beitler's "Strategic Organizational Change." Together you got it covered!
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Summary: MANAGING change and more!
Review: This book shows you how to MANAGE transitions and why transitions fail. It is an excellent read. If you want to know how to make the MOST of change, you have to be an Optimal Thinker. So read Optimal Thinking: How To Be Your Best Self too.
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Summary: The Essential Guide
Review: This book was recommended to me when I found myself homebound and permanently disabled. I felt as though I was in the middle of the ocean with no idea which direction to begin swimming. This book helped me accept that feeling and move forward with my life. If you are going through any kind of major transition - loss of a career, loss of a loved one, divorce, bankruptcy, disability, or even a midlife crisis - this book will help you.
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Summary: Practical, tactical and easy to follow. Invaluable.
Review: This books helps one get one's arms around the "soft" - but most difficult - side of change. I cannot tell you how many brilliant implementation plans fail because consultants and organizations did not plan ahead and take into account the material covered in this book. Checklists and clear descriptions help even the most analytical types understand the human side of change and tactics needed to make change successful. I recommend this book to all my friends - from McKinsey consultants to ministers and non-profit managers.
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Summary: Good book, but...
Review: This is a very good book, but also get a copy of "Strategic Organizational Change" by Beitler.
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Summary: Extraordinary!
Review: This is an outstanding book. I have purchased copies of this and Beitler's "Strategic Organizational Change" for my clients. I highly recommend them both!Dr. Burke
New York, NY
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Summary: Organisational Transition
Review: This is basically a conversion to an organisation perspective of Bridges' previous work, Transitions. There is a lot of duplication of ideas. However, Managing Transitions is important reading for all business leaders, HR practitioners and consultants. Bridges writes in an easy-reading style with plenty of examples.
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Summary: A Must Read!
Review: This is one of the most succinct and clearly written business books you will ever read. Author William Bridges uses language with care and precision, delivering the goods without any superfluous jargon. He cites many welcome quotations on change and innovation from a wide range of writers and thinkers whose work is not usually found in business books. He places these quotations in context with aptly chosen examples of recent business transitions, bringing intelligence and sensibility to a subject too often addressed only with clichés and cant. Only those who have read many business books can fully appreciate the value of such an approach. Others will merely find that they are able to read this book from cover to cover without at any point having to wonder what the author really means to say. Managing transitions is really about helping people deal with fear and uncertainty - the key is to build trust and confidence. Everything Bridges says flows from that common sense insight, and seems obvious and necessary once he says it, though it may not seem as evident to you until you read his book. We highly recommends that you do so.
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