Two Sides of Change

Photo by Cristofer Maximilian

Moving into a new house takes a day. The boxes are unpacked, the furniture is in place. But it takes months before it actually feels like home.

Everyone knows that difference. The move itself is concrete — something you can schedule and execute. Getting used to a new place, saying goodbye to the old one, starting to feel at home — that takes its own time.

William Bridges called this the difference between change and transition. Change is what happens on the outside. Transition is what happens on the inside.

Starting a new job works the same way. The contract is signed, the laptop is ready. But it takes a while before you know how things work, who to call, where you belong.

Three phases, your own pace

Bridges described transition as a process in three phases. First letting go — saying goodbye to how things were. Then the neutral zone — a period where the old is gone and the new isn't here yet. And finally the new beginning.

Here's what makes it hard: everyone moves through this at their own pace. In a team of ten, maybe three are still letting go, four are in the neutral zone, and three have already landed. And then the next change gets announced.

The neutral zone

Most attention goes to the start — communicating, building enthusiasm — and to the end — embedding, celebrating. The neutral zone gets less attention. Understandably, because it's uncomfortable. There's uncertainty, sometimes confusion. The old way doesn't work anymore, the new way doesn't work yet.

Yet this is where transition actually happens. Where people find their way. Where resistance is often really uncertainty in disguise.

This is the leadership challenge. How do you provide direction when you don't have all the answers yourself? How do you create space for people in different phases? How do you deal with your own uncertainty?

Can't be planned, can be guided

Transition can’t be rushed. But you can create the conditions for people to move through it. By acknowledging what’s being let go. By making it okay to talk about uncertainty. By making small signs of the new beginning visible.

How much room is there in your change for the neutral zone?