Helping Teams Through Transitions: 4 Effective Strategies

Are you in a leadership role where you find yourself helping teams through transitions? Perhaps a new initiative was recently launched and your employees are struggling to adjust. 

As a result, morale is down and you’re concerned about the success of the new initiative.

According to William Bridges, author of Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, there’s a difference between change and transition…

Change is the external event.
Transition is the inner process that people go through to come to terms with a change.
Change causes transitions which involves loss, the letting go of the old way of doing things.
Loss, not the changes, are what people react to.

One of the most important actions you can take as a leader when helping teams through transitions is to help your employees deal with change and loss. To acknowledge the letting-go process and the natural feelings associated with reorienting to new ways of doing things. 

It may surprise you to know that how you acknowledge the feelings your employees are going through is similar to how parents help their kids acknowledge feelings during transitions.  

4 Ss of Parenting that apply to helping teams through transitions

Interpersonal Neurobiologist Dr. Dan Siegel developed the Four S’s of parenting, which I believe apply to any leader. 

Whether you are the leader of a family or the leader of an organization, the Four S’s help people build secure attachments and bonds that build trust and connection. 

When trust and connection are present, people are more likely to adjust to the stages of change and transitions. 

The image below is a quick reference of the Four S’s along with tips of how to put each “S” into action. Download and print this resource as a handy reference.

Your own example is your best leverage to help your employees (or kids) deal with transitions.

Schedule a call with Bonnie for more tips on creative solutions to new beginnings.

About the author 

Bonnie Artman Fox, MS, LMFT works with executive leaders who want to gain self-awareness about the impact of their words and actions and up-level their interpersonal skills. 

Drawing from decades as a psychiatric nurse and licensed family therapist, Bonnie brings a unique perspective to equip executive leaders with the roadmap to emotional intelligence that brings teams together. 

Bonnie’s leadership Turnaround coaching program has an 82% success rate in guiding leaders to replace abrasive behavior with tact, empathy, and consideration of others. The end result is a happy, healthy, and profitable workplace…sooner vs. later.