A thing or two about change - William Bridges way - Part 1

I was reading Managing Transitions by William Bridges. A great read for anyone into IT consulting.

There is a distinction between change and transition. Change is situational characterized by the movement from one state to the other. It is outcome driven. Transition is psychological, a journey that makes change possible. It is the process by which people internalize and come to terms with the new order introduced by change. Most often than not, an apparently logical and well intended change fails miserably because the tansition is mismanaged.

The first step of transition is to recognize that it is time to bring the curtain down on the old ways; at least some of them. So transition starts with an ending of sorts. It is critical for change managers and project managers to understand the while people have no inhibition to the very outcome generated by the change, they naturally tend to resist the losses and endings that come with it.
Often the change creates a series of Brownian collisions making a far reaching impact. Everyone is losing something and many of the losses are not concrete because change is perceived through the filters of the mind.
Dynamic leadership
Enables the workforce to accept the realities of change
Does not get upset with overreaction
Acknowledge the losses openly and tries to compensate for it(does not have to be monetarily)
The underlying substratum of change is communication. It important that people are not misinformed (usually misinformation spreads at the speed of light). It pays to reiterate what's coming to an end and what is new order in Simple messages. Not all things about the past is necessarily bad and so it deserves some reverance. But it is important to show how the past has ceded the way to the future to unfold like the pupa has to give itself up to become the butterfly.