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Bridges' Transition Planner
Place each group in the phase it is going through, name what it is letting go of, and plan support for each phase, including the dip in output.
This tool also runs as a stage in a playbook, which takes you through several tools in order:
- Manage organizational change Stage 5 of 5: how do people let go of the old way? Start at stage 1
Not following the playbook?
The three phases
A change happens on a date; the transition takes months. Each group moves through three phases at its own pace, and the phases overlap.
Where each group is now
The groups whose daily work changes. Choose the phase most of each group is in, and what they are letting go of.
Your notes never leave your browser
Group names, losses and your plans stay on your computer and in your progress file. To write the diagnosis, only the phases, counts and yes/no answers are sent to our server. How it works
Plan the support
What you will do in each phase, and the dip in output you expect in the middle one.
Support for each phase
The dip in the neutral zone
Output usually falls for a while after go-live, then passes its old level. Plan for it, and say so in advance.
Where each group is now
The dip, planned
Support for each phase
How you'll know it stuck
Go-live is not the finish. Track whether people are working the new way, not whether the system is switched on.
Save your progress
Download your progress file to continue from this point any time, on any computer: choose it under "Coming back?" at the start of the tool. Each new file includes everything so far, including the earlier stages when they are connected, so keep the latest one. Your work stays in this browser only until you close it.
Not saved yet.
Take your results with you
A PDF of where each group is, the planned dip, the support for each phase and the diagnosis. In the playbook, the full report of all five stages and how you'll know it stuck.
About the tool
Why it exists
Plan for the dip instead of fearing it
A change happens on a date. A transition, the inner adjustment people make to it, takes months. William Bridges described three phases people move through, each at their own pace: an ending, a neutral zone and a new beginning. The middle one is where changes quietly fail, because output dips and leaders lose patience.
This tool works on its own, and as stage 5 of our playbook for managing organizational change, where it picks up the groups from stage 3 and what stage 4 heard about their losses, and ends with how you will know the change stuck. For the method, see our guide to Bridges' Transition Model.
The method
How the tool works
Where each group is. Choose the phase most of each group is in now, and what it is letting go of: a routine, standing, a say in how they work, skills that made them valued, people, a place. In the playbook, stage 4's objections from people who expect to lose something are shown beside each group.
The support. One plan for each phase, written by you. "Suggest support for the empty ones" writes the usual support for a phase, only where its box is empty.
The dip. The fall in output you expect, for how long, whether targets are lowered, and whether it is announced in advance. The chart is a sketch from those numbers, to say out loud, not a forecast.
The end of the playbook. In the playbook, the results add how you will know it stuck: one measure of people working the new way, reviews at 3, 6 and 12 months after go-live. Then "Playbook complete", the full PDF report and the final progress file.
What leaves your computer. Group names, losses and plans stay in your browser and your progress file. To write the diagnosis, the page sends our server only the phases, counts and yes/no answers, and the server keeps nothing.