So, how about this intermingling between change and transition. A transition will definitely lead to a change, it is in the core of a transition. A change does not necessarily lead to a transition. It does so only to the extent it inflicts on you, it has some inner impact. That means that for some people a change might lead to a transition while for others the same change does not. Very true in organizational changes.
And when does a change lead to a transition? The very moment the change results in you having to let go of something it leads into a transition. And if you struggle against? You should know. Most people do.
Is there any examples where transition leads to change and change leads to transition? A fairly obvious one could the a divorce situation. One of the couple goes through a transition which leads him or her to move away from his or her spouse mentally (but not breaking out of the marriage). At one point though this will for most people lead to this person filing for divorce. That is the change. For the spouse this process starts with the change that might or might not come abrupt on him or her and should lead into a transition, that I would recommend the spouse does not resist.
If we look at an example where a change might lead to a transition for some and not for others, an organizational change is a very typical example. if e.g. two departments are merged onto one, some people will keep on doing what they have “always” done. Don’t even change desk. For others this “merger” represent new tasks and or new location They will have to let go of something. There are tasks they have to literally unlearn to learn something new. For these people represent a transition. The core of a transition is to let go of something, the symbolic death. So getting a bunch of new colleagues does not represent a transition. You do not have to let go of anything you have, but there will be some more people around to, but that does not really inflict on you unless you want to, and you don’t have to give up anything. It is the giving up and letting go that is the core. Well, these two can be very different things. In an organizational change is in our example some people are forced to give up. That is not the same as letting go, because letting go is not a management decision, that is something I and only I decide. It is smart of me to let go, that is one thing, but most of us are not in a situation where we think this way. And this is where good transition management comes in (in what kind of companies do we find that?).
It is so easy for management to decide on a change. Done. Then we tell people about it. Some are not inflicted while others are. The people that get new tasks might or might not need education related to the new tasks which they of course will get. And from a management perspective we’re all set. The new organization is ready to go, past is past; new times rule. Just a moment; not for me, thank you very much. I am still in the past. I am lingering with the things I have lost. And nobody cares. Unless someone (read management) helps me with this transition I will still be in the past.
