Whether you realize it or not, life is full of transitions. Going from elementary school to middle school to high school to college or military service or employment. Then, you may get married, you may get divorced, you may have children. These are all life changing events. You and your business go through transitions as well, adding new employees, adding new product lines, changing accounting systems or other internal processes, developing a middle level management team, exiting the business.
All transitions involve at least three phases, an ending a muddling and a new beginning. The idea of managing transitions is to try to keep the muddling, disoriented phase to a minimum. That is the phase where you are the least productive.
One of the keys to making sure transitions move smoothly is to make sure that you have well defined roles within your organization during the transition. You and everytone in your organization need to understand how the transition affects them and develop the process to move them through the muddling phase.
While you and your organization are going through a transition, your customers and your target market are not standing by and waiting for you. You need to be aware of how your transition affects them. You need to develop the communicaiton strategy so that your customers and target market move through this transition with you and not go somewhere else.
Transitions can be unexpected, but that is why you have insurance, buy-sell agreements, disaster recovery plans and contingency plans.
The best transitions are ones you initiate and add value to your company, your customers, your target market and your community.
Tools we use:
Questionnaire - What are your goals? Life goals, Business goals?
Interviews - review answers to questionnaire and probe deeper
Assessment - where are you stuck?
How we use them:
Develop a customized workshop to discuss the issues of transition and the path forward
Value to you:
Understanding of what it will take to reach your goals
