“Transition” Comes in Many Shapes and Sizes

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I am planning to discuss “transition” here but am seeking input first. There are many different types and levels of “transition”. Which transition situations have posed the most problems? Also, what are your firsthand experiences, good or bad, with these situations?

 

A poor transition process leads to ineffective execution every time. Beyond the standard onboarding or orientation for employees new to the company, poor internal transitions can derail execution and throttle productivity. The duration of the drop in productivity is determined by how poor the transition process is.

 

What I want to look at is the transition of an individual or individuals moving into a position new to them, period. For this kind of transition, there is little difference in the needs for an internal placement or an external hiring. The basic need is to get up to speed and reach full productivity as quickly as possible.

 

Whether a new leader assignment, work group reorganization, or something as “simple” as a new project team start-up, there is more often than not a lengthy period of “feeling things out” where there is a whole lot of feeling out going on, and not enough work getting done as a result. Consider the following transition scenarios.

 

• An individual enters into a new position as manager of an established, talented group of people. Whether or not the leader and team knew each other previously doesn’t really matter. They are all new to this specific manager / team mate relationship.
• A manager’s work group is floundering, primarily due to interpersonal issues. The problems are beginning to impact results, and if the ‘people’ issues continue, productivity will suffer further.
• The company is feeling its way through the murky aftermath of an acquisition, sizable downsizing or merger. New leaders and associates have been assigned to reorganized work groups. The new and unknown is creating fear, resentment and distrust, and as a result there is very little work getting done.
• A project team was chartered nearly a month ago. Completing the project on time is a ‘must-do’. Project start-up has been rocky at best, and critical milestones are looking more and more unreachable.
• People in your department are just flat-out incapable of getting along. Please, keep the names to yourself.  But you know that you are thinking about a specific individual right now…..

 

I am excluding from consideration this time around the basic but critical transition an individual goes through when downsized or otherwise removed from a company. There are a good many experts out there who deal with outplacement.

 

Letting nature take its course is not an option. In each of these scenarios, full productivity ASAP is critical. When is that not a priority? Just Do It (aka…sink or swim, bubba) does not apply to transitioning through a lineup change. Unless winning games is not important any more.

Once we get a little more definition then we’ll get into the HOW-TO’s of transition.