The best-selling guide for coping with changes in life and work, named one of the 50 all-time best books in self-help and personal development Whether you choose it or it is thrust upon you, change brings both opportunities and turmoil. Since Transitions was first published, this supportive guide has helped hundreds of thousands of readers cope with these issues by providing an elegantly simple yet profoundly insightful roadmap of the transition process. With the understanding born of both personal and professional experience, William Bridges takes readers step by step through the three stages of any transition: The Ending, The Neutral Zone, and, eventually, The New Beginning. Bridges explains how each stage can be understood and embraced, leading to meaningful and productive movement into a hopeful future. With a new introduction highlighting how the advice in the book continues to apply and is perhaps even more relevant today, and a new chapter devoted to change in the workplace, Transitions will remain the essential guide for coping with the one constant in life: change.

The business world is constantly transforming. When restructures, mergers, bankruptcies, and layoffs hit the workplace, employees and managers naturally find the resulting situational shifts to be challenging. But the psychological transitions that accompany them are even more stressful. Organizational transitions affect people; it is always people, rather than a company, who have to embrace a new situation and carry out the corresponding change. As veteran business consultant William Bridges explains, transition is successful when employees have a purpose, a plan, and a part to play. This indispensable guide is now updated to reflect the challenges of today's ever-changing, always-on, and globally connected workplaces. Directed at managers on all rungs of the corporate ladder, this expanded edition of the classic bestseller provides practical, step-by-step strategies for minimizing disruptions and navigating uncertain times.

Organizations today are awash in change. Managing change requires leaders to focus simultaneously on managing the business and providing effective leadership to the people. More often than not, it is the focus on the people side that loses out. This book offers a framework for understanding the issues and competencies that contribute to effective leadership during times of change. Its purpose is to help leaders determine how to choose and move among a variety of managerial approaches--to help them see what's working, what's not working, and what's missing. In this way, leaders can more clearly assess their impact and learn how to meet the demands of both managing the business and leading the people.

The business world is a place of constant change, with stories of corporate mergers, layoffs, bankruptcy, and restructuring hitting the news every day. Yet as veteran consultant William Bridges maintains, the situational changes are not as difficult for companies to make as the psychological transitions. In the best-selling Managing Transitions, Bridges provides a clear understanding of what change does to employees and what employees in transition can do to an organization. Directed at managers and employees in today's corporations, Bridges shows how to minimize the distress and disruptions caused by change. Managing Transitions addresses the fact that it is people who have to carry out the change. When the book was originally published a decade ago, Bridges was the first to provide any real sense of the emotional impact of change and what can be done to keep it from disrupting the entire organization. With new information and commentary on layoffs, corporate suspicion, and the increasing tumult in the business world, Managing Transitions remains the definitive guide to dealing with change.

Clear, actionable guidance toward managing a major leadership change Transitions at the Top is an insightful, informative guide to navigating a change in leadership. A smooth transition is critical to both the health of the organization and the success of the new leader, but good planning and strong strategy can help organizations come out fresher and more driven on the other side. This book provides the specific principles, guidelines, and actions that boards, C-suite executives, and HR leaders need to guarantee a successful CEO transition. Continuity is key as one leader passes the mantle to a successor, and this book spans the steps and events that take place from when the candidate accepts the offer, all the way through the point where a critical mass of followers have accepted him or her as the established leader. Coverage includes guidance on who should be engaged in the process, as well as role-specific advice for each member of the transition management team. Many books have been written to advise new incoming CEOs, but there is little guidance available for the organization as a whole. This book provides actionable advice on smoothing the transition without breaking stride. Maintain continuity during leadership transitions Strengthen focus on culture, systems, and processes Engage all influential executives in smoothing the transition Lay a foundation to help the new leader succeed The transition management team plays a crucial role in maintaining the health of the organization during a time of major change. Strong strategy becomes critical when an organization is in flux, and high engagement is key. Transitions at the Top provides expert insight, clear guidance, and a solid plan for a smoother transition.

As nonprofit organizations mature and grow, their staffs and programs expand, their operations and dynamics become more complex, and the climate they operate in changes and presents new challenges. If they are to move to a new level of effectiveness, they must periodically adjust their leadership, management, structure, governance, and operating style to fit their changed circumstances. Author Susan Gross calls these adjustments ""turning points."" The author's forty years of work with nonprofit organizations has shown that turning points are most likely to arise at seven predictable times in a group's life. Recognizing these turning points and taking action can ease the adjustments necessary as your organization pivots in a new direction. The seven turning points are: 1) When a loose, family style of operating leads to disorganization and a lack of professionalism or accountability; 2) When the management needs of an organization outstrip its executive director's management skills; 3) When a founding volunteer board hires its first executive director but finds it hard to delegate and adjust to a less involved role; 4) When opportunistic, unplanned growth results in an absence of focus and priorities and spreads an organization too thin; 5) When strong central direction becomes micromanagement, top-down control, and over-dependency on the leader 6) When decentralization goes too far, splitting the organization into autonomous units that have little or no connection, coherence, or coordination; and 7) When a longtime, cherished executive director must prepare to step down. This lively text includes charts, illustrations, and an engaging graphic design to help readers assess the state of their organizations and decide what changes to make.

Combining expert knowledge, experience and reflections from senior leaders to distil collective leadership experiences, this book explores the realities of leadership at universities rather than the imagined and often-unrealistic expectations and perceptions of how leaders should act. This key text is an informed insider’s guide to leadership transitions that will assist talented individuals in considering whether to apply for, how to prepare for and how to take on the task of leading a university. The collection of leadership experiences provided will help universities to be more successful, students to have great educational experiences and staff at all levels to have more-fulfilling working environments. It will also consider how to avoid the emotional pain and suffering that can arise when leaders find themselves poorly equipped, unprepared, unable or unwilling to provide the sound and competent leadership that universities deserve. Centred on the practice and experience of leadership, this book will be a must-read for all new and existing heads of universities. It will also provide useful insights to those actively involved in the recruitment and development of senior leaders, members of senior leadership teams and those who hold governance roles in universities. Further updates and details about the application of the ideas in the book in practice can be found at www.leadershiptransitionsatthetop.com/.