If we were to say what is most essential in successful transitions, we would say communication, communication, communication–communication that involves listening and sharing with both the head and heart. Sharing can be with speech, the written word, ritual, story and gesture. Inviting staff and, if appropriate, current people served by the organization to remember the past in concrete ways, such as bulletin boards in public or staff-only areas where people can share memories of the institution as they knew it, can be helpful in leading people into the future.
 
Staff meetings can begin with sharing of memories, stories, pictures, good times and bad. Memories help make the past present and link it to the future. They put the transition in a certain perspective that can release both sadness and ultimately positive energy. If the transition is related to a major change, a whole book could be created as part of shared history.
 
Employee blogs are often an easy way to get people to share their hopes and dreams, simply by asking them what positive things they think might come out of the current transition. They can build upon each other’s ideas.
 
Articulating the realities of the present empowers people to begin to take steps out of the wilderness. Even in the midst of chaos, there is strength. Seeing what those strengths are and naming them give groups power to act upon them.
 
Many of the struggles in the wilderness zone deal with loss of meaning. Author and leadership expert Margaret Wheatley notes, “All change results from a change of meaning. Change occurs only when we let go of our certainty, our current views, and develop a new understanding of what’s going on.”
 
During the transition time, it is important to encourage conversation about strengths and struggles. This helps individuals and groups articulate meaning, to focus on the heart of the matter rather than on trivialities. Dialogue in the wilderness zone mobilizes the wanderers and helps them feel connected. Probably one of the greatest and most effective things supervisors and senior leaders can do to help people deal with the organization’s strengths and struggles as well as their own, is to be with them and listen to them and provide regular informational updates.
 
Leaders must listen
The temptation for some leaders during times of change and transition is to hide out. They don’t want to hear griping and complaining. However, by making people and their concerns a top priority, by listening attentively, by showing care even when decisions cannot be reversed, leaders can help people travel through the wilderness zone with less pain and sometimes less hurt.

This means being available for staff meetings, sitting in the cafeteria with different groups and inviting conversation about their concerns. It may mean working with the human resource department to set up times when individuals or groups can gather to discuss various aspects of the transition journey.

Major changes, especially if they involve a change in staffing, are very stressful for both those leaving an organization and those remaining. Beyond offering severance packages, the appropriate use of stories, symbols, gifts and gratitude will reflect the organization’s respect for all who have contributed to its mission. Naming and grieving losses and hurts empower people to let them go.

Maureen Gallagher, Senior Consultant
The Reid Group

One way to understand the role of conflict in our lives is to describe it as our way of dealing with differences–religious, political, personal, familial, etc. In this view, how we deal with our differences makes all the difference. We have found in our work with many individuals, couples and groups that an effective way to explore our differences and achieve positive outcomes is to work from the “inside out.” This “inside out” approach includes four levels of reflection:

1. An examination of our own attitudes today toward issues of power and conflict, violence and peacemaking. The better we can understand our own interpretations of these realities the more proactive we can be in bringing about positive outcomes and the less we will be trapped in the vicious cycle of reacting to situations and people outside ourselves.

2. Another dimension of “inside out” thinking is to reflect on our family dynamic and what we learned about naming and working with conflicts from our earliest years. One meditation you might enter into is that of imagining yourself sitting at your family dinner table when you were ten or twelve. Recall for a moment the seat that was yours and who else gathered with you around the table. Who had a voice and power in that gathering, who struggled to be heard and how were conflicts dealt with when they arose? How powerful did you feel in that family circle and how confident were you that the conflicts could be handled in a positive way? Whatever your experience, it has an impact on how you approach dealing with differences today.

3. We believe that all of us have the capacity to grow so that our early experiences like that described earlier do not have to define us forever or, better said, while they still have influence we can modify them as adults. In this regard, consider what are your values and expectations about conflicts today. What helps you the most to discover or uncover positive outcomes and what gets in your way? Through “inside out” thinking, we all have opportunity to work toward maximizing positive outcomes and minimizing negative ones.

4. As we face various conflicts today it is critical to clarify our own attitude toward power and conflict. As a man or as a woman, how much is your attitude one of “we can make it work” or “we can find a win-win outcome” and how much is it “here we go again, I’m about to lose again or not have my needs or wishes considered in an outcome.” By reflecting “inside out,” we all have the opportunity to develop our capacity to achieve win-win outcomes and avoid or seriously diminish the likelihood of win-lose outcomes.

Mediators who have the job of helping parties achieve durable win-win agreements will be most effective when they adopt an “inside out” approach and encourage those they work with to do the same. In using this approach we all have the capacity and opportunity to be more effective in managing our differences and finding positive and life-giving outcomes.

John Reid, Senior Consultant, Mediator
The Reid Group