Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change,   ISBN:9780738208244

Customer Rating: 

This is another book that must be read for the Doctor of Ministry degree at Harding Graduate. You might all be bored with all the books on church fights by now, but I hope you are growing in your awareness of some of the material that will help your ministry. As I continue to journey into this line of study, I am amazed at how poorly churches manage transition or change in a congregation. The leaders in most congregations have little understanding of this process which leads to fights and splits. If leaders were more aware of the dynamics of change there would be better results in the future. This book is another excellent text on the transition process. There is really a big difference between a change and a transition. Most congregations go through transitions and not really change. There are three stages in the transition process which are endings, neutral zone, and new beginnings. This book is written from a business perspective but is very helpful to the church culture. If a congregation is seeking a new vision or direction or revitalization, this is a book that ALL the leaders must read.

Customer Rating: 

I am a church consultant helping churches develop functional structues for today's needs and demands. The book is a tremendous help for churches. I reccomend a transition team and providing each one with a copy of the book. Trainning the team with this material will help guide the church managening the transitions that are sure to occur when changes need to be made.

Sam Gore, Director Towards A Fruitful Ministry Inc. a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping churches and other faith based organizations. www.towardsfruitfulministry.com

Customer Rating: 

Managing Transitions is a good book. It gets a bit cumbersome at points but most of the points the author makes are valid points whenever you are facing transitions of any kind in an organization, the tips the book provides are good to know and they reinforce many of the things readers have already learned. If there is any knock on the book it is that it merely reinforces learning, it doesn't really facilitate anything significantly new.

Customer Rating: 

In Managing Transitions, William Bridges sets out to help managers and others who want to introduce change - be it a total organisational restructure or simply trying to get people to do things differently.

The book is very practical - both easy to read and to apply the key concepts. Divided into four parts, Bridges takes the reader through how to understand just what change is, how it affects us, and most importantly, how to lead change. The key concept of leading change in this book, whilst not new, is the best that I have seen it explained. That is, that leading a change process is a three step process - "getting people to let go", "managing the transition (between the old and the new)" and "launching the new beginning".

I particularly liked the checklists at the end of each of the major chapters. Not only do they summarise the chapter content, they become a key planning tool for implementing change. They could also form the basis of a very effective training program on change.

This is one of the best books I have read on change and is highly recommended to anyone who is faced with leading a change process.

Bob Selden, author What To Do When You Become The Boss: How new managers become successful managers

Customer Rating: 

In Managing Transitions, William Bridges sets out to help managers and others who want to introduce change - be it a total organisational restructure or simply trying to get people to do things differently.

The book is very practical - both easy to read and to apply the key concepts. Divided into four parts, Bridges takes the reader through how to understand just what change is, how it affects us, and most importantly, how to lead change. The key concept of leading change in this book, whilst not new, is the best that I have seen it explained. That is, that leading a change process is a three step process - "getting people to let go", "managing the transition (between the old and the new)" and "launching the new beginning".

I particularly liked the checklists at the end of each of the major chapters. Not only do they summarise the chapter content, they become a key planning tool for implementing change. They could also form the basis of a very effective training program on change.

This is one of the best books I have read on change and is highly recommended to anyone who is faced with leading a change process.

Bob Selden, author What To Do When You Become The Boss: How new managers become successful managers