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5.4 Bridges' Transition Model

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APMG Change Management Foundation Exam

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1 Chapter 1: The v3 Foundation Exam and the Organisational Context

1.1 Exam Structure, the Five Syllabus Areas and the Certification Path 1.2 Scene Setting: External and Internal Factors Shaping Change 1.3 Change Management, Benefits and Dis-benefits

2 Chapter 2: Understanding the Change Context

2.1 Kelman's Three Levels of Adoption 2.2 VUCA and the Cynefin Framework 2.3 Planned Change versus Emergent Change 2.4 Systems Thinking in Change 2.5 Organisational Culture and Its Three Levels

3 Chapter 3: Diagnosing and Structuring the Change Approach

3.1 Lewin's Force Field Analysis 3.2 Co-Design 3.3 The ADKAR Model 3.4 Evolving the n-Step Process and Kotter's Eight Accelerators

4 Chapter 4: Delivery Strategy, Agile Practices and the Change Strategy

4.1 Delivery Strategy: Big Bang, Phased, Voluntary and Iterative 4.2 Agile Practices and Agile Change Practices 4.3 The Continuous Change Management Cycle 4.4 The Change Strategy

5 Chapter 5: People and Change — Individual Difference and Response

5.1 Differences in People and Personality Preferences 5.2 Neuroscience and Change: SCARF, Mindset and Insight 5.3 The Change Curve 5.4 Bridges' Transition Model

6 Chapter 6: Motivation, Resilience and Learning

6.1 Rewards, Punishment and Pink's Three Motivators 6.2 Positive Psychology, Resilience and Appreciative Inquiry 6.3 The Beckhard-Harris Change Formula and Schein's Two Anxieties 6.4 Competence, Learning and the Learning Dip 6.5 Learning Preferences: Kolb, Honey and Mumford

7 Chapter 7: Key Roles in Change Leadership

7.1 Key Roles in the Change Process 7.2 The Role of the Change Sponsor 7.3 The Change Agent's Role and Personal Influence 7.4 The Role of Local Leadership in Change

8 Chapter 8: Psychological Safety, Leadership and Culture

8.1 Psychological Climate and Psychological Safety 8.2 Carolyn Taylor: How Leadership Shapes Culture 8.3 Leadership Styles and Organisational Climate

9 Chapter 9: Teams and Change

9.1 Team Structures and Change Agent Networks 9.2 Tuckman's Stages of Team Development 9.3 Lencioni: Assessing and Growing Team Effectiveness 9.4 Harvesting the Value of Team Diversity

10 Chapter 10: Stakeholder Identification, Analysis and Engagement

10.1 Stakeholder Definition and Identification 10.2 Stakeholder Analysis, Segmentation and Empathy Mapping 10.3 Stakeholder Mapping and Sources of Power 10.4 Barriers to Engagement 10.5 Planning Stakeholder Engagement

11 Chapter 11: Communication Theory, Messaging and Emotional Connection

11.1 Communication Theory and the Communication Process 11.2 Barriers to Communication and Cognitive Biases 11.3 Messaging: Setting Context and the Tell, Sell, Include Approach 11.4 Appealing to Hearts and Minds

12 Chapter 12: Communication Channels and Planning

12.1 Ways of Communicating and VARK Language Style Preferences 12.2 Communication Channels: One-Way, Two-Way, Lean and Rich 12.3 Communications Planning

13 Chapter 13: Assessing Change Impact and Severity

13.1 Change Management as Risk Management and the Two-Step Assessment 13.2 Step 1: Categorising Impacts and Identifying Impact Areas 13.3 Step 1 Continued: Gap Analysis, Impact Profiles and Monitoring 13.4 Step 2: Change Impact Severity

14 Chapter 14: Resistance to Change

14.1 Causes of Resistance and Oreg's Four Neural Factors 14.2 Common Reasons for Resistance and How to Deal With Them 14.3 Building a Strategy to Manage Resistance

15 Chapter 15: Change Analytics and Exam Readiness

15.1 Measurement Types and the Change Delivery Scorecard 15.2 Building a Change Analytics Strategy 15.3 Exam Technique and Final Revision

5.4 Bridges' Transition Model

Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI

Bridges distinguishes change, the external events that can be put in a plan, from transition, the internal psychological process

The three phases are endings, the neutral zone, and new beginnings

In endings, leaders should let people know what will not change and give reasons why the current situation cannot continue

In the neutral zone, leaders should provide temporary systems and processes and encourage people to try out new approaches

  • New beginnings require a purpose, a picture, a plan and a part to play
  • Last updated: September 2026

William Bridges' transition model provides practical advice on how to move people through the emotions of change towards acceptance and problem solving. It is the companion to the change curve: the curve describes what people feel, Bridges describes what leaders should do about it.

Change versus transition

The distinction is the foundation of the model and is examined directly:

  • Change — the actual events, activities and steps that can be put into a diary or project plan
  • Transition — the human, psychological process of letting go of one pattern and engaging with a new one

Change is external and can be scheduled. Transition is internal and cannot. Bridges' most quoted line makes the point: "Starts take place on a schedule as a result of decisions... Beginnings, on the other hand, are the final phase of this organic process that we call transition, and their timing is not set by the dates written on the implementation schedule. Beginnings follow the timing of the mind and heart ."

  • The three phases
  • Phase 1: Endings

Letting go of the old ways and the old identity people had. This is where transition begins — a point that regularly catches candidates out. Transition starts with an ending, not with the new thing.

Bridges' advice to managers and leaders:

Describe the change in very specific terms , so people are clear what precisely will be different

Do not dismiss as trivial anything that people are losing. Acknowledge losses, large and small, with real empathy

Let people know what will not change. For example, stating that existing workgroups will be kept close together in the new office configuration may make a big difference

Give reasons why the current situation cannot continue. There will be gains amongst the losses

Show respect for all that has gone before. Help people see how the best aspects of the past — its successes and, most importantly, its values — will be preserved and enhanced by the change

Communicate a lot. Even if you have already done so, do it again; it is difficult to communicate too much

"Let people know what will not change" is the single most under-used piece of advice here. In the absence of information, people assume everything is at risk, and the anxiety generated is often far larger than the actual change warrants.

Phase 2: The neutral zone

This in-between time is often difficult, strange, stressful and disorientating for those affected — the old is gone but the new is not fully operational. It is when the critical psychological realignments and repatternings take place.

Think of the neutral zone as a journey from one place to another. The implications:

  • Encourage people to use this as a period to pause and reflect on what matters to them
  • Invite people to try out new approaches to work and to learn from them
  • Notice and record adaptations made during a change — some may be useful in the long term
  • Help people connect more intentionally with other people and other teams
  • Social events , perhaps including family or friends, can help avoid feelings of isolation

Set up easily accessible temporary feedback and communication systems. You will learn from the experiences of those going through the change, and they will feel supported

The neutral zone is also where temporary systems and processes belong. Providing an interim way of working while the new one beds in is a neutral-zone action, and it is what distinguishes a supported transition from an abandoned one.

Phase 3: New beginnings

Here people develop the new identity, experience the new energy and discover the new sense of purpose that make the change begin to work.

Making a new beginning is a risky time — it means committing to a new kind of future. Bridges recommends four things that encourage such commitment. People need:

  • The four Ps What it means
  • Purpose A purpose for the future after the change, which encourages people to focus on making it work

Picture A picture that engages the creative imagination, so people can already touch and feel the positive situation after the change

  • Plan A plan that is credible and gives people a clear route to success in implementing the change
  • Part to play A part to play, both in executing the plan and in the new world after the change is accomplished

Bridges also advises that making new beginnings into a reality requires:

  • Leaders must be consistent in their behaviour and messaging
  • Communicate early successes to encourage and reassure people
  • Celebrate key milestones along the change journey — especially journey's end
  • Matching actions to phases

The exam commonly gives an action and asks which phase it suits. The reliable test:

If the action is about... The phase is...

  • Acknowledging loss, explaining why things cannot continue, saying what stays the same Endings
  • Interim arrangements, experimentation, reflection, temporary feedback channels Neutral zone
  • Vision, milestones, celebrating, giving people a role in the new world New beginnings

Providing temporary systems and processes to follow is a neutral-zone action; letting people know what will not change is an endings action; celebrating key milestones is a new-beginnings action.