phase during which the future is not clear but the past is gone. The past may
not be gone in a literal sense—the same people may still be around, the same
letterhead may be in use—but the past no longer offers the answers.
Leaders have a special role to play in the neutral zone. They need to help
people understand exactly what has ended with the relinquishment of old
ways. Especially at operational levels, this is not always clear. Once people do
understand what is over, there’s still a job to be done determining how everyone is
going to function while creating the new ways. What policies will be adopted in
the interim? How will reassignments be managed before they are functional?
Leaders need to work
with their organizations to determine how everything will
play out during a time in which the way things will ultimately play out remains
unclear.
To understand the neutral zone, consider what it’s like to move from one
city to another. The move can happen so quickly that you may think there
was virtually no neutral zone period. Yet it is likely that you felt weird even
before you left your old city, before the change occurred. During that time
your productivity was down, you were starting to grieve, and you were con-
fused about the future. Long after you have arrived in your new city—after
the change has happened—you are still not fully up to speed. In that sense,
the neutral zone exists before the old situation ends and even after the new
situation is in place.
Although that’s an easy process to explain, it’s a very uncomfortable one
for leaders to manage, especially those who like crisp policies and clear
strategies. In reaction, many try to put the new in place as quickly as possible,
even though people aren’t emotionally ready. But structure isn’t the answer.
Coaching in the neutral zone helps leaders understand what can be done,
what should be done, why people feel the way they feel, and what people
need, as well as what events signal that the transition is going poorly or
well.
Phase 3: The New Beginning
The neutral zone is the area where the real transformations take place. At
some point, imperceptibly, the neutral zone starts to do its work. During the
neutral zone, the
two merging companies, for example, start to act as one. It
may be that the structural details of the company were clear on the first day,
but it took time for the people to act accordingly. Individual roles changed, but
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