Our team at work is going through a transition where we lost two key team members, and now have two temporary members to fill in the gaps. There are two members left of the old team, but we are on two different floors and do not communicate often. Lately, I have been feeling sad because I don’t feel like I belong to anything at work. I find myself thinking of solutions to this situation. I even made an appointment to see the Human Resource Manager to talk about moving to another department. What would be the best way to get through this?

The Team Doc Says…

It’s tough to move on when a team breaks up. Particularly when every team member is happy and engaged and feels ownership in the team.

But business needs change and that often dictates that team members move on to other areas of the organization. Change must be acknowledged and every team member must transition to the new reality.

In the book, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, William Bridges identifies why it is so tough for us to make a change.

Change is a process. First, the change event occurs — a team ends, a team member leaves the team, a new team leader comes on board. Then each team member must deal with the transition to the new reality. It’s the transition that’s really tough for most people. According to Bridges, each team member must travel the transition path that includes three stages:

Ending / Letting Go —> Neutral Zone —> The New Beginning

Before any team member can move on to a new beginning, they must explicitly let go of the past by recognizing what’s done. Then they move into the neutral zone where new ideas and possibilities for the future are recognized, followed by the new beginning where the transition is embraced and a new reality sets in.

To build your new team, it is important for each team member (both old and new) to recognize that the transition is taking place. Build your new team just like you did the old one. Center the focus on team mission, goals, team roles and responsibilities and working agreements.