Organizational Growth: The neutral zone

As mentioned in the previous article, organizational health and resilience depends on the effectiveness of transition management. In this article we will focus our attention on the neutral zone in the transition management process.

During the Ironman race, the neutral zone was a place of freedom for me. Why? Because I had time to change shoes and rest. I was not out cycling or running yet. It was a time where I could create the way I wanted to tackle the cycling and running stages.
The key of the neutral zone

The neutral zone is always a time of refreshing. A person or organization who has clearly dealt with the past can embrace the neutral zone. The zone that gives the freedom to create and explore. The neutral zone is a time to orchestrate creativity through trainings and brainstorming sessions. It is a time where employees sit together and brainstorm what the future can look like. Employees search for new solutions to old problems. Each dialogue creates new thoughts and ideas that lead to a greater depth of knowledge about what might be in the future. No conversation is seen as unfruitful. Every idea verbalized becomes an ingredient in the meal that is being created. Setbacks and losses are seen as guiding posts toward new solutions.

Not embracing the neutral zone pro-actively, will make the "new land" picture blurry and fussy. It will cripple your ability to conquer the new land completely. Some organizations do not use this "free" time effectively and it ends up being a time where people go in their own direction. Forcing pre-mature answers because one feels uncomfortable in the neutral zone is also an unwise choice.

One thing a neutral zone need is temporary schedules and structures. These structures are not there to stay forever. They are there to serve the temporal space between the Old and New zones, much like a boat that takes a person from one piece of land to another.

Tips to flourish in the neutral zone:

1. Establish a neutral zone monitoring team.

2. Encourage dialogue and creativity at all levels of the organization

3. Communicate findings from brainstorm sessions throughout the organization.

Use your neutral zone well by embracing the energy that creativity will bring and build the right temporal structures to serve this time of innovation. You will be amazed at the buy-in from employees if your neutral zone is flowing efficiently. In the last article I will share in conquering all of the new land.

Cias Ferreira