Sue's phase in which a long-standing, familiar practice becomes unsettled because the change requires advanced planning is called?

• A. Preparation
• B. Adoption
• C. Implementation
• D. Transitional

Answer: (D)

In change management, the period when a long-standing, familiar practice becomes unsettled because you must plan ahead to move to something new is the transitional phase. This is the bridging moment between the old way and the new way, where preparation has shifted into actionable steps: designing the new process, coordinating training, testing with pilots, and arranging resources. People feel unsettled because workflows, roles, and tools are being redesigned, and the organization is shifting from thinking about the change to actively planning and testing how it will work in practice. This makes transitional the best fit for the scenario described.

Why the other concepts don’t fit as well: preparation is about getting ready and laying groundwork before any real changes happen, so it doesn’t capture the moment of active shift and disruption. Implementation is the actual rollout of the change, often after planning and testing, whereas adoption focuses on individuals embracing and using the new practice after it’s in place. Transitional specifically describes that middle state of change where old habits are unsettled as planning and alignment occur.