The Transition Team
     In 1994, the wife and husband team opened a Charlotte franchise of The Transition Team www.tttsolutions.com, a nationally recognized outplacement service, with Robyn as CEO and Bill as president. The Transition Team is an outplacement and human resources-consulting firm hired by corporate clients to manage a company downsizing, closing, acquisition, merger, consolidation and other human resource-related concerns. Since that time, the Criggers have opened two more offices of The Transition Team in Richmond, Va., and Moline, Ill.
     Whether the changes affect a few individuals or a large group, executive or hourly employees, The Transition Team develops a comprehensive plan to ensure the success of everyone involved. Bill first became acquainted with The Transition Team through his work in personnel.
     "I’d actually used The Transition Team for displaced employees during my career at Kroger," he says. "When Robyn and I chose to go into this business, we felt that The Transition Team was the most effective company we had worked with, so we looked into franchising." Robyn shares, "We’ve been through the stress job loss creates on marriages and families. It’s not easy deciding whether to take a severance package, transfer or retire early. We provide the kind of service that we wish we’d had when Bill was displaced."
In this sluggish economic environment, The Transition Team’s services are predominantly focused on downsizing, acquisitions and reorganizing. Employees are often faced with overwhelming choices — to leave the company, retire early, transfer or take a lateral move. The Transition Team’s consultants assist companies in planning and executing difficult situations while helping employees determine the best exit strategy. As highly trained consultants, they develop a comprehensive plan to preserve and promote the dignity of all employees as well as the positive image of the employer as a responsible corporate citizen.
     The Transition Team offers group and private sessions for employees that include family participation. Individual and group services span financial planning, job search skills, relocation assistance, entrepreneurial counseling or career and life planning. Contacts are established with chambers of commerce, state employment services and other associations for community support.
     The Transition Team works to reduce the potential costs associated with restructuring or closure. Outplacement defuses hostility in the workplace, can reduce unemployment insurance taxes, lessens exposure to litigation and more effectively manages the termination process. It also eases the trauma for the employees that keep their jobs. But for the Criggers, the benefits are far more personal.
     Bill says, "It’s really about compassion. We are a firm that really cares."
A common misconception is that The Transition Team only handles downsizing. But, as Bill points out, there’s more to business transitions than meets the eye.
     "There are some upsides," he insists, "like mergers and acquisitions. We also do career coaching/counseling, especially one-on-one, profiling and assessment testing. We also help companies with training issues.
      The Transition Team appraises human resources practices to help companies better attract and retain excellent employees. The Criggers have assembled a consortium of nearly 30 consultants who are dispatched nationwide to address outplacement and human resources strategy. The staff is composed of seasoned human resources veterans with advanced degrees. Perhaps not surprisingly, many of those consultants have also experienced a downsizing at some point in their careers. The Charlotte office also retains a professional psychologist.
     The Transition Team has worked for corporations in many states including the Carolinas, Florida, Michigan, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. Companies like Bank of America, John Deere, First Union and Reynolds Metals have all used its outplacement/strategy services.
     What distinguishes The Transition Team from other outplacement companies? For the Criggers, the answer is clear.
     "This business really is about relationships," says Bill. "All of our outplacement plans include follow-up. It doesn’t just end when we leave the site."
Robyn agrees, "We pride ourselves on personalizing our services. With Bill having gone through displacement, we know the things people go through. We treat employees, their spouses and their children."
     Bill Crigger acts as consultant in addition to handling his management responsibilities. Robyn is a master of organization, overseeing day-to-day operations. While the couple finds their work immensely satisfying, Robyn Crigger wants to clarify another lingering misperception. "We are hired by businesses, not employees," she says. "The Transition Team is not a staffing company or an executive recruiter."
     Outplacement is a support system for the employee that is established through the employer. But the Criggers found that the general public hasdifficulty distinguishing between an outplacement company and a staffing company, which matches people with jobs. The Transition Team often took calls from job seekers looking for work. The Criggers felt torn.
"I hated turning people away."  Robyn adds, "We saw a need for people looking for help. So that’s when we started up a Charlotte office of Sedona Staffing Services. 

The Start of Something New
     Sedona Staffing Services www.sedonagroup.com is a job placement service that links job-hunters to full and part-time as well as temporary jobs. The Criggers cordoned off office space for the newly formed staffing company in 1997. With two account executives, Sedona Staffing Services was open for business. Bill and Robyn Crigger are both partners in the company, with Bill’s role as adviser and Robyn’s as vice president of operations.
But Sedona isn’t a typical staffing company.
     Robyn explains, "People tell us they feel like a number at other staffing firms. We work hard to get to know people, to understand what job will really make them happy. It’s so important to have a good fit."
    The Crigger’s relationship with The Sedona Group is also a partnership. While the nationwide offices are owned by individual entrepreneurs such as the Criggers, The Sedona Group provides payroll and invoicing and manages worker’s compensation and unemployment insurance.
    "We do everything else," Robyn says. "It works quite nicely as a fit with the other services we offer."

A Long Transition
     While many people are reluctant to work with their spouse, for the Criggers, working together is a lot easier than working apart. In fact, it’s a natural extension of their marriage.
Robyn says, "It’s great to love your spouse, but it’s so important to like them. Bill and I were friends long before we were married, and we have a lot of respect for each other."
"And," says Bill, "we communicate well, which makes us a good team."
     Their friendship began when the Criggers were two 14-year-olds in South Charleston, W.Va. Bill walked Robyn home from school one afternoon and seven years later in 1970, they married. Robyn received a degree in elementary education from Marshall University. Bill earned a business degree from West Virginia University and later received a master’s degree in industrial relations.
     During his college years, Bill took a job bagging groceries part-time at a Kroger store. Kroger executives recognized his potential and recruited him for a management position. Bill Crigger rose from trainee to store manager to a position in the training department.
"I did training for new stores," Bill explains. "I was on the road a lot and covered all of West Virginia."
      In 1974, Kroger transferred Bill to Roanoke, Va., as an assistant personnel manager. In 1980, he was transferred again to the Kroger Savon division in Charlotte. The Criggers spent eight happy years in Charlotte, immersing themselves in the community. But by 1989, the Kroger Savon division was closing and Bill either had to accept a transfer to Atlanta or lose his job.
     Robyn says, "We examined the pros and cons of the situation. Bill had been with Kroger for so many years. How could we turn down the offer to go to Atlanta?"
"But our hearts were in Charlotte," she confesses. "Now when I counsel people, I tell them they have to look at the facts, but they also have to listen to their instincts."
Bill Crigger went to Atlanta as human resources manager. But Atlanta didn’t feel like home. "Taking a transfer doesn’t mean you’re going to be happy," says Bill. "It wasn’t a good fit for us."
     When Kroger underwent yet another downsizing in 1992, Bill Crigger accepted a severance package. After over twenty years ascending the corporate ladder, he was without a job.
     Bill found a consulting job in Washington, D.C., while Robyn stayed behind in Atlanta to sell their home. But after nine months, Bill was still dissatisfied with the work.
So he accepted a position in Moline, Ill., as vice president of human resources for Eagle Food Centers. However, that company was also in a turnaround situation. For two years, he toiled long hours, but it was not still a satisfactory situation, and so Bill left the company.
Bill and Robyn longed to return to Charlotte. After doing some research, Bill contacted The Transition Team to discuss franchise opportunities.
     "I spent six months working as a TTT consultant, learning the methodology from the ground up," he says.
     Bill tapped into his lifelong partner, Robyn to bring order to the operations. While Bill was in training, Robyn relocated the family back to Charlotte, initiated a marketing campaign, made sales calls and hired consultants. The duo found The Transition Team a perfect complement to their skills and their interests.
Their sons, Matthew, 27, and Jim, 25, have also gravitated to the couple’s human resources holdings. Matthew now works for The Transition Team, and Jim is a student in information technology and assists with the company’s computer systems and in other areas.

Ever in Transition
    The Criggers recently moved The Transition Team and Sedona Staffing Services to a larger office building at Crown Point Corporate Center. The new 3,900-square-foot space offers more growing room, including conference and training facilities. "Most folks know us for the manufacturing assistance and large-group work we do," Robyn says. "The new building has given us more space for transitional centers and room to work with individual executives."
    Despite their busy schedules and responsibilities, the Criggers have launched yet another new business – The Career Transition Group – borne largely of their pro bono work with people in transition.
    "Sometimes we to talk job seekers on Saturdays," Bill says. "I also help coordinate a career transition group at my church."
     The Career Transition Group is a career counseling service for hire by job hunters. The same outplacement services once reserved for corporate clients are now available to jobseekers unaffiliated with a company.
     "It comes from a need," Robyn says. "It wasn’t that we were looking for more work to do. It just felt like the right thing to do."