Transitions are key to thriving in this rapidly changing world

 

That internal reorientation or self redefinition may be the missing ingredient to you thriving in this rapidly changing world.

 

How is your internal personal TRANSITION going?

 

And how are you building this TRANSITION time in for the team – as you continuously navigate new changes?

 

This comes from one of the Top 50 self-development books of all time. It is ‘Transitions -Making Sense of Life’s Changes’ by William Bridges. A book written over 40 years ago, that looks at the internal transition we go on to make a change and how resistance shows up. It is still a useful model.

 

Over time societies have understood this idea of transitions by creating rites of passage for our life journeys and life quakes – to mark or celebrate these endings, transitions and new beginnings i.e. teenage proms, college graduation, starting and leaving a job, retirement events, sabbaticals, getting married, getting divorced, adding a new child to your family and losing a loved one.

 

We leave an identity behind and move into a period of uncertainty before our new identity emerges. We needa map and time to transition or reorientate.

 

Change is inevitable. We often see change as a situation or thing happening to us or around us. However, our ability to embrace or adapt to changes is more about what is going on inside us – the transition from the old to new in our heads – more than those external events.

 

I don’t talk about managing change – that is a bit like herding cats! I like to talk about journeys and navigating change well – by being intentional in managing these phases and creating the right environment with the right resoirces for personal TRANSITIONS to work.

 

Taking this journey concept onboard can help embrace change more effectively by incorporating these stages where needed. Often, we are so busy focusing on the new beginning and in such a rush to get started – we ignore those first two steps and because it can be uncomfortable we focus on the external rather than the internal journey.

 

And then we get stuck fighting external rather than internal battles or we take our old identity into our new beginning. We are not setting ourselves up to win.

 

We need to take time to stop, reflect on and understand the journey we are on. Then get curious about the meaning we are giving it and explore other options and stories. Letting go to create space for the new is important. If we do not let stuff go, we carry that baggage around with us and don’t really change.

 

And that gap – the neutral zone is the time and space needed for reinvention – recognising that a new way will emerge. We need to stay open towards trying new and different things – where we win some, fail some and learn lots. If you like order this can be a challenging space – just seek to stay curious a little bit longer than is comfortable. This is our growth space.

 

When I am coaching clients using the concept of transitions, we look at the ending before the beginning. Allowing this time and space to process each change journey and reflect on the stories – can really help people move forward more quickly and effectively. There is something very healthy that seems to support our wellbeing about good endings.

 

And we need to leave some space and get comfortable with those voids in the middle. Neutral can be a very challenging and yet rewarding space where we get to learn deeply about ourselves. Something I am still a work in progress on is voids!

 

 

It can be useful to use the same concept as we transition from one year to the next.

 

What does this mean for you – as you transition into the new year?

 

Rather than leaping into Resolutions or Goals – can you build in some ‘Neutral Time’ for reflection, learning, reorientation and trying a few new identities out?

 

And reflect on:

 

#annualreviews #changeagency