"It isn't the change that will do you in, it's the transition" - William Bridges
A lot of books have been written about change and transitions. I'd like to share a model with you developed by change management consultant William Bridges.
Bridges defined:
Change as all the EXTERNAL stuff that happens TO you, even if you don't agree with it.
Transitions as INTERNAL; it's what happens in your mind as you go through change.
Bridges came up with a transition model with three phases:
The ending: this is when you acknowledge and grieve what you lose. It involves letting go of and making peace with what was. If you skip this phase, it's going to come back and get you at a later point.
The neutral zone: this is where your re-orientation takes places. It's a time when you feel confused and disoriented. It's an opportunity for you to intentionally choose what you want to hold on to, what to let go off, and what new habits you want to create.
The new beginning: this is where you re-invent yourself and create new habits. Some experience it as taking off a layer, while others think of it as adding on a layer to who they are as a person.
This visualisation captures the phases along the axes of time (how long the phase goes on) and importance (how important the phase is at a given point in time).
A question of identity: who are you becoming?
There are different types of transitions in people’s lives. Some examples include:
Changes in role: expert, manager, leader, employee, employer, contractor
Family changes: becoming a parent, sibling, grandparent
Global triggers: pandemic, politics, war, displacement
Career change: within the same sector, new profession
Workplace change: new processes, new tools, restructure, redundancy
Moving city or country: for work, family, maybe not by choice
Transitions are an opportunity to redefine yourself
They relate to who you are. And who you are becoming. To your identity.
To navigate change and your personal transition intentionally, look at:
what's in your control
what you can influence
what you need to accept and adapt to
Navigating your transition
There is a grieving process involved in letting go and transitioning to something new.
Some things you can't hold on to because the transition transforms you fundamentally. For me, becoming a parent is one example.
But there are other parts of your identity that you might want to hold on to. They are part of your experience and your expertise. They have left a mark on who you are and what you value. And you might want to continue to carry them with you.
You can decide in what way those experiences define you.
You can choose what drives your thinking and your decisions about who you want to become as you deal with the change and navigate your way through the transition.
If you'd like some support along the way, get in touch.