Transitions - Part One
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Last summer I did a series of Rambles called Emerge, charting our individual and collective journeys as we emerged from COVID. (Sigh.) I enjoyed the challenge of writing monthly blogs with a throughline theme, so I thought I’d tackle another series this summer.
You probably noticed that in nearly every Ramble I reference the work of William Bridges (1933-2013), a Boston born consultant, and one of the fathers of Organizational Development in the United States. His most famous contribution to the field is his Transitions model; a framework that helps us to make sense and perhaps more importantly, to make the most of challenging and significant life changes. As this model, and the book of the same name are foundational in my work as a coach and leadership search consultant, it’s high time I do some deep dive rambling that offers you a walk through each of the transition stages: Endings, Neutral zone, and New Beginnings.
I have read ‘Transitions’ 4 times now, including after a divorce, and then most recently when I unexpectedly transitioned from being a non-profit arts executive to a self-employed consultant in 2020. Each time I read it, I come out better prepared for my next transition. If you, or someone you love is in transition, I hope this series of Rambles is helpful to you in some way and that it inspires you to learn more or read the book!
We go through multiple transitions in our lives, some are developmental and therefore likely expected, graduating high school or college, formalizing a long-term relationship, parenthood, retirement etc. Some transitions, although just as common, are unplanned. Unexpected events like relationship separations, career path shifts, health concerns, or losing a loved one, often cause a reaction and response for which we find ourselves woefully unprepared to manage. Part of the reason for this is that we tend to focus on the change event iself, i.e., the divorce, rather than the consequent transition to becoming a single person again. It’s in the transition process where the larger story of our life unfolds.
Unless a particular time of personal transition is seen in the context of the arc of an individual’s lifetime, it is unlikely to have any meaning larger than “ending this and starting that.” It is, after all, that larger meaning that we are looking for when we ask “Why”. Why is this happening to me? We wonder. “And why now?”
At the heart of Bridges’ message, at least as I receive it, is that transitions are essential to our development as human beings. So, when they happen, expected or not, it’s a time to slow down, or even press pause to grieve, celebrate, rest, step back, notice, evaluate, experiment, and take risks. It is this intentional approach to the time after major change events that aids us in our never-ending quest to answer life’s most fundamental questions: ‘What do I need’? And ‘What do I want’?
If all this sounds heavy and overwhelming, well, managing major life changes are. Bridges’ genius is that he created a simple framework to break transition down into three stages. Here’s the Transition’s model:
Over the course of the next three months, I’ll focus on each of the stages one by one. In closing out this overview, I want to draw your attention to two things about the model that are fundamental to understanding and managing transitions:
1) The ending comes first. “Every beginning starts with an Ending”. (Bridges)
2) The three stages overlap. There are no bright lines. What makes a transition such a psychological process, is that we often experience paradoxical emotions; loss and relief (endings), uncertainty and antipication (neutral zone), and fear and excitement (new beginnings) all at once. It’s a lot.
I look forward to diving into Endings with you in late June. I’ll leave Bridges to sign off.
Transitions is not simply a manual on how to cope; rather, it is based on a theory of personal development that views transition as the natural process of disorientation and reorientation marking the turning points in the path of growth.