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Navigating the Emotional Roller Coaster of Change Transitions

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“Who are you?” said the Caterpillar…
“I – I hardly know, Sir, just at present,” Alice replied rather shyly, “at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have changed several times since then.”

Lewis Carroll
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland¹

What have you felt since COVID-19 impacted nearly every corner of our world and every aspect of our lives? Have there been days when you’ve felt a bit like Alice – changing multiple times throughout the day? I know I have.

Over the last couple of months, we have experienced change unlike any other we’ve been exposed to in our lifetime. To successfully navigate through this time as a leader, you must take a step back to recognize and acknowledge the full impact of the changes raining down upon us. Then, choose how you wish to respond and manage the impact on you as well as on your team. In other words, logic and action alone aren’t enough to save the day. We must pay attention to the emotional roller coaster that accompanies all change, particularly the drastic changes we are currently facing.

Bridges’ Transition Model

Many researchers have explored and written about change and its’ effect on people. What they have all discovered are patterns in how we react and respond to change that are quite consistent across the human experience. The model that I have used most extensively with leaders is William Bridges’ 3 Stage Transition Model consisting of Endings – Neutral Zone – New Beginnings.

Change vs Transition

Before we look at each of the stages, let’s make a distinction between change and transition. What tends to create the challenge for us isn’t the change itself but the process of adjusting to it and moving from the old reality to the new. You see, change is external, situational, and often out of our control. In this case, the COVID-19 pandemic is the external change. The internal emotional and psychological process we go through to come to terms with the change is the transition. Consequently, we must turn our attention to the transition process. It is within this process that we will find what we can control – our response.

Endings

In Bridge’s model the first phase is Endings. This phase begins with the external event and our realization that the change is really happening. So, think back to when you first learned about COVID-19. Then, consider what occurred when it first hit your country. Then, your local area. Then, perhaps you or someone you know. At what point did you realize that we truly had a pandemic on our hands? When did you find yourself moving from the known to the unknown? This is when your Endings phase began. You likely experienced any number of emotions including denial, anger, fear, anxiety, grief, frustration or depression. Cycling between these emotions is common as well (e.g. anger one moment, fear the next). You may still be experiencing them.

Keep in mind that your colleagues and team members were and are experiencing their own emotions. What can you do to support those around you during this stage and help them to let go of the way things were?

  • Acknowledge and validate the emotions that others are experiencing
  • Articulate what is actually coming to an end. Determine what might be lost as a result of the change and what might stay the same
  • Communicate, communicate, communicate

Neutral Zone

The Neutral Zone represents the phase of transition where we have started to let go of the old way of being but haven’t yet found our footing in a new reality. Typical emotions that arise during this phase include uncertainty, confusion, overwhelm or frustration. While there is a lack of a solid foundation in this phase, we do begin to experiment with new possibilities. Using our COVID-19 example again, you might find yourself feeling a bit numb, overtired, struggling to get used to working from home, or overwhelmed by suddenly becoming your children’s teacher. Yet, you’re also beginning to realize that what you are feeling is natural – that you are not alone. As you move through this phase, you gain perspective and more effectively cope with uncertainty which allows you to begin to see possibilities for taking positive action.

Everyone moves through this phase at a different pace. Don’t try to rush it. As a leader, you can support others by:

  • Continuing to listen and communicate
  • Trying new things
  • Encouraging the progress that people are making
  • Giving yourself and others time to process

Beginnings

The final stage of the model is New Beginnings. This phase is marked by acceptance of the change and a renewed sense of energy that propels action. When we have successfully moved into the New Beginning, we have embraced the new reality and started to experience solid ground again. In our example, our teams will have adjusted to a new way of working, established a new structure to their day, and found a new rhythm. Creative ways of contributing to the team begin to emerge along with new ways of doing business. During this phase, emotions shift in a more positive direction. You might be feeling excitement, optimism, and a greater sense of motivation.

What can you do to support people in this stage?

  • Set an intention for how you choose to move forward
  • Encourage others to continue taking small steps each day
  • Stay focused on solutions versus problems
  • Proactively offer and ask for support from others

Conclusion

Viewing transition in terms of William Bridges’ three stages helps you understand that the needs, challenges and opportunities presented by change can be managed as a progression of responses. Your ability to understand this and apply it to yourself as well as to help your team transition during change will go a long way to making any type of change you deal with less daunting.

Where are you in the process of change?  Where is your team? What might you do today to accept where you and others are in the process and to navigate your way successfully through the massive change we are experiencing?

  1. Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. New York: Signet Books, 1960, 47.

Reference:
Bridges, William. Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes, 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Da Capo Press, 2004.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development, Career and Retirement Coach and Facilitator who works with corporate leaders in small to mid-size businesses, across the span of their careers. She helps them to accelerate business outcomes and team performance, navigate their own career path, and transition to retirement with ease using proven methodologies and strategies that get results. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

When Was the Last Time You Took a Break?

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Are you experiencing overwhelm, stress, even burnout in your professional or executive role? These are all the frequent unfortunate side effects of a world that seemingly can never be turned off along with a persistent drive for greater productivity. Harvard researcher and psychologist, Shelley Carson stated, “If you are stuck on a problem…a distraction may provide the break you need to disengage from a fixation on the ineffective solution.”  We’ve all heard that sometimes people find that they get their best ideas in the shower. Since we don’t have to give too much thought to how we go about our daily shower, it frees the mind up to work on other things. So, taking a break can actually improve your productivity. And, sometimes, we need more than just a 10-minute break when we’ve let the drive to get things done go on for too long.

As a case in point, I recently found myself feeling fatigued, foggy and a bit stressed after a non-stop month. How in the world did this happen?  I’m usually so conscious of giving myself a break. Yet, due to two weekend commitments to teach, a weekend with an out-of-town family event, along with working normal work weeks, nearly a month went by without a day off. No wonder that my energy level had plummeted and I couldn’t think straight!

Slipping away from our practices to give ourselves time off during hectic times can happen to all of us. Sometimes, it may be necessary to take a few days away to rest and recharge when we let ourselves get beyond a certain point. Recognizing that I’d passed that point, I took a Friday afternoon off, spent the weekend enjoying time with my significant other, and put my feet up and watched a movie. The focus of attention was on completely non-work-related things. By the end of the weekend, I felt like myself again – rested, focused and ready to be fully engaged. What I noticed the following week was a higher level of productivity, by far, than in previous weeks. Does this scenario sound familiar to you?

So, what to do? Ideally, we stay consistent with taking time off each week and doing those activities that replenish our energy, whatever they may be. Additionally, we look for those moments within each day to insert a brief break. Doing so also contributes to our productivity and creativity. Rachael O’Meara, the author of “Pause: Harnessing the Life-Changing Power of Giving Yourself a Break” suggests 4 practices to consider. They include 1) standing and taking 10 deep breaths 2) taking a digital break – no devices for a set period of time each day 3) taking a walk to change your environment, and 4) creating one-minute of mindfulness while eating or brushing your teeth. These are very simple strategies that, practiced daily, will support our ability to keep our energy up, and allow us to accomplish far more than if we keep trying to power through what’s on our plate.

If you recognize that you’re not feeling rested and renewed, please join me in recommitting to incorporating breaks into each day and week. Doing so will positively affect every aspect of your life.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development, Career and Retirement Coach and Facilitator who works with corporate leaders in small to mid-size businesses, across the span of their careers. She helps them to accelerate business growth and team performance, navigate their own career path, and transition to retirement with ease using proven methodologies and strategies that get results. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

Safeguarding Your Most Important Resource as a Leader

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So, what is your most important resource as a leader?

One of the first things that might come to mind is the amount of available cash and the state of the investment portfolio of the business. While these are certainly important, would you agree that you can always earn more money, find better investments, and eventually find your way back from a financial loss?

Another resource that might come to mind is your network of relationships. The connections you have nurtured in your professional life are important resources in your success. Yet, even if there has been a significant hiccup in a relationship, you can choose to mend it while continuing to meet other professionals and adding to your network.

Your health is another resource that hits high on the most important list. Many times, there is a tendency to not do as much as we might to protect that resource. However, in most cases, we have the control to make adjustments to our daily habits that will positively impact our health. And, when we have a healthier lifestyle, it positively impacts the energy we bring to our work.

So, if your most important resource as a leader isn’t money, relationships or health, then what is it?  What these three have in common is that, for the most part, they can all be revived or renewed. There is one resource, though, that cannot be revived or renewed.

That resource is time. With each moment that goes by, that’s it. You’ll never see that moment again.

This is not new news. Yet, even though you know this, how often do you take actions that aren’t in alignment with this knowledge? How much time do you spend in meetings that you don’t need to attend (or that even need to be held at all)? How much time do you spend on doing things that don’t contribute to your business’ top priorities? Where are there opportunities to delegate something that doesn’t require you to do it?

Failure to see time as your most important resource, often results in stress and overwhelm. We become scattered and lose our discipline. When we’re in this state, we also negatively impact those other resources. High stress levels wear away at our health. It may make us impatient and short with others which may damage our relationships. Our thought process becomes clouded and our decision-making may be impacted which can lead to financial missteps.

Time, then, is our most important resource.  So, safeguard that resource. Pay attention to how you use it. Where are your opportunities to use it more strategically? Put new habits and disciplines in place that allow you to set and maintain boundaries and act in alignment with your new choices.

Remember, time is the one resource we cannot get back.

Adapted with permission by Center for Executive Coaching.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development, Career and Retirement Coach and Facilitator who works with corporate leaders in small to mid-size businesses, across the span of their careers. She helps them to accelerate business growth and team performance, navigate their own career path, and transition to retirement with ease using proven methodologies and strategies that get results. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.