In a world filled with change, it is often not the practical changes we find difficult but rather the psychological and emotional letting go of the way the world used to be and the moving to a new reality.
These psychological and emotional shifts are called transitions. They come in three stages.
The first of these stages is to let go of the familiarity and apparent security of the way the world used to be.
The second is to step confidently into the unknown future: the way the world is going to become.
This is the Threshold phase. It is the chrysalis between the caterpillar you used to be and the butterfly you are going to become. Here the old world has gone but the new world has not yet arrived.
Here, everything is undefined so people (including you) are likely to be feeling uncertain, disoriented, lonely, vulnerable, or even afraid. Your role here is to provide the structure that seems to be missing — first for yourself, then for others.
In a churning world, this is structure that can’t be rigidly imposed: people need to make sense of it for themselves. But there are two ways that you can help them (and yourself) accelerate the process:
- First, top down, you can put the culture of your future vision in place.
Management guru Peter Drucker showed us that, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” The Threshold phase brings you the opportunity to build that culture.
You achieve this by defining the values that will make your vision succeed, together with why they matter, and the attitudes and behaviours that will bring them to life.
And when you do this you create a guiding framework that enables you and the people around you to respond to anything that happens.
. - Second, bottom up, you can encourage people to develop their own inner leadership skills. Then they can begin to lead themselves through the uncertainty of the Threshold phase.
Teach them to centre and ground themselves, make clearer sense of their situations, and find more opportunities in a situation. If they can also find their own inner purpose and values and choose the way forward which best aligns with that inner compass then so much the better.
The more people are able to build their own inner leadership, the calmer, clearer, and more confident they will become — and the better they will then be able to choose how they respond to anything, without needing guidance from you.
By putting these two frameworks in place you will enable people to cope better with the uncertainty of the Threshold phase.
And as their focus shifts from the apparent ‘problems‘ they face to the activities and behaviours they are implementing, to the meaning of these tasks and the values they are bringing to life in the world, so they will begin to thrive because of the changes that are happening.
When did you last experience a major shift in your role or identity? Would it have been useful to know how to:
- Stay calm in a crisis, make clearer sense of the situation, and find more opportunities?
- Have a clear vision of what matters most that you?
- Have a clear set of values, attitudes, and behaviours that enable you to respond to anything that happens?
Would it be useful to start learning these things now?
Adapted from Inner Leadership: a framework and tools for building inspiration in times of change.
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