Consolidating your vision so that it becomes reality

In a world filled with change, it is often not the practical changes we find difficult but rather the emotional and psychological letting go of the way the world used to be and the shifting to a new way of being, a new identity.

These psychological processes are called transitions and they come in three stages.

The first is to let go or Separate from the way the world used to be. The second is to step into the uncertainty of the Threshold phase: to become the chrysalis that might one day become a butterfly. And the third and final stage is called Consolidation.

Consolidation is where we assemble the different parts of our vision to form a coherent whole.

For example, we all know now how Amazon, Airbnb, and Uber work. But once upon a time all three were radical new business models. “Buying books online? They’ll steal your money!” “Staying in a stranger’s house or ordering a taxi from the Internet? It won’t be safe!”

To make all these businesses succeed, the founders first had to inspire people to Separate from the ways that they currently bought books, hotel rooms, and taxis. Then they needed to convince people to stick with the company through the uncertainty of the Threshold growth stage. And finally they needed to Consolidate and align the different parts of their emerging enterprises to create the coherent, evolving brands we know today.

Airbnb and Amazon have both managed this process well: both are trusted brands. But Uber struggled so much with its Consolidation that the founder, Travis Kalanick, was forced to resign from the company he had created.

Consolidation matters.

And Then…

Once you have completed the Consolidation stage you will have turned something that was once just an idea, a vision in your mind, into something real and tangible in the world. Then, just like Airbnb and Amazon, you will need to decide what to do next.

Now you will begin the cycle of Inner Leadership again: you will centre and ground and connect with what is most important for you, make clear sense of the situation, find the new opportunities that existchoose the way forward that most inspires you, and articulate as an inspiring vision.

Then you will manage the transitions that arise as you work to make your new vision a reality and consolidate the different parts into a new coherent whole. And the second time around, you will undoubtedly do all this better and faster than before. 

Repeating this cycle has led Amazon from selling books to selling everything to delivering web services, entertainment, and putting rockets into space — because that is what most inspires its founder, Jeff Bezos. Where do you want this process to lead you?

Which stage of transition are you currently in? Are you holding on to a past that has gone, working up the courage to step into the uncertainty of the Threshold stage, or working to Consolidate the different parts of your vision into an established coherent whole?


Adapted from Inner Leadership: a framework and tools for building inspiration in times of change.

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Photo By Shaun Dunmall via StockPholio.net

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