“Change is situational. Transition, on the other hand, is psychological. It is not those events but rather the inner reorientation or self-redefinition that you have to go through in order to incorporate any of those changes into your life. Without a transition, a change is just a rearrangement of the furniture. Unless transition happens, the change won’t work.”
William Bridges
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “change” is “to make different in some particular (alter); to make radically different”. You can rearrange the furniture. You can repaint a room. Change the clothing you are wearing. The change you experience is visual. Change is also defined as “to undergo a transformation, transition, or substitution”. To transition, requires you to switch gears, think differently which leads you to feel differently impacting your actions and the results/outcomes you receive.
As a change management practitioner, it is of key importance for people to become aware and understand the need for change and how it impacts them before there is a desire to be part of the change. People become confident with change when they have the knowledge and ability to navigate it. What creates the “sticking” power of change? The “sticking” power of change comes from the ability to reinforce the changes made by putting in strategies or measures to maintain the changes.
Whether it be moving from the office to work from home or from home to going back to the office, mindset matters. There is a psychological change or shift that must occur. New expectations, new ways of going about your day, new habits and routines that need to be put in place to adjust to a new “norm”. Resistance to change is understandable; it’s uncomfortable. It’s new. With every change or decision, the world around you will adjust.
Recently, my son moved out of the home to go to University. A big transition, for him, myself, and my whole family. I cannot tell you tears were not shed. There is a change in geography. The transition to being an independent young adult and what that meant for me as a mother is one of pride and one that requires re-orientation – defining myself in a new way. A way that allows my son to expand into who he needs to be and who I also need to be.
We can ask ourselves – “Do we want to choose to fear the change or transition or is there a way we can embrace it?”
It’s about being able to shift gears and finding a new meaning we give to the transition.
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