I have made a commitment to myself to try and write a weekly post for linkedIn. See, I have already given myself an out by saying that the commitment is to “try and write”. What I am coming up against is what to write about. My first post came from an experience I had conducting a team-building exercise. But where will my other “ideas” come from? In reflecting on this question, it seems to me I should write about whatever comes to mind and try and give it some meaning for those reading, maybe create an AHA for you… I hope this does that for you reading…
I have just recently lost a job that I had 
for almost 19 years. I was told by a former colleague that I had “grown out” of my old role. That was a great insight. Over the past four years I have been actively developing my own knowledge into what leadership means. To do this I went back to school and earned an MA in Leadership, participated in and become certified in The Leadership Challenge and Tracom’s SOCIAL STYLE, plus read and read and read. I found out that I do enjoy academic work and learning. One of my own AHA’s was that I am, and have always been, a continuous learner, I just hadn’t realized it. In a recent conversation I had with a friend from my university cohort, we talked about how we were all warned (facetiously, I thought at the time) at the beginning of our MA program that we would change, and that on returning to our respective organizations, we would either lead a transitional change or end up leaving.
Change opens up possibilities and can be scary and exciting all at the same time. As William Bridges stated in the opening of his book, Managing Transitions, “It isn’t the changes that do you in, it’s the transitions”, he goes on to state that, “[whereas] Change is situational…. Transition is the psychological process people go through to come to terms with the new situation”. I find that transitioning from one stage of my life, being fully employed with a salary and benefits to being faced with not being employed and the loss of income and benefits daunting. However at the same time the opportunity to start something new and my own, opens up all kinds of possibilities. It would great to be able to say that I was ready for this change and felt confident to quit my job and head off on my own, but the truth is that I needed to be pushed into an uncertain, unknown future and be forced to confront the “what now”? I am comforted by Bridges exhortation that “people need to recognize that it is natural to feel somewhat frightened and confused in this no-man’s land. As the old patterns die in their minds and the new ones begin to take shape…”
