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 reality. These psychological processes are called transitions and they come in three stages.
The first is the need to let go or Separate from the way the world used to be. The second is to have the courage to step into the uncertainty of the Threshold phase: to become the chrysalis that might one day turn into a butterfly. And the third and final stage is called Consolidation. This is where we assemble the different parts of our vision to form a coherent whole.
Today, for example, we all know 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 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 elements of their emerging enterprises to create the coherent, evolving brands we know today.
Amazon and Airbnb both managed this process well: both are now trusted brands. But Uber struggled so much with its Consolidation that its founder, Travis Kalanick, was forced to resign from his own company.
Consolidation matters.
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And Then…
Once you have completed the Consolidation stage, you have turned something that was once just an idea in your mind, your vision, into something real and tangible. And then, just like Amazon and Airbnb, 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 exist, choose the way forward that most inspires you, and articulate that as an inspiring vision — to yourself and others.
Then you will again manage the transitions that arise as you move forward. And because this is the second time you have done all this, you will do it better and faster.
Repeating this cycle has led Amazon from selling books to selling almost anything, to also delivering web services, making movies, and putting rockets into space — because these are the things that most inspire its founder, Jeff Bezos. Where will it take you?
Are you currently still Separating from the past, crossing the Threshold into an uncertain future, or Consolidating where that process has brought you? Which direction are you most inspired to follow next?
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