In the space between chaos and shape there was another chance. (Jeanette Winterson)
One of the most common words I’m hearing at the moment, and possibly saying, is transition. That is probably a good thing, but I am beginning to worry it will lose its potency, a bit like resilience, agility and disruption have done. Transition is an important concept because it helps shape our thinking, it indicates a process of change from one position to another, and in terms of human systems it often evokes a range of emotions and responses.
We are certainly in a time of transition, a period that feels very uncertain and open ended. We are having to learn how to manage multiple time-lines – the immediate, the next few months, and the next year, and balance all of that with our future aspirations. We are in a space of potential where the reality we knew is slipping away and the direction we are heading in can only be imagined at this point.
As our video call starts, we check in on each other’s wellbeing. We start with the status of family and friends, then the availability of food or shopping more generally, and finish with the walks we are managing to take on a daily basis. We apologise for background interference in advance as pets and children may make their presence felt. We then start to talk about the organisation concerned and what is noticeable is the number of options and implications – we could do this but then that would happen, if we knew if furloughing was going to be extended we would do that, if the Arts Council application is successful this might happen. What I hear is a deep recognition that things are not going back to where they were a few months ago and that there are multiple options for what might happen next.
This is a reasonably familiar conversation that I am having across multiple organisations at the moment, both in the cultural and other sectors. This is particularly hard because our attention is being pulled in so many directions, our brains are in overload and most of us are very tired at the moment. It is really tough managing through transition because our fight or flight instinct wants to both have, and be able to offer, certainty.
Everyone knows that uncertainty is stressful. But what’s not so obvious is that uncertainty is more stressful than predictable negative consequences. (Lewis, 2016)
One mechanism that can support transitions is the stories that we tell. Stories that can help facilitate change have three qualities (Saltmarshe, 2018):
- Story as light: stories help illuminate past, present and future
- Story as glue: stories help bind us as teams, organisations and communities
- Story as web: we live in a network of stories that have social, cultural and mythic influences
…narratives are media, which serve to build transition bridges (Ashforth, 2001).
What stories are you or your team telling at the moment that have these qualities? How might you adapt or develop these stories to help with managing your collective transition?
Narratives and stories help us cross from old to new identities and facilitate wider understanding. In reading Adam’s post yesterday, I was struck by how much those stories helped bring me into his experience. I was transported into that space where the actor banged her nose and could imagine the feeling that went through the audience at the time. One of the challenges of being in this difficult transitional space at the moment is how we tell our strategic stories as organisations. The ones we have been telling now feel like they come from a different time and we’re having to consider multiple endings for the stories we’re building of the future. If this feels unmanageable, try breaking these stories down into small chunks, if you don’t have the full picture yet, tell the stories you can.
We are in the space in between, it’s a space of potential but it has fuzzy boundaries and can be frightening. In the organisations I am working with at the moment new stories are being developed collaboratively and stakeholders are being included. They are focusing on taking care of one another and keeping everyone informed and engaged. In an odd way this is a liberating space as no-one is expected to have the ‘right’ answer at the moment. We are working with the art of the possible.
Story is for a human as water is for a fish—all-encompassing and not quite palpable. (Jonathan Gottschall)
Dawn & Susan
References
Ashforth, B. 2001. LEA’s organization and management series. Role transitions in organizational life: An identity-based perspective. Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.