PLAYGROUND: Transitions
This is what I wrote when transitioning freshly out of my presidency at oikos, really wanting to share my thoughts about transitioning out of & into organizations. A moment where change was not only in the air, but tangible in every cell of my body, and the body of the collective. And it still holds true now, around 9 months later. All that time, with old learnings finding ground and new inter-relational learnings being woven all summer long, this wee article has been boiling and now seems to be brimming to be harvested. How well that fits into the autumn season!
So, organizational transitions. This hasn't been the first time I left an organization, but surely the most outstanding & eye-opening learning journey I've witnessed so far. Maybe also the first time I could perceive the processes happening from a perspective of organizations as living organisms?
Let's consider moments of transition from as many angles as possible
What if we'd claim the leaving of one person & the joining of another more as a transition rather than a 'handover' or 'onboarding process' to a team, project, or organization? Perceiving it as a mutual fading in & out, a play of colours mingling that has an impact on the whole ecology. Doesn't this feel much more accurate in comparison to a straightforward, controllable a-z procedure where knowledge is handed over like the instructions for building an IKEA chair? What if we consider the influence of the wider organization, the health of the net & how one person moving out & a new person entering will affect the weaving of the whole? Here are some of my learnings & observations:
Transitions are collective.
Let us not forget that all transitions in organizations are ultimately about the collective. They do not only affect the people leaving or coming in. How to integrate it into a wider context? When one part of a system changes, the whole system is set into movement. What an opportunity! And what a complex task, considering the busy lives we live in most of our organizations these days. It takes time and space, and I find it impossible to untangle all that is happening at a time. Maybe that's the trick as well: not to untangle, not to de-velope, but to en-velope as much information and warmth, trusting that it will find the right place. Isn't that what will happen anyways?
Transitions in organizations are inherently messy.
Our economic paradigm, shaped by Western, neo-liberal, linear, masculine-driven perception has (many of) us believe that we should only focus on the incoming, the future - anything else is unproductive & emotional. This quickly leads to a lack of space to process, (up)root & settle for everyone involved. For care & gentleness, observing what is actually happening in the cycles that are involved. I deem it so relevant to mention that there are 2 new chapters being opened when there is a shift of people in a team, not to speak of the closings that often happen as parallel processes. Where is the beginning, where's the end? Where's the edge?
Lots and lots of emotions moving through us, shifting and changing. A lot to hold, in particular, when acknowledging that we as living beings are combining, mixing, and integrating more than just one context by nature. How can we make sure to invite everything our people bring into the process, as well as the wider context of the team, the time in the world, the predominant culture (amongst others)? What's the role of ritual in all of that?
Considering all of this complexity, it renders clear that control often is not possible, an illusion even. We can prepare, and it will turn out differently for we are different people in different moments. So what do we actually want to tend to? What is important in the time we have together in times of transition? More thoughts as we go, but let me first share one of the clearest AHA moments: the need to tend to the ending of something, which all too often is being forgotten or neglected.
Magic happens when tending to endings with just as much care & attention as to beginnings.
Looking out into the natural world we see many cycles that repeat over certain timeframes, all of them having moments of opening and closing. As I observe closings out there and also in my own life, I continue realizing their potential for powerful energetic clearings, making space for the new. How to close cycles in our organizations? What conversations want to take place? What sort of ritual, celebration, and blessings have to be spoken? What meets the context we are in? What is my role as the person leaving, what is the role of the people staying, and what's the role of the new person entering? There is certainly importance in the dance between holding & being held, in particular for the person adjourning.
For me, there was one profound moment with my dear partner in crime & co-president that speaks to some of that. Towards the end of my term, we found tension rising between us. After fighting through the jungle of surface matters, we came to an understanding that there was an opportunity for more connection and a need for mutual support in this process. On her side, there was a need to hear that I believed in her and her capacities, an encouragement to not only follow in my footsteps but chase her own path. A sense of trust in her leadership. On my side, what I was longing for was to be sent out with her blessings, for that not all I had started was finished and some would remain unresolved for others to be picked up. A 'thank you, I see you and your contribution, you have done enough'. Exchanging our blessings we both burst into tears and found ourselves in a very different place, her a little more ready to step further in and me feeling much more rounded and ready to leave my home for the past 10 years.
Transitions are doorways to an e-motional in-between-space.
Fading out of an organizational environment can feel like entering a 'moment between stories'. In particular, if we decide to hold some open questions for a while, or consciously say 'no' to certain invitations or commitments. They offer an opportunity to not jump straight into the next, and hold one's breath for a second. To rewrite, re-generate, and re-calibrate. Writer & compost heap Sophie Strand refers to the Buddhist concept of time between lives, time between narratives where the new is taking shape. Where in our modern lives are we patient enough to hold these open windows, see what will come, feel our longings? These days I feel like a hermit crab, getting ready to crawl out of an old, too-small shell I have been housing for the past 10 years. Moving into the great open, uncertain if I will find a better matching one, or multiple. ready to be naked for a while, vulnerable down to under my skin. Raw. Yes, it feels so right to sit in the window frame and marvel at all that is becoming possible as the mud settles. Even 9 months in.
Let's trust in our enoughness, in our learning & knowing capability.
Another thing I am learning: both leaving and stepping in flow more smoothly if we are prepared to let go. Let's face a truth: despite all the data and smart overviews we might provide, there will be gaps in what we are able to pass over and/or take over - and lots of differences when it comes to what we express vs. what the other person might be able to perceive or ask at that moment, just growing into a new system. This process is all about learning, and a lot about transferring contextual information. What do I want to share so that a new person can navigate this new environment? What might not be needed, considering that our ways of working on a certain thing might differ tremendously? How can I help a new person to have a warm landing, giving time and space to tend relationships that later can inform the more functional work? How can this warmth help me in my process of adjourning? Warm data, in a way. What does it mean to tend good soil & mycelial helpers so the new plant can grow roots? Can I accept that I am, or my past doings are the ones that are composting to feed into another season?
So instead of wasting hours talking through data sheets and navigating digital messes, I propose to make sure we get to know each other, hold reflection circles where we hear what is alive for the whole team in this time of transition, share information like 'When are the informal coffee breaks, how do the meetings and other procedural structures run, what's the sense of internal hierarchy, and what other structures of authority exist, who do I have to ask for xyz'. I am a fan of encouragement for new people to find their own ways & knowledge, that there is enough information to do a brilliant job - and enough friendly souls who would love to help. That it is kind to ask for help. With all of this, and fast-forward access to the basic tools and structures related to the roles a person is entering, we are tending readiness to step right in - and out, together with the whole team.
So many questions, invitations, ponderings, experiences, I could spend a lifetime diving deeper. And I am so curious how this reflection would look like, written from a perspective of transitioning into something new.
Enough seeding for now, time to let it simmer for another couple of seasons.
Gratitude & deep appreciation for endings from my rotting inner compost heap,
S