Putting the Pieces Together
I fondly recollect the Shape-O toy by Tupperware. Yellow shapes fit through corresponding cutouts in a blue and red pull-apart ball. I remember the satisfaction of putting all the pieces in, the rattling noise, then being able to empty the container and start over. At one time, it must have been difficult to execute the Shape-O, but I can’t remember back that far. I thought of the Shape-O when I read Karise Hutchinson’s piece about change and transition this week. Her writing gave me a “container” in which to put pieces of many known things and so create a more comforting “whole”.
I was introduced to Karise Hutchinson this week through Volume One of Illuminaire, a publication of the Illuminaire Leadership Institute, which she founded in 2022. Hutchinson also is a Professor of Leadership at Ulster University whose leadership research is widely published in academic journals and a book published in 2018, Leadership and Small Business: The Power of Stories. Volume One covered four topics and opened each section with a distillation of best bits called a ‘Research Digest’, followed by guest articles and interviews to support the main ideas. This blog will focus on the topic of Leadership Change because I experienced a deep sense of purpose when reading the corresponding Research Digest.
Hutchinson wrote very pointedly about change vs transition, covering numerous differences to make clear that they are not the same thing. For example, change may be an external difference, but transition is an internal process. Change can happen in an instant, but transition takes time.[1] Leaders who manage only change and fail to address the world of transition taking place with the humans impacted by the change are not leading change effectively. I have a simple example to illustrate the concept.
Last fall I passed a project to my admin. As the leader, I was closer to the need and made the decision to go ahead.[2] I sent the necessary documents along with an explanation of the next steps and gave a follow-up call. The call was very tense. We later discussed that she felt unprepared to receive the project. It was hard for me to understand because she had all the information and was more than skilled to do it. I had managed the change (the handoff) but did not do a good job leading her through the transition.
Hutchinson offers three steps to transition.[3]
Step One is saying goodbye. In this small example, a pre-conversation to say that she would have a change of responsibility (an opportunity to say goodbye to the way things have been) would have made a difference.
Step Two is the neutral zone.
Here, some people look longingly backward (the admin) while others are rushing ahead (me.) Leaders who are aware of their own feelings about change are better able to support others.[4] I would extend this point to consider how one’s own approach to change can pressure or be inconsiderate of the time others may need for processing.
Step Three is moving forward and accepting the new beginning.
The gifted admin’s inner world of responsibility had not caught up with receiving the project. Hutchinson says that leaders understand it’s not the change itself, but the transition process within humans who are impacted by change which leads the pace of effective change.[5] Attempting efficiency by quickly making a change had backfired for me. Until my admin was able to move through the neutral zone and accept the responsibility, the desired change was only on paper; it was not real. Thankfully, I was able to backtrack and take time in conversation while utilizing leadership listening skills and a warm heart of empathy. Hutchinson identifies these so-called “soft skills” as critical to helping followers move through the neutral zone.[6] Her conversation with Professor Mike Hardy highlighted love and care, especially about loss, as critical for effective leadership.[7] This incident was a great opportunity for me to practice templating for future leadership opportunities.[8]
What about bigger issues than a project handoff? Leaders can impact organizational success by regarding the entire transition process during changes in senior leadership. “Studies show that two years after executive transitions, anywhere between 27 – 46% are regarded as failures or disappointments by the organisations who appoint.”[9] I wonder, how does this correlate to pastoral transitions? Another area of particular interest to me is the “appointment process” sometimes used for District Superintendent transitions in my denomination regionally and the overall dissatisfaction expressed by the districts in those situations.
My role bumps into both of these types of transitions with regularity. I hope to recall the template I’ve been making for some time and be able to offer helpful leadership when the opportunity presents itself. For now, I have Shape-O called Transition containing lots of leadership lessons all in one place. May I use them well.
[1] Karise Hutchinson, “Research digest: Leading Transition,” Illuminaire Press Vol. 1, no. 1 (2024): 85.
[2] Hutchinson, “Leading Transition,” 88.
[3] Hutchinson, “Leading Transition,” 86.
[4] Hutchinson, “Leading Transition,” 88.
[5] Hutchinson, “Leading Transition,” 86.
[6] Hutchinson, “Leading Transition,” 89.
[7] Karise Hutchinson, “Leadership and the Centrality of Trust,” Illuminaire Press Vol. 1, no. 1 (2024): 34.
[8] Eve Poole, Leadersmithing: Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership (London: Bloomsbury, 2017), 11.
[9] Hutchinson, “Leading Transition,” 89.
About the Author
Julie O'Hara
12 responses to “Putting the Pieces Together”
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Hi Julie, Your personal example is such a good object lesson. Thank you for your willingness to share from your experience. I particularly like how you described the situation, your admin had not caught up to where you were with the project. If you were teaching this concept to someone else, what are some steps you might recommend at the beginning of a hand off to make the transition go more smoothly.
Hi Diane,
Pertinent to this example and like to future:
1. Send some signals ahead of time to indicate where things might be going.
2. NEVER ‘handoff’ in the middle of my own stress. I didn’t mention it in the blog, but anxiety I was then experience on my side added to the tension of the conversation. At the moment – I felt frustrated about having to wade into details which seemed (to me) obvious.
HI Julie, I remember the Shape-O well! Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Your story is relatable to a lot of us in leadership! Thank you for sharing. I love that you were able to go back, and use empathy and communication to rectify the transition. What would you do differently now if you could go back pre-handoff? What do you hope to do differently in the future for similar situations?
Hi Kari – Please see above for response to Diane. Let me add that I would consider more deeply the behavioural tendencies of the admin (or whomever) and be sure that I had flexed my own style in advance. In this example I had to flex over backwards to make up the lack and it was pretty taxing.
Hey Julie! I see we were both stuck on the transition component of Karise’s writing. What do you believe leaders can do to create intentional spaces for transition in fast-paced, results-driven environments?
Hi Daren, We need to give those spaces priority. eg one-on-one meetings with direct reports where we ask what obstacles they may be facing and how can we be of service? For congregational change, that is likely a series of all-church meetings to give people the opportunity to be heard and ask questions. It might be counter-intuitive when trying to move quickly, but the time invested up front pays off in the backend by having helping people complete transition more quickly, also in avoiding sabotage. In church settings it seems many pastors avoid these kinds of “pre” meetings, possibly due to lack of differention, or not knowing how to manage/fear of the group dynamics? Alternately, I see and spend time in far too many meeting that are all talk (feel good) and no action.
Julie, I appreciate you sharing your own experience as you reflect on this week’s reading. How can leaders cultivate greater awareness of their transition processes to better support those they lead?
Hi Chad, I think you are asking about the inner transition of the leader themself for the purpose of greater self-awareness and how that may impact others. If so, journaling as a spiritual practice sprang to mind. Another practice is noticing and naming feelings and reactions that arise in oneself. These have been enormously helpful for me to become more self-aware. Even in a situation like the example I gave where there is leadership failure or error, self-awareness (and therefore understanding how my verbals and nonverbals impacted the admin) is the vital key to reparation and moving forward.
Great self-reflection, Julie. Much of the preparing for transitions that Hutcheson speaks to happen within the leader. I love that you are thinking about how the “leading in transition” Shape-O was impacted by this key administrative staff member.
With your templating of better hand-off procedures, do you see any patterns of success that receiving personnel have experienced more positively?
Hi Joel, Definitely, yes. Since that time we have engaged in two more similar projects, both on a much larger scale. We are operating more smoothly as a team.
Hi Julie, thanks for sharing your personal anecdote about the project you passed on to your admin. It sounds like you were able to smooth things over to help them transition. It takes time to handle these things well, and we need margin in our day to accommodate these unexpected twists and turns. How to you build in enough margin to allow for this kind of sensitivity in your leadership?
Hi, Julie, I like your illustration of transition. It almost sounds like a car Changning gear, which it always passes through neutral gear before engaging in a different gear. It makes me visualize what transition would look like.