THE JOURNEY
OF TRANSFORMATION
Change is a journey. It has a starting
point and a direction but we never really know where it will take us. Whether changing our groups, our organizations, or ourselves,
the process of change leads us to new places, both internally and externally. The simplest changes can lead to totally unexpected
results.
Change is a choice. No individual, group
or organization can be forced to change. If we make a conscious decision to change, then the change process will begin. We
can also choose not to change and that is also the start of a journey.
Change is personal. Changes will be personally felt and processed by everyone involved and affected. Relationships
will change and each person affected will make decisions based on their personal perceptions and experiences. Since personal
reactions and consequences are not predictable, change follows its own course. The human elements of change are the key elements
of designing and implementing change.
Change is interactive and interpersonal.
It rarely happens in isolation. We usually change when interactions with others invite and encourage us to change. When we
change, it changes our relationships with others and starts to change the groups and systems where we work and live. Small
personal changes can have far reaching and global impacts. Our relationships are the basic building blocks of change and the
change process.
Each change project changes
the change agent as well as the managers, workers, groups, and organizations affected by the change. No one can embark on
a journey of change without being open to change themselves. If you do not want to change, do not start a change journey -
it won't go anywhere.
The most complex change processes are the
transformation processes. The transformation processes involve getting to our core beliefs in our unconscious and making significant
life changes. Transformational changes affect our very survival mechanisms and get into the place where our instincts and
deepest programming reside – our heart and our soul - the places that determine our life purpose and hold our deepest
beliefs. This is where our archetypes live and where that special being we call ourselves emanates from.
Transformation change requires changing our reality. Changing reality is only done by conscious choice and
only by leaving our present reality. The process is transformational leadership and the processes used are those that allow
us to see our present reality from a different place. These processes are the unusual or creative processes that may include
using art, music, theater, games, guided meditations, outdoor experiences or other creative means to get us into a different
place to see where we are.
Transformation change
is truly the journey into the unknown or what early maps of the world would call "terra incognita".
When we left the known and charted world, we went into the unknown world. Most change models call
for unfreezing the existing system, making necessary changes and then re-freezing the new changes. That
model works fine for simple change and most transitions. It will not work for transformation.
The model for transformation change is to leave our present reality, enter the void and then emerge into
a new reality. The decision to leave our present reality usually happens only when some disaster has happened
or our organization is threatened with some major calamity. The decision to transform is always a choice.
Even faced with extinction, many organizations will not choose to leave their present reality. The
fear of the unknown can be stronger than the will to survive. For those who make the choice, the crisis
precipitates taking the critical first step - leaving the known world. Entering the void means leaving
the linear and rational world behind and embracing the unknown. In mythology, this is the hero's journey,
the grail quest, the adventure to slay the dragon. It is also the inward journey. The
inward journey takes us into the void, the abyss, the black hole within ourselves where we face our deepest fears and either
conquer them or become devoured by them. Yet it is only through the darkness and terror of the void that
we find the light - the message of transformation. We may find ourselves back in the same place we started
but we are not the same people and see that place in a totally different way.
The
journey through the void is an absolutely necessary part of the process of transformation. Be willing to
face your demons, beliefs, structures, ego, and identity. Be open to listen to your inner voice that will
guide the journey. It is only through surrender to the journey and embracing the darkness that we find
the courage and wisdom to re-emerge - transformed into new people and organizations doing things in new ways.
Transformation requires embarking on a journey of the soul and staying on that journey to its completion.
The journey will:
- Challenge you down
to your core
- Take many twists and turns
- Question all your core assumptions and beliefs
- Change your
reality
- Go through the void
- Continually tempt you to turn back
- Be one of the hardest
things you have ever done
- Be worth every second, challenge and obstacle
in the end
