Managing Personal Transitions and Organizational Change

A Conversation about Integrative Life Planning Task 6

This summer LeaderWise’s staff are sharing a framework developed by psychologist and career counseling researcher, Dr. Sunny Hansen, and her colleagues that takes a holistic approach to "planning one's life course." While career counseling often focuses on choosing a job or advancing one's career, Hansen’s book Integrative Life Planning identifies six critical life tasks that help people think more broadly about building a meaningful life. For the sixth and final task—Managing Personal Transitions and Organizational Change—LeaderWise Operations Director, Heather Koshiol and Executive Director, Drew Benson, reflect upon these themes in conversation.

DREW: I’ve had to laugh as I’ve prepared to write this article because it feels, in many ways, that if there were to be a title for the chapter of my life that has been the past seven years that I’ve been at LeaderWise it would be, “Managing Personal Transitions and Organizational Change.” Having said that, I think we could all agree that vocational discernment is a combination of the things we plan and prepare for and the unexpected events that take place within our own lives and within the organizations we are working. At the same time, there can be times when this feels especially pronounced or when the transitions and changes play a much larger role in our growth and development. As a bit of background, Heather and I began working at LeaderWise within a couple of weeks of one another in May 2019. I don’t think either of us had any sense of what the next several years would bring for us individually or for LeaderWise as an organization.

HEATHER: It’s interesting to look back to May 2019 through the particular lens of “Managing Personal Transitions and Organizational Change.” Considering the threshold of the pandemic—when everything became “before the pandemic” or “after”—it seems obvious that the personal and professional were intricately entwined at the time, and I can see that the personal and professional continue to be interwoven. While each of us is part of an organizational system, we are likewise individual human beings living human experiences both at work and at home.

DREW: That is so true, Heather! And I can see how for both of us there was this interesting interplay between where we were in our own lives and careers and the evolving needs of LeaderWise as an organization. As our colleagues have explored with us over the past handful of weeks, Dr. Hansen’s model is grounded in the notion that career development is about much more than choosing a job or advancing one’s career. It is about identifying key tasks that help individuals build a meaningful life that includes but is not limited to their work and vocation. When I joined LeaderWise, I had no sense of what would lie ahead. Yet I find myself in a role that I love, doing work that feels deeply meaningful - sometimes asking myself, “How did I get here?”

HEATHER: I feel the same. Reflecting on my path leading to LeaderWise and since I joined LeaderWise, I recognize how much I have learned in recent years. I’ve learned to check in with colleagues—to touch base on how they’re feeling about their work or to consult about a sticky situation—and to talk about what it feels like to live and work in the midst of discomfort and uncertainty. I feel fortunate to have navigated these rollercoaster years with my LeaderWise colleagues, and I know that given our strength of adaptability LeaderWise’s culture is well equipped to handle transitions.

DREW: I agree, and it seems like that culture of honoring both the personal and professional has allowed our team to support one another in navigating a number of personal transitions and difficulties while remaining focused on and committed to serving our clients with skill, compassion and care.

HEATHER: One of the things I’ve learned is that managing change doesn’t necessarily mean having a plan for what comes next. Sometimes it means being willing to acknowledge that something has changed before you know what you’re going to do about it. There have been plenty of moments over these past seven years when I’ve had to resist the urge to immediately figure things out and instead pay attention to what was happening—to myself, to my colleagues and to the organization.

DREW: That resonates with me. I’ve also come to appreciate how much vocational discernment can happen in hindsight. We often imagine discernment as making a decision: What should I do next? Where am I being called? But sometimes we only recognize the shape of our vocational journey after we’ve lived through a season of change. Looking back, I can see how some of the things I experienced as disruptions or uncertainties were actually creating space for something I couldn’t yet imagine.

HEATHER: That’s where the “integrative” part of Integrative Life Planning becomes especially important. We aren’t just managing changes in our jobs. We’re managing changes in ourselves, our relationships, our families, our organizations and our understanding of what gives our lives meaning. Those things don’t happen in separate compartments.

DREW: Exactly. And perhaps that is one of the most important things we’ve learned during these years: We don’t have to navigate transitions alone. Being able to talk honestly with colleagues, to acknowledge uncertainty, to ask for help and to remain curious about what comes next has made a tremendous difference. Change can be disruptive, but it can also be formative.

HEATHER: I think I would add that adaptability doesn’t mean simply being willing to go along with whatever happens. It means being able to remain grounded in our values while also being open to what needs to change. For me, that has been one of the most important lessons of these past several years.

DREW: And maybe that brings us back to where we started. None of us can know what the next seven years will bring. We can make plans, discern carefully and prepare as best we can—and there will always be things we cannot anticipate. What we can do is cultivate the relationships, self-awareness, flexibility and sense of purpose that allow us to meet those changes when they come.

HEATHER: Which might be a fitting way to think about this final task in Integrative Life Planning. Managing transitions isn't really about learning how to control change. It is about becoming more aware of what is changing, understanding how those changes are affecting us and remaining open to what we might be learning—and becoming—along the way.

DREW: So perhaps the question for each of us isn't simply, “What happens next?” but “What is this season of change asking of me?” Sometimes the answer may point toward a new role or direction. Sometimes it may invite us to let go of something. And sometimes it may simply remind us that meaningful vocational lives are not static. They are continually being shaped by the people, circumstances and transitions we encounter along the way.