We love working with our repeat clients to develop tailored content to best meet their audience’s needs. Over the years, we’ve gotten to know the leaders of Givaudan’s We Lead women’s initiative with programs focused on communication and burnout. As 2021 is coming to a close and organizations are continuing to adjust and re-adjust their return-to-office plans, it seemed like the perfect time to address this upcoming transition. While we have a standard topic on Equity in Hybrid Work, Givaudan’s workforce has varied working structures—some hybrid, some all in-person, some all-remote—which has been true throughout the pandemic. Through our planning we chose to deliver a workshop focused on Intentional Transition regardless of each person’s particular working situation.
As we developed the content for this session, we began to incorporate key concepts from the Transitional Change Model developed by William Bridges. What I love about this model is how applicable it is to all transitions, big and small, but also helps us to keep in mind the nuance of each person’s individual transition experience.
Transition begins with an ending and requires time to identify and accept the loss before moving on to the neutral zone or “in between.” Finally, the new beginning or the “new normal” everyone keeps talking about in a post-pandemic world. It’s so critical to keep in mind that everyone’s steps through this process will be different and they will come at different times and paces. Finding empathy for others and supporting them as you need to be supported is the only way we make it through to a new beginning that has more of the good and less of the bad that has been born from pandemic-era work.
These concepts are now part of our Setting Intention and Boundaries in Transition workshop!