The last 20 months have challenged many of the things we thought we knew about our lives, careers, and leadership. Faced with new levels of complexity, change and uncertainty, many people are questioning their career and life choices and taking a deeper look at where and how they invest their finite time and energy.
Anthony Klotz, the Texas A&M University professor, who predicted this tsunami of change, dubbed it “the great resignation.” But for me, the term “resignation” conjures the notion of a contraction, giving up, or even hopelessness, which obscures the richer systems insights and opportunities revealed in the patterns and perspectives of this movement.
From a systems perspective, these changes point to a time of growth–an awakening, an expansion, and the evolution of life towards that which brings greater vitality and “thrival.” Through the lens of human development, the Great Resignation could equally be dubbed, The Great Transformation–a modern day hero/ine’s journey of personal and social change.
Organizations that embrace these systems shifts in progress, have a huge opportunity to better support your people and foster your own transformative learning in the process. Meaning, ping pong tables, free lunches or work from home policies won’t suffice. This is an opportunity to invest in the adaptive growth and development of your people, your people leaders, and your organization.
Transformational Learning at Work
“The CFO asks the CEO, “What happens if we invest in developing our people and they leave us?” The CEO responds, “What happens if we don’t, and they stay?”
“The CFO asks the CEO, “What happens if we invest in developing our people and they leave us?” The CEO responds, “What happens if we don’t, and they stay?” – Trish Bertuzzi
The ways and means of transformation can vary widely, depending on the context or situation, and the needs and experiences of your people. As detailed by Jack Mezirow, one view into the transformational learning process offers cues for how your organization can better support your employees through this enriching time of growth, as well as undertake your own transformational work.
According to Mezirow, perspective transformation is “the process of becoming critically aware of how and why our assumptions have come to constrain the way we perceive, understand, and feel about our world; changing these structures of habitual expectation to make possible a more inclusive, discriminating and integrative perspective; and, finally, making choices or otherwise acting upon these new understandings.”
Taking a deeper dive into Mezirow’s process of transformative learning, which focuses on the individual’s personal journey, we discover that transformation often begins with:
A Disorienting Dilemma
The introduction of a transformative learning experience is often marked by a challenging surprise or an unexpected event. If we don’t feel adequately prepared for these unfamiliar conditions, it can lead to feelings of disconnection and discontent.
Looking back, many of us can remember where we were in early 2020, when we got the news that life as we knew it would be shuttered–for what we thought would be about two weeks. As the pandemic swept across the globe, and our home-bound attempts to flatten the curve persisted long beyond the original estimates, we felt the rug being pulled out from under our relationships, our routines, our plans, and any form of “certainty” we had about how our lives and careers worked.
Two months later, we watched the horrific scene as George Floyd’s life was extinguished by a group of men adorned in the armour of authority, having sworn an oath to serve and protect. For those who needed proof that oppression, dehumanization, and racism were and are still running rampant through our institutions, this was another intensely disorienting experience.
Self-examination
When confronted with the unexpected, there can be a period of denial, or refusal to accept the change that has been foisted upon us. But over time, the outward disruption can lead to a time of reflection and self-examination.
With so many of our daily routines disrupted, and constant reminders of the inequities, abuses, and biases rife within our systems–many people began to look inwards to reflect on what matters most. Considering that one’s career requires such a significant investment of time and energy, and for some has an inverse relationship with the things that fulfill them and bring them joy–many folks began to take a deeper look at their career choices.
The hero/ine awakens to realize that they are no longer in the ordinary world:
A. The status quo no longer exists.
B. They are no longer satisfied with the status quo, or
C. Their current operating system is no longer sufficient for the conditions they face.
A Critical Assessment of Assumptions
With the appropriate support, this time of self-examination can lay the foundation for questioning previously unconscious and untested assumptions about what is possible for our life and careers. “What matters to me?” “Is my work bringing me a sense of fulfillment and growth?” “I love my work but am feeling burned out or out of balance. How much longer can I keep this up?” “Am I truly happy?”
For some it’s a deeper questioning of the systems, practices, and policies within the organizations they work for and patronize. “Is all that talk of “culture fit,” “meritocracy” and “diversity, equity and inclusion” really coded language for perpetuating inequitable policies and practices, or is the organization committed to real social change?”
The hero/ine feels that something needs to change. But what? Out of the options available, the first instinct is often to change circumstances, such as our roles, our company, our career, or our geographical location. What hasn’t yet been realized is that for us to reach our desired destination, the journey requires deeper development and even transformation within oneself.
What if organizations became the place where that deeper development could happen as part of one’s growth on the job?
Pioneers in the adult development space, and authors of An Everyone Culture: Becoming A Deliberately Developmental Organization, Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey note that “As human beings we’re set up to protect ourselves—but it is just as true that we’re set up to grow psychologically, to evolve, to develop.” They go on to note, that lack of personal development, and not work overload, is the primary contributor to work burnout.
Leveraging Transformational Learning
- Recognize that one’s discontent and the process of transformation are shared, and that others have negotiated a similar change.
- Explore options for new roles, relationships, and actions.
- Plan a course of action.
- Acquire knowledge and skills for implementing one’s plans.
- Experiment with new roles.
- Build competence and self-confidence within new roles and relationships.
- Reintegrate new perspectives into one’s life.
In other words, the discontent that one feels on the job can be the key to unlocking one’s full potential. If only our organizations were adequately equipped and invested to bring people through the process.
What Companies Can Do to Adapt?
While this trend of mass resignations has been amplified by the pandemic, it has more accurately shed light on a systems gap that was already there. As author, Dr. Marilyn Taylor, wrote over a decade ago in her book, Emergent Learning for Wisdom, “This is a twenty-first century learning challenge […] we do not know enough about our learning challenge yet to be able to plan detailed learning activities, or even set specific objectives to be accomplished through our actions. Instead, learning about the challenge emerges as we move through the experience.”
Companies can use this time of awakening to re-evaluate their policies, practices, systems, and cultures, remove any barriers to personal and professional development and adequately equip their employees to adapt, grow and thrive in the process.
If we are to foster the kind of transformational learning that builds trust, deepens relationships, strengthens culture, and adequately prepares your employees to lead themselves and others through complexity, it’s vitally important to facilitate developmental programs that “help people uncover, engage, and ultimately transcend the limiting assumptions and defensive routines that prevent us from developing our capabilities beyond our own expectations.” – Kegan and Lahey
I call this an Adaptive Learning and Leadership (ALL In) Curric(YOU)lum, which offers folks a generative, rather than prescriptive approach to prioritize their personal growth and embrace complexity, change and challenges rather than feel threatened by them. This gives employees the space and support they need to leverage the learning in their on-the-job and life experiences and take responsibility for their next stage of development.
Here are a handful of recommendations on how your organization can lean into and leverage the transformational and adaptive learning cycle.
- Explore new roles, relationships, and actions.
- Plan a course of action.
- Acquire knowledge and skills for implementing one’s plans.
- Provisionally try new roles.
- Build competence and self-confidence in new roles and relationships.
- Reintegrate new perspectives into one’s life.
This may also require development support for your people managers and transformation within your culture, to regard talent mobility, not as a threat, but as a welcomed opportunity and important investment for the entire organization.
- Check that your peoples’ potential is not unnecessarily or artificially being constrained by rigid structures or policies, under-developed leaders, or unhealthy cultural practices.
- Offer challenge and support to help employees become competent self-leaders and take more responsibility for their on-the-job effectiveness, growth, relationships, and results.
An additional benefit of this approach is that people who continually develop their own self-leadership, have greater capacity and ability to lead and invest in the growth and development of others when they do take on greater responsibility.
For the skeptical reader, yes, there is still a chance that some of your employees may choose to leave, even after you invest in their development. There’s a percentage of folks who will take that path no matter what.
When employees are going through a major life transformation and feel unsupported in the process, the likelihood of them staying and being a positive contributor to your culture decreases. They tend to experience one or more of the three B’s. That is boredom, burn out, or breakdowns in their productivity, mental health, and well-being. This can be extremely costly to your organization and culture in the long term. Having peer and organizational support in the process instead of trying to navigate on their own will make a huge difference.
It’s a rare opportunity when so many people are experiencing a similar transformation process all at once. Companies that get ahead of it for the health and well-being of your people, your culture, and your organization will be well positioned to retain their people and sustain their growth objectives into the future.
Go ALL in for your people
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