Transitions are harder than you think!

Transitions are harder than you think!

Recently, I was having a conversation with a colleague and we were talking about how often candidates in a search process, who are considering a new career opportunity or mulling over an offer for a new leadership position, underestimate the energy—both emotional and physical-- required to make a transition and make it well. Transitions are tricky things—we are often leaving something behind while we are moving to something new. Sometimes we are relieved we are leaving something behind and other times it can be scary to leave what you know for something you have no idea about how it will turn out.

Transitions have multiple layers—we may be leaving the job we know, leaving the house we know, leaving the community we know, leaving the friends we know. I know that I could never leave my dry cleaner—it may seem like a petty, small thing but there will be something or someone that you are leaving behind that made your life easier, or special, or never lost a piece of  your clothing. You may not realize it until you have that moment and have to find a new dry cleaner to make sure the suit you want to wear on your first day of work looks great but you have no idea where to start looking and don’t have any new friends that you could ask about dry cleaners.

As you think about transitions consider the concept that how you start will help define the path as you move forward. If you take a moment, past the excitement and the fear of taking on a new role, and think about what this can mean for you professionally and personally and what you want it to mean professionally and personally, it can frame how you make the transition. Consider what you need for yourself that will help you the most in the transition. For example, if you have to move, build in time to make the move, unpack the boxes, find a grocery store with your favorite ice cream, and find that all important dry cleaner—before you show up for your new job. For me, having my space in order where I can find things and function efficiently lowers stress. Think about your first day in the office—who you meet with first will send a message, where you have lunch will send a message, how you answer your phone will send a message, how you deal with the fact that you don’t have your email set up yet will send a message.

Some parts of the transition will go smoothly and some parts will not—it is all part and parcel of the change process. Taking some time to think through what will make the transition go more smoothly and to give yourself some time to consider the emotional implications of the change process will help you, as you transition, to feel more like you are up for this new and exciting challenge and less like you want your old dry cleaner back! 

Ellen Heffernan is the President of the higher education executive search firm, Spelman Johnson Group. Ellen is a national speaker and writer on topics related to recruiting and professional development in higher education and serves as faculty for several national higher education association professional development programs.