HMN 2024: Discovering Meaning in Government Transitions

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“If you want things to stay the same, then something is going to have to change,” I espouse in my book, Prisoners of Our Thoughts: Viktor Frankl’s Principles for Discovering Meaning in Life and Work. Of course, I’m not the first person to observe that change is the only real constant in life. “You never step into the same river twice,” espoused the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus over 2,500 years ago. To Heraclitus, the cosmos is in a state of perpetual change and the transience of life is perhaps one of the only things that is certain. At the same time, he offered his own optimistic version of the audacity of hope when he said, “The sun is new each day.”

It is against this ancient backdrop and the ageless wisdom of Heraclitus that the timely subject of government “transitions” can be examined. With the national elections now behind us, all levels of government are facing challenges that will test their capacity to manage transitions. And this applies not only to newly elected administrations but also to those that may have been re-elected and are preparing to begin a new term in office.

Both inside and outside the Capital Beltway, elected, appointed, and career public servants will be stepping into a “new river” hoping to bring meaningful change to the way that the public’s business is conducted. But as we all know, hope alone is not a strategy and the transitional process requires a unique set of competencies for it to be navigated successfully.

Pronouncements of new public policies will not be enough to guide the public sector and its partners within and often against the river’s current. Nor will tinkering with government structures, functions, and processes, in and of themselves, be sufficient. No matter how well intended, collective transformation at any level, be it jurisdictional, organizational, or interorganizational, cannot and will not happen without personal transformation.

And while this may not sound like rocket science (it’s actually more difficult since when dealing with human behavior, 1+1 doesn’t necessarily equal 2!), there is no question that the role of public servants in electoral and other types of government transitions is a major determinant of their success. Ironically and paradoxically, it is this personal equation factor that is most often overlooked during the transition planning and implementation process.

Because of my longstanding background in the human potential and personal transformation fields, I have been able to observe that all people, whether they work in government, business, or the nonprofit sector, ultimately go through various, and often times clearly defined, stages of “transition” in response to change. These stages are by no means restricted to an organizational setting and actually can be viewed in all areas of life transitions—be they personal or work-related.

In brief, the transition process can be depicted and traced over time as a U-shaped curve that goes through four distinct stages (see Figure): Denial; Resistance; Exploration; and Commitment (as opposed to mere “Acquiescence” or Acceptance).

Figure. Transition Curve

Source: Alex Pattakos, PhD

It is important to underscore that this four-stage change curve is based on a five-stage Grief Model developed by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the transition people go through when they are grieving some kind of personal loss. In this regard, Dr. Kübler-Ross is best known for her pioneering methods in the support and counseling of personal trauma, grief and grieving, associated with death and dying.

Like the challenges faced by counselors working with people going through transition associated with personal loss, public administrators must be able to acknowledge where public servants stand and are spending their time and effort along this change curve. And likewise, they must seek to get people from Stage 1 (Denial) to 2 (Resistance) to 3 (Exploration) as quickly as possible. In other words, until public servants are on the right side of the center line, they are not adding momentum to the change effort and, instead, are effectively putting on the brakes, subconsciously if not consciously, to the transition process!

Ironically, the “good” news is that the observation of people resisting change is actually a tangible sign of making progress along the transition curve. The reality of change has set in and these folks are no longer in denial that change for better or worse will happen. On the contrary, they are concerned about the proposed change and are now willing to resist against it, even at times against all odds. This makes it imperative for public managers as “change agents” to lead the transition process with as much authenticity, transparency, and commitment as possible.

Of course, even after people enter Stage 3 demonstrating that they are open to exploration and learning doesn’t yet mean that the transition process is out of the proverbial woods. As people emerge from denial (used as a defense mechanism) to resistance, they may experience other sense of loss whether it be of control, power, respect, or self-image.

Indeed, it is between these stages of the transition process where people are most likely to experience a “crisis of meaning,” which, in turn, may lead to a heightened sense of pessimism, negativity, active disengagement, and burn-out. It is at this point where authentic leadership is put to the acid test and where leading with and to meaning becomes essential to the task at hand.

Understanding that people go through a range of different emotions as change occurs—a basic and simplistic-sounding tenet of human behavior—ultimately can signal the difference between success and failure.

Being equipped with this understanding helps to ensure that people not only move to the right of the center line in the transition curve, but also are authentically committed to the change being pursued. In the final analysis, it is such a commitment, as opposed to mere acquiescence or acceptance, that will drive the kind of action needed to bring about a successful transition.