study of-transformative-experiences mr27242

Inspiring Lives: Personal Stories of

Sustained Transformation and

Implications for Organizations ©

Presenter: Dr Myrna Araneta, Ph.D.

Copyright: ACONSULTINGGRP © 2009

On the eve of

Halloween…three

pumpkins were talking to

each other… The first pumpkin said, “I don’t want to be a Jack-o-lantern because I

don’t want to change. I’m going to stay just the way I am now.”

The second pumpkin said, “I want to be a jack-o-lantern, but I don’t want to let go of any part of me. I’m going to paint a face on me, so I’ll look like a jack-o-lantern.”

The third pumpkin said, “I want to be a real jack-o-lantern and give light, so I’m going to cut me some eyes, a nose, and a mouth and get rid of my insides.”

So when Halloween came: the first pumpkin was just any regular

pumpkin, the second one had a painted face, and the third one glowed and was transformed to a real jack-o-lantern.

Source: Sustained Personal Transformation-© 2009

Copyright: ACONSULTINGGRP. © 2009

Pumpkins Story’s- Analogy to

Humans Choosing to stay the way we are--Some refuse to change,

despite change happening inside and around them (holding-

on to what has defined us in our lifetime... E.g., culture,

passion for acquisition and self-interests, etc).

Choosing to change externally--pumpkins that painted

their faces—change are more on the outside vs. inside (e.g

relocation, physical changes).

Choosing to give up those that no longer “fit” with who

we are to make way for a new consciousness to evolve-

intentionally letting go of previous ways of thinking and

acting –to pave way for a new consciousness to evolve and

transform the person (change of heart).

Copyright: ACONSULTING GROUP, LLC. © 2009

This study is about…..

Examining the circumstances and

journeys that inspired individuals to

initiate personal change which led to

sustained transformation.

Applying the lessons learned from

participants to organizational

transformation.


Scope of this Study

Focus was on intentional transformative change

occurring in adult life (midlife).

Generated insights about the circumstances and

experiences that inspired individuals to initiate

change--specifically in two important areas were inner

change and life turning points become visible:

– Work (career, profession and vocation)

– Relationships (with an individual, institution or an

organization

Excluded were individuals whose life

experiences forced “change” on them.

Copyright:ACONSULTINGGRP © 2009

Change maybe Intentional or

Unintentional Intentional (self-initiated) change- a conscious, voluntary

decision or choice to change followed by a striving to

achieve a goal.

– conscious choice of a goal

– Effort to make the goal a reality

Unintentional- caused by external circumstances forcing

the individual to change or evolve in order to survive

(natural disasters, emotional and physical losses, divorce,

etc. )

Copyright: ACONSULTING GRP © 2009

What were the

Research Questions?


Research Questions

1. What circumstances provoked intentional

adulthood change?

2. What were the individual’s pathways to

permanent transformation?

3. What outcomes accompany intentional change?

4. What did they gain and lose from the change?

5. What were the lessons learned through

transitions that they could recommend to others

who are embarking on similar changes?


How were Participants Selected?

Experiences were about the phenomenon in question-

i.e., circumstances that led to self-initiated change

Agreed to participate and sign a release permission to

collect personal information.

At middle adult age (between 40-45 age per Levinson’s

definition) was the time when change was initiated.

Personal change was not caused by chance, nor by

external forces.

Change that occurred were either in career, vow,

profession or relationships with an institution,

organization or with an individual

Change initiated was sustained up to the time of the

interview.Copyright: ACONSULTING GROUP, LLC. © 2009

FINDINGS

Themes



Circumstances

Intentional Change are triggered by a confluence of multiple

circumstances rather than a single event.

Internal situations or conditions of the participants were significant to

the change decision (e.g., presenting opportunities, intellectual curiosity,

spiritual, social, moral provocations, in search of something missing in their

lives, realization that previous approaches were no longer working, doing the

right thing).

Childhood experiences and parental influences showed up as one of the

contributing factors (e.g., honoring a mother’s dying wish, undo parents’ life

mistakes (substance abuse and addiction) in the family, reclaiming early life

exposures provided by parents, etc.).

External events provoked an internal dilemma, creating disorientation,

growing dissatisfaction with their situation, or dissonance that violated

values and sense of security (e.g., sense of right and wrong and the need to

rescue someone from an unhappy situation, feelings of isolation in a life-

threatening situation).

Contributing Circumstances Provoking Intentional Change

Themes That Characterized the Pathways From

Transition to Transformation

The decision to change (leave previous life structure) did not

just happen overnight. Timing ranged from two to twenty

years. Once change began, what was to come next unfolds or

evolves a day at a time. The experience was very different

from the corporate world or usual ways of planning and doing

things.

Images and metaphors were used as powerful markers and

tools for understanding the unfolding path to transformation

In their respective journeys, they had to prepare for it, make

mistakes, overcome obstacles, and must have tenacity and

determination.

Choosing the unknown from the known required risk-taking

and the capacity to tolerate living with ambiguity for an

extended time.

Copyright:ACONSULTINGGRP © 2009

Themes That Characterized the Pathways to

Transformation

Presence of support and network of relationships while

maintaining positive outlook

Individuals painstakingly reflected, deliberated about their desire to

change, discussed it with others before they finally took relevant

action.

Feeling outside of one’s comfort zone—like a new creature, unsure

of one’s footing because the rules of engagement for one’s view of

the changed world are very different.

Being open, humble and receptive to challenges and difficulties

Spirituality emerged as a core aspect of some experiences. A sense

of connection with a god and inability to resist being called to be or

to do something. Some clearly experienced a mental conversation of

some sort with a god, who provided the pathway to transformation.Copyright: ACONSULTINGGRPGRP© 2009


Outcomes

Change in their perceived self-identities and a heightened

awareness of life’s important priorities. What seemed important

pre-transformation experience, were no longer deemed valuable

post-transformation.

Change in how they perceived themselves relating to others and

a change in their views of the world.

Change is irreversible. Retrospectively, there is a general sense of

fulfillment, wholeness and acceptance of their transformed lives,

new work; and the remaining years ahead.

At most, it has been 10 years since their life change occurred.

They do not feel they ever wanted to go back to their previous life

structures.

Change in how they related to their belief in a “god” or how they

understood and expressed their spirituality. This spiritual and

sacred sense filled them with heightened awareness of life’s purpose

and meaning.

Outcomes of the Transformation Experience


Gained or Lost

Gains of a happier and more meaningful life outweigh the losses.

Life is an accumulation of experiences. Every experience we have

builds upon what we did before that further enhances future

experiences.

Self-doubt and difficulties are inevitable once the decision to

change starts. No matter what happens, with hope and action you

eventually are going to get through the challenges and difficulties.

Personal circumstances dictate the kind of choices one makes.

Given different circumstances, their choice could be different.

Nobody has the right to stay in a very unhappy situation. One needs

to act with a leap of faith because no one ever knows beforehand if

the change would be for the better or for the worse.

Life as a road, goes up and down—-winds and stretches out to the

horizon. Good and bad things will happen but the focus must be on

the ones that are important and enhances one’s life.

Themes of Meaning and Making Sense From What was Gained and Lost


Lessons Learned

Consider your financial resources and other obligations

responsibly. Ensure your intended change does not create financial

distress for others who are dependent on you.

Have the presence of unwavering support from a network of

relationships who will support you. Be humble enough to go to people and

ask for support.

Living simply (live below your means) has allowed individuals to

see through their successful change process.

Never close your doors to opportunities. Give it a great deal of

thought, go ahead, and try it. If you fail, then get up and try something

else. You learn from every single experience that can expand your

thinking.

The new life structure has its own challenges. Life scars are there, you

don’t lose scars. It’s how you deal with them. Exercise strong

determination and positive expectation to forge ahead and realize your

intentions.

LESSONS LEARNED-RECOMMENDATIONS TO

OTHERS

CONCLUSIONS


CONCLUSIONS-What provoked intentional

change in adulthood?

There is no one straight path to transition leading to

transformation. It is lengthy, evolving, challenging and

sustaining process.

A confluence of circumstances paired with certain

threshold of discomfort have to be reached before people are

inspired (motivated) to intentionally change.

The circumstances of each individual play a significant

influence on what could ultimately trigger a transition and

the pathway to transformation (we can not separate

intentions to change from social roles, relationships with

others, events in one’s life and the person’s stage of

development)

The timing of adult intentional change that could lead to

transformation do not appear to be as clear and predictable.


CONCLUSIONS-What provoked intentional

change in adulthood?

Whereas externally triggered transitions (e.g. death of a

loved one, natural disaster, end of one’s career) tend to be

abrupt and often involve immediate changes, intentional

change leading to transformation typically is internally

motivated over a period of time.

Transformation cannot be planned to happen; instead, it is

an unfolding and evolving process with its own timing,

twists, and turns.

Awareness (acknowledgment) of own mortality led

individuals to examine and re-evaluate their lives remaining

options.Copyright: ACONSULTINGGRP © 2009

Laying the

Groundwork

The “Egg”

Gestation period,

self-reflection

Reorienting and

retooling (past and

future focus)

Shifts in self-Individuation

Talk with others

about insights

Putting back

pieces to

reshape a new

identity

Experiencing

Unfamiliar

Ground

“The Caterpillar”

Testing

Unfamiliar

Ground

“The Pupa”

Transition

Emerging

on New Ground

“The Butterfly”

Descriptive Metaphor Theory on Sustained Personal Transformation ©

Note. Copyright 2009 Myrna R. H. Araneta, Ph.D.


Phases of Sustained Transformation

Phase 1 (or the egg stage)-Laying the

groundwork through self-reflection. Needs

ample gestation period and reflection

preceding transitions

– Like the egg in a gestation period, there

maybe a great deal of conditions that could

prevent the gestation from moving to the next

phase.

e.g., holding on to what has defined us

through our lifetime (parental conditioning

and the unique culture/predispositions that

created our paradigms.Copyright: ACONSULTINGGRP. © 2009


Phases 2 –(caterpillar or larvae)-experiencing

the unfamiliar ground—a feeling of

disorientation and uncertainty.

Person reflects and consults with others

Person experiences inward assessment of how

the “shift” is challenging one’s core beliefs,

sense of security, meaning structures and

paradigms about the self-identity.

Going into the journey of change, one may

never know fully whether or not the outcomes

of the change will be for better or worse. Copyright: ACONSULTINGGRP © 2009


Phase 3- (the cocoon or pupa stage). Testing the

unfamiliar ground. Reorienting and retooling

oneself.

This stage reported the experiences of participants

while they experimented with their changed “self-

identities” (roles).

Still living with “ambiguity and feeling outside of

one’s element.

The person, however, begins to recognize options

for trying out new roles, renegotiating

relationships, and starts building self-confidence

with new competencies needed in a new state.Copyright: ACONSULTINGGRP. © 2009


Phase 4- (butterfly stage)- Emerging on New Ground –

This stage calls for further inward work—it is the re-

integration process, which is like reconstructing and

putting back pieces to reshape one’s new identity.

– When the person has fully incorporated the new

learning (“I & Me” components, a transformed self

has evolved )

The stories unanimously reported by the participants they

had enhanced self-awareness and achieved what Mezirow

(1991) calls “irreversible change in terms of their identities,

priorities and lifestyles.”


Key Implications for

Organizations Their strategic choice to undertake a

planned change happens because the

systems “negative feedback”—purpose and

mission are still on course. Change

becomes incremental.

Transformation happens because of their

systems positive feedback loop states their

business purpose and mission are obsolete

and business direction has to change

totally.Copyright: ACONSULTINGGRP. © 2009

Key Implications for

Organizations Choosing the pathway of Transformation

for organizations is risky. It is a “leap of

faith”.

Leaders would not know before hand if the

change in business direction would bring

financial success to the corporation.

Nevertheless, there are incremental

processes that can be effectively managed

during its transition.


Key Implications for Organization

Transformation

Organizations need to ignite employees creativity by providing

an environment where innovation is valued, e.g., encouraging

employees to serve in communities on company’s time.

The organization’s culture needs to provide workplace

practices that support innovation, e.g., encouraging employees

to contribute their meaningful and creative efforts to

sustainable causes which form part of their work projects and

development plans.

When leaders recognize employees’ creative ways of giving

back to their communities, the company’s culture sends a

message to others that those contributions are valuable part of

doing business.


Key Implications for Organizations

Building a community of give and take relationships

and networks to share and help spark ideas that result

in learning, innovation and action within and outside

the organization.

Encouraging individuals, work groups and teams to do

inner work in the spirit of refocusing, collaborating

and nourishing each other in a mutual caring and

respect for the unique value of each person.

Leaders defining the Organization’s new “Destiny”

(purpose/mission)—what it is called to do and be for

it’s communities, stakeholders and the country in

which the organization (business) is contextualized.Copyright: ACONSULTINGGRP © 2009

Organizational Transformation

(Cummings & Worley-2001)

“Organizational Transformations as the organization’s

response to in anticipation of major changes in the

organization’s environment or technology. They maintain

that these changes are often business strategy, which in

turn, may require modifying corporate culture as well

as internal structures and processes to support new

direction” (p.8)

They assert that “such fundamental changes require a

new paradigm for organizing and managing

organizations and would involve qualitatively different

ways of perceiving, thinking, and behaving in

organizations.”


Some Earlier Findings that Informed this

ResearchStudies Major Descriptions

Brans (1985) Interviewed men and women who actively recreated their lives. They shared

common qualities with innovators: “All of them have deliberately made

dramatic innovations in the patterns of their lives” (p. 5). They all have “the

capability to take action given the circumstances of their experiences” (p. 9).

Ebaugh (1988) Major findings show that so-called exiters shared similar emergent patterns in

the sequence of events during their processes of leaving regardless of the

variations in the timing of experiences.

Erikson (1968b) Crucial issues must be resolved before moving on to the next stage of adult

development.

Goodman (1979) Turning points in the lives of 150 men and women were due to choices in their

new social circumstances rather than age or catastrophe. These turning points

are full of attractions and ambivalence. The study posed questions such as how

does one face the options and conflicts of new choices? How does one face the

challenge of growing without losing one’s identity?

Levinson, Darrow, Klein,

Levinson, & Mc Kee (1978);

Levinson & Levinson (1996)

Life structure enables one to live out and elaborate the basic choices and values.

After some period, this choice tends to outlive its usefulness. From their study of

men and women, they identified marriage, family, and occupation as central to

an individual’s life structure.

Tough (1982) Intentional changes happen in response to a person’s motivation for personal

growth and repair a self-perceived deficiency.


Copyright: ACONSULTINGGRP© 2009

Theorist Initiation Middle GroundReestablishing

Equilibrium

Bridges (1980) Endings The Neutral Zone New Beginning

Ebaugh (1988) Precipitating event Seeking & weighing

alternatives

Turning point

Creating an ex-role

Hall & Norby (1973) Trigger event Exploration

Trial

Personal choice

Hudson & McLean

(1996)

Stuck in the doldrums Cocooning Getting ready for it

Go for it

Ibarra (1999) Exploring possible

selves

Lingering between

identities

Grounding a deep

change

Jaffe, Scott & Tobe

(1994)

Denial & Resistance Exploration Commitment

Spencer & Adams

(2002)

Losing focus

Minimizing impact

The Pit

Letting go of the past

Testing the limits

Searching for meaning

Integrating

VanGennep (1909/1960) Separation Transition Incorporation

Comparisons and Integration of Transition Models

Note. Adapted from “Career Exchange: Trading the Corporate Career for New

Options,” by M. G. Scheid, 2005, p. 47.


Phases Descriptions

1. Disorienting dilemma.

2. Self-examination.

3. Critical assessment of assumptions.

4. Recognition of shared discontent with others.

5. Exploration of options.

6. Planning a course of action.

7. Acquisition of knowledge and skills for implementing plans.

8. Provisional trying of new roles.

9. Building of new competence and self-confidence.

10. Reintegration of the new perspective.

Mezirow et al., (2000)Transformative Theory’s 10 Phases of

Transformation- Further Informed this Research

study of-transformative-experiences mr27242

Leadership & Management