Stasis

Getting there through stoppage

Working hard but not getting anywhere! Working hard and getting there slowly! Working hard and hating it! 

These are paraphrases of the main responses from an extensive survey taken in a post-2020 America by The ZigZag Project. An NPR podcast series hosted by Manoush Zomorodi, investigates the front-of-mind need of today's modern professionals. At the heart of it, the responses spoke to this feeling of unfulfillment a directionless, and a feeling of grief. People wanted to be 'further ahead' but were not always sure where or what the finishing line looked like. All of us are either feeling this now or have felt it in the past. If you are manager I am sure there are people in your team feeling this way currently. It is a turgid feeling and as I heard the anonymous responses play one-after-another the sentiment was one of "this is happening to me", "I am helpless", and "I wish..." There seemed to be a real lack of agency in these voices. People felt static and disenfranchised. 

With this stagnation there is a compounded helplessness - a distraction at best and a potential for mental health challenges the rest of the time. The Zig Zag Project aims to provide a platform for learning and engagement for people to "align personal values with professional ambitions". I highly recommend it to anyone this article resonates with. In episode one they explore William Bridges Life Transition Model (see below). It has three key stages for people successfully transitioning through anything - 1. Ending, 2. Neutral Zone, 3. New Beginning. 

The interesting thing from Bridges' research is his findings around the most important factor for successful transitions. It turns out to be a particular thing inside the Neutral Zone - the bit between an ending and a new beginning. He found that 'an extended' time-frame in this Neutral Zone created better outcomes. It is when people are in a Stasis (from Ancient Greek, standing or 'to stand') for a considerable length of time that they create better quality beginnings with direction, purpose, and momentum. The ability to stop, stand, and uncomfortably do nothing increases our ability to propel forward and make sustainable changes.

Facilitating people through change is a core role I play in my daily work and I feel it is important to highlight the difference between this state of stasis and a state of passive apathy. The interesting thing about stasis is that it is uncomfortable and there is a lot of mental hard work going on (it is an active problem solving state). The brain is working overtime to find patterns, to join dots, and to figure out the paradoxes one is living through. Passive apathy is a disinterest and disengagement from wanting to play any form of game ahead of us. It is closed and unhelpful. The Neutral Zone feels angsty and is usually not fun, but it creates a huge amount of upside. 

Being able to open up the Neutral Zone, sit in it, and maximise it's ability to put us on a healthy and productive course is a huge asset for any professional. Being able to promote this as a leader is even more valuable. Being able to recognise the struggle through stasis as a productive (and even necessary) process to go through is the biggest step. Seeing this in ourselves and others brings awareness. Jay Shetty beautifully said, "Knowledge is power, and it can help you overcome any fear of the unexpected. When you learn, you gain more awareness through the process, and you know what pitfalls to look for as you get ready to transition to the next level." 

Seeing stasis as knowledge building could create a new breed of happy and healthy professionals.