I've spent much of the last 25 years studying, observing, and thinking about change and how individuals navigate through times of personal and professional transition.

What I've come to understand is that change is a natural part of life on this planet. The natural world changes constantly in response to the change of seasons and changing conditions. Often, but not always, this kind of change happens incrementally and constantly. There's time to adjust and adapt to changes. Then, of course, there are circumstances when the change is abrupt and comes with little or no warning. Under these circumstances, change is harder to take in and accept.

One pattern I've seen frequently in corporate transition situations is that the management team spends a lot of time working through the reasons behind a change, the new vision, and the logistics for making the change - they have time to adjust and adapt to this new world over time.

But when the change is communicated to the rest of the organization, the employees and managers outside the core team are told there's going to be a change or they are asked to participate in some meetings about the transition. Usually in this scenario, the individuals don't experience the shift as one of incremental change. Instead, it feels abrupt and uncomfortable.

Is it any wonder that the rest of the organization digs in their heels a bit and has a difficult time synthesizing all of the changes?

What I've found is that when everyone in the team understands the nature of change, there's a  better understanding of why each individual's experience of the same situation is so different and a common language that allows for conversations that give individuals a chance to transition more smoothly. In addition there's a better grasp of common detours that derail us, individually and collectively, when we jump out of the natural cycle of change.

There are so many layers to this conversation about change and transition. I continue to be fascinated with the topic even after years of studying it.

I've written about this way of looking at transitions in a book called The Seasons of Change. You can see a brief overview of the concepts here: http://www.seasonsofchange.com/seasons-of-change.html.