Navigating Professional Transitions
By Sophie Makonnen
It happened! You got the promotion, the assignment you wanted, the new position that will pivot your career. This is it. It’s the moment you have been working toward for a long time. You celebrate, receive congratulations, and feel proud, as you should. Persistence and effort paid off.
After the rush of achievement fades, something quieter begins. The new role brings opportunity but also a release of familiar routines, relationships, and parts of how we define ourselves. Even positive change requires adjustment. Stepping into new positions or roles often means reorienting how we and others see ourselves. The external change is clear. The internal transition takes longer.
Change and transition are not the same. Change is the event that shifts our circumstances: a new role, project, or structure. Transition is the inner process that follows. It is how we adjust, integrate, and find our footing again. Understanding the difference matters because managing people, expectations, and results often means learning to stay steady while this quieter process unfolds inside us.
Understanding the Shape of Transition
When we think of change in our professional lives, we often picture progress: a promotion, a new role, a move into greater responsibility. These are the moments we work toward, the visible signs that our efforts have paid off. Yet, once the excitement settles, most professionals discover that the real work has only begun. The external change may be immediate, but the internal transition takes time.
One of the books I really appreciated is Life Is in the Transitions by Bruce Feiler. He writes that the stories of our lives are not linear; they are braided with endings, messy middles, and new beginnings.
Feiler’s research on what he calls “lifequakes,” major moments of disruption that reshape our direction, shows that most of us move through three overlapping phases even in the midst of positive change, such as a career move or leadership transition:
The Long Goodbye: Letting go
This often begins before or right after a promotion or new assignment. You have achieved what you worked for, but now you must let go of what was familiar: old routines, roles, or relationships that once defined you. You are no longer part of the same circle, and the comfort of mastery gives way to the uncertainty of learning again. Letting go of “how things used to be” is the work that allows space for something new to take root.
The Messy Middle: Reorienting.
Most professionals land here. The title or responsibilities change, but true clarity lags. You build trust, learn new systems, and balance confidence with humility. You may miss the structure or sense of competence that came with your previous role. This phase feels uncomfortable, but it drives real learning and growth.
The New Beginning: Rebuilding meaning.
Gradually, things fall into place. You find your rhythm, your voice, and a renewed sense of purpose. The work shifts from something you stepped into to something you have fully integrated. You contribute in a way that reflects who you are becoming, not just what you have done.
Seen through this lens, stepping into a new role or leadership level is not a single moment of arrival. It is a process of letting go, reimagining, and re-engaging, sometimes circling between them. Naming these phases brings perspective and patience. Transition is not an absence of direction. It is the path through which renewal takes form.
Understanding transition is one thing. Living through it is another. In professional life, it often means finding steadiness while everything around you and within you is still shifting. This is not about waiting for clarity to return but about learning how to stay present and purposeful in the in-between. The practices that follow can help translate awareness into action, giving structure to a process that rarely feels structured.
Moving Through Transitions in Practice
Transitions are part of life; the key is moving through them with awareness, not resistance.
Rather than chase away uncertainty, develop simple practices to ease change.
Here are a few ways to do that:
1. Prepare for the New Phase
Take time to imagine the landscape ahead, even if it’s still blurry.
Ask yourself:
What from my past experience will serve me in this next phase?
What might I need to learn or access that I don’t yet have?
Don’t plan every detail. Build a bridge from the past to the emerging future. Preparation lets us keep what’s valuable and let go of what no longer fits.
2. Seek Guidance and Support
Change can feel isolating, especially in a new or visible role. Reach out for guidance to normalize the experience and learn faster. Ask a mentor or sponsor for feedback, or work with a coach to reflect on new responsibilities. Talk with colleagues who’ve handled similar transitions for support. Support builds connection, and connection builds confidence.
3. Name and Acknowledge the Transition
Language gives form to experience. Simply naming what is happening, "I am in a transition" or "Something in my work is being redefined. This is new for me and I am in unfamiliar waters", can soften confusion. This is not business as usual, at least not yet. In time, it will become business as usual, I promise. At the beginning, you are in new territory. Naming the situation lets it exist without judgment. When you articulate the nature of change, you regain a sense of agency over how to meet it.
4. Mark the Ending
Endings often go unnoticed, especially when we move quickly toward what’s next. Marking closure helps the mind and emotions catch up with reality. Sometimes there are formal goodbye events. They serve their purpose. These events give us a chance to express gratitude, acknowledge shared experiences, and bring a sense of completion. But even when they do not happen, or do not feel sufficient, we can still create our own moment of closure.
There’s no single way to do this:
• Write a short reflection or letter to yourself.
• Create a personal ritual. Take a walk, plant something, or revisit a place that mattered.
• Share a symbolic moment, as I once did. I took a photo of my luggage on the day and posted that it was going into storage. I did it for me. I needed to say it, although my colleagues were wonderful in marking that transition for me.
The act doesn’t need to be public or elaborate. What matters is recognizing that something meaningful has ended. You are stepping consciously into what comes next.
Transition is what happens after change and sometimes during it. It is the process of adapting, integrating, and realigning before a new beginning can take root. For professionals, this space between what was and what is becoming is not a pause but a passage.
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