Here’s an article by Shameen Prashantham called “How to Not Waste a Crisis: Mindfully Manage ‘In-Betweenness’”, https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-to-not-waste-a-crisis-mindfully-manage-in-betweenness (6 minute read) [MIT Sloan Management Review, 20-Aug-2020]
The article focuses on transitional periods and the state of limbo that may accompany them. Social anthropology calls this liminality. A time of ambiguity and if we are open to new possibilities a time of great creativity and capability building. There are up sides and down sides to this state. By leveraging what we have we may be able to identify new possibilities, build new relationships and enlistavailable help to embrace change. For us, this is part of self management, risk management and organisational change management.
Some things to consider:
Staying consistent with our DNA. Honour the things / experience / position we already have.
Reimagining what we have. Calmly looking for resources (people, goods, services, IP) at hand to explore new things.
Connecting with offers. Make timely use of offers for assistance.
What ambiguity are you sitting in? Where are the offers for assistance? What can you bring to the table from your toolkit? Where is the opportunity to create?
How does this thinking apply to you as a Project Manager? What are you keeping / handing over? Where is the retained wisdom to leverage from? Who is available to assist? Is this a time to reimagine initiatives, timeframes and customers?
Why is this important? Good question. This year seems full of transitional periods and limbo. They may have always been under the surface though the uncertainty brought by this period of time has us being in in-between more than we might like. Accepting being in-between while being open to new possibilities, relationships and assistance may help us survive and perhaps even thrive. Especially if we stay true to our own DNA along the way.
For further viewing / reading:
Liminal Thinking, Dave Gray, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNAB3V80ZvU (12:28) [ultimatevideo, 30-Sep-2018]
Embracing the in-between state, Lauren Martin, https://wordsofwomen.com/embracing-the-in-between-state (1,000 words)[Words of Women, 1-Jun-2020]
The Rabbit Hole podcasts, Kevin Roose, https://www.nytimes.com/column/rabbit-hole (varies) [New York Times, retrieved 28-Aug-2020]
Inviting you to have a view / read and to have a chat with me about your thoughts.
[Originally posted internally in my role as Project Management Practice Lead at The Warehouse Group.]