The Hidden Stage of Leadership Transition that Changes Everything

There’s a stage in leadership transition that rarely makes it into strategy decks or keynote talks.

It’s the in-between, when the old way of leading no longer fits, but the new way hasn’t yet taken form. You’ve outgrown what once worked and your identity, habits, or leadership stance begin to loosen. Certainty fades, language gets thin and your confidence wobbles.  

This phase often shows up during leadership transitions, when growth requires more than new skills and asks for a deeper internal shift.

Anthropologist, Victor Turner called this "liminality": the threshold between identities, when the old self has dissolved and the new one has not yet emerged. Leadership transitions within development journeys often live here far longer than expected.

And most leaders try to escape it as quickly as possible. They rush to the “new beginning.” They adopt new frameworks, implement new systems and announce clarity before it’s arrived. But when leaders skip the middle, change doesn’t stick.

Why the Middle Feels So Uncomfortable

I understand the urge to rush through this stage, as it can feel quite destabilizing.

It’s a time of uncertainty, when confidence no longer functions the way it used to.

William Bridges called this the "neutral zone", the messy, ambiguous middle where meaning reorganizes. It’s also where many leaders feel exposed, unmoored, or tempted to perform certainty instead of holding steady in uncertainty. Our instinct is to restore control, so we retreat to the old way, or we adopt new roles, strategies, or performance standards too quickly however, if we can stay in this "liminal" place, we will develop the capacity for greater leadership.

Depth in Leadership Develops

This is where Immunity to Change Coaching becomes essential in leadership transition.

ITC doesn’t help leaders avoid the liminal stage. It helps them stay with it, safely and productively, rather than pushing prematurely toward solutions, the work provides structure for remaining in transition long enough for real reorganization to occur:

Time to metabolize endings

Language for what’s dissolving

Structure for uncertainty

Experiments that gently surface what’s actually in the way

Rather than forcing resolution, the work respects the transition.

And that’s why the change lasts with ITC, because what finally emerges isn’t a borrowed identity or a performative shift. It’s a self-authored one.

The Other Side

The result isn’t a cosmetic change but rather, it’s expanded, durable capacity, that positions leaders to emerge with:

Greater internal stability under pressure

Clearer judgment in complexity

Leadership that no longer relies on over-control or performance alone

In other words, it changes how leaders make meaning, not just how they behave and that difference matters.

A Final Reflection

If you’re in a season of leadership transition and things feel unsettled, unclear, or quiet, that may not be a problem to fix. It may be the work itself.

If this resonates, it may be worth getting curious about what this transition is asking of you, rather than rushing to resolve it.

Mary Printz, M.Ed.

Harvard-Certified Immunity to Change Coach

Emotional Intelligence & Neuroscience-Informed Leadership Coach

For coaching, keynote talks and leadership programs on navigating “the messy middle” of leadership development, contact Mary Printz at Mary@MaryPrintz.com or 1-403-866-3806