People’s ability to successfully navigate career changes depends on their adaptability and flexibility—skills that can be developed through training transition “muscles,” according to Sarah Wittman, assistant professor of management at Costello College of Business and of industrial organizational psychology (by courtesy) at George Mason University.
This can be done by confidently narrating a new identity, adapting to instability, and connecting with support structures, Wittman suggests in a chapter in the forthcoming book Research Handbook on Career Transitions (co-authored by Bethany Cockburn of Northern Illinois University and Amy Colbert of University of Iowa). Informed by the learning theory, the chapter extends Wittman’s prior research on career transitions, emphasizing the learning that takes place amidst the growing trend of nonlinear career paths and the professional identity changes they entail.
Much of the existing research literature on transitions focuses on an individual’s shifts between professional identities, such as “trailing spouse,” “translocal worker,” or “working mother.” Building on this body of work, Wittman and her co-authors examine the process of transition itself, considering how insights from the experience may affect an individual’s readiness to face future uncertainty and identity changes.
They emphasize that “people in transition are not blank slates” and “different people likely live similar transitions differently.” The outcome of each individual’s efforts to explore, test, and integrate multiple possible selves depends on personal agency and social validation.
To facilitate a successful outcome, the authors propose a framework consisting of three types of “transition muscles” representing “the knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes that can be improved and strengthened over time through repetition, variation, and a gradual increase in difficulty, resulting in an increased ability to navigate transitions.”
The three “transition muscle” types are integrated into a unified, interconnected system. Incorporating different parts of professional self into a confident, coherent narrative trains the “content muscle.” Connecting the in-between time, or liminality, to the larger career trajectory engages the “process muscle.” Securing mentorship and community support by building anchor relationships in times of uncertainty strengthens the “context muscle.”
Individuals train the “content muscle” when they learn identity narration skills. As they explore and communicate to the wider world who they are, they incorporate their emerging professional identities into a cogent self-narrative. According to Wittman, people can learn “to assert their identity” through the process of repeatedly re-building their self-narratives, “finding meaning in difficult spaces,” and use that awareness to manage future transitions.
Defined as “externally and internally shared stories,” narrative claims can be effective or ineffective. Wittman points out that it is important “to narrate the story of your new self to people who are in a position to assess it critically and be authentic in sharing their feedback with you.”
In practice, this might mean changing your approach to networking, so that you’re building a network for your future self rather than just for who you are now. Doing so not only increases confidence that a transition to the “next you” is possible but also allows you to (safely) test your identity claim’s validity with each new contact you make.
Training of the “process muscle” happens when past experiences are applied to current transitions while “echoes of transition processes build on each other.” Wittman describes the experience of being in-between identities, otherwise known as “liminality,” as a particularly challenging transition phase, when a person’s social role is no longer defined by their previous job but not yet shaped by their anticipated position.
Working the process muscle could mean focusing on the temporariness of liminality, remembering the times you have experienced it before and the learnings and strengths you gained in the process. Even without having experienced career instability, everyone has gone through periods of liminality, e.g. becoming a new parent, moving to a new city, entering college. Structured remembering—via journaling, looking over old emails, or reconnecting with a long-time friend—can strengthen resolve and adaptability.
The “context muscle” is trained by developing deeper relationships with potential mentors or “anchors,” who can serve as mirrors and validate identity in times of instability, due to the socially constructed nature of identity. “Being in the process of creating a narrative through a stable anchor is what makes a person feel stable. So, building social structures with people who know you well in one of your established capacities is very important,” Wittman says.
She also emphasizes that one can, in turn, be a mentor or anchor for someone else and make it a reciprocal social relationship rather than a transactional one. “Be there for someone who is experiencing liminality because you have experienced it,” she reminds.