Change seems to be everywhere, all at once these days.
Sometimes professionally, whether that be through new org structures, alignments, or expanded expectations.
Sometimes, personally, through news we didn’t expect, realities we can’t unsee, or new visions we’re beginning to hold for ourselves.
In every case, there’s often a moment when something has shifted or ended, yet what’s new hasn’t fully formed. The old way no longer is, and yet the new way isn’t clear.
It’s what William Bridges calls the Neutral Zone: the uncomfortable but generative space where old identities begin to loosen before new ones are ready to take hold.
Letting go as a leader is not about disengaging; it’s about being intentional in what you hold onto and what you release. As roles evolve and demands increase, this becomes an essential part of leadership growth.
And here’s what I’ve been noticing: we don’t talk much about this part of change – the space in-between.
For me, this space currently feels very alive, and at times, disorienting. Professionally, I’m part of a new division taking shape at my university, navigating how to lead while the structure itself continues to evolve. Personally, something came up for me last week that’s been quietly reshaping what matters most to me and how I’m choosing to show up.
Both are inviting me to linger in the Neutral Zone a little longer – not because it’s comfortable, but because something in me senses there’s more here that I’m not meant to rush past.
I also wonder if we’re each experiencing a space of in-between right now as we move through the MOR program, loosening the grip on who we’ve been, as our identities stretch and evolve.
In that space, there’s often a pull to return to what’s familiar – to regain our certainty, competence, and footing. To reach for the patterns that have kept us safe, even if they’ve also kept us smaller than who we’re becoming.
But there’s another option.
To pause. To stay. To notice what’s arising without immediately trying to resolve it.
And it’s here, in that space, that something begins to shift.
Letting go, I’m learning, isn’t dramatic. It’s not a single decision.
It’s a quieter practice of staying with the tension long enough for something new to emerge – like the time before a butterfly leaves its cocoon.
What Letting Go Looks Like in Leadership
- Releasing the need to be involved in every decision
- Allowing others space to take ownership and learn
- Letting go of approaches or assumptions that no longer serve the work
When we allow ourselves to be present here, over time, something integrates: a different way of seeing and being that becomes less effortful, and more something we simply are.
And this translates to our teams, too.
The compassion I’m finding for myself in this space is changing how I show up for others…how much room I create for others to be in the process of becoming.
So maybe the work as leaders is both helping others navigate change, and learning to stay present in our own deepening sense of self.
Because the way we stay present to change within ourselves – especially in the in-between – expands our capacity to be with others within it.
Where might letting go—rather than holding on—to create more space for growth in your leadership?
Last week, we asked which best describes how you define yourself as a leader:
- 47% said a combination of these and other factors
- 20% said mostly my own internal foundations
- 14% said mostly values instilled earlier in life
- 13% said mostly a collage of what I like in others
- 6% said something else
It is powerful to consider last week’s and this week’s Tuesday Readings together: how do you define yourself as a leader and where do we feel we are in achieving that identity? If we find ourselves in the middle of a transition, it is an opportunity to be intentional in moving toward the new. Even if it’s uncertain. Even if it’s difficult. Even if it’s a little scary. One intentional step at a time is how we become the leader we desire.
Gen Spering is the Assistant Director of Outreach, Recruitment, & Registration Services at Colorado State University and a MOR program participant. Gen may be reached at [email protected] or via LinkedIn.