As we talked, Sharon described to me the reasons why she was on the verge of quitting. She was a top performer for the local insurance company where she had been employed for fifteen years. Her first ten years had been one success milestone after another. She knew she was a star performer. Then things began to change. She couldn’t pinpoint it at first. The company’s expectations for its sales people were changing. The market place was changing? Her direct client relationships were not changing, but the company’s expectations meant that they would have to change? Whatever was happening, the days of easy success were over. The work was harder than ever before.

Very few transition points happen suddenly. They are products of various kinds of development. Transition Point #1: What Used To Be Easy Is Now Hard is one of those that tends to grow slowly, and, then almost overnight we recognize that we are overwhelmed. Let’s look at this transition point from the perspective of the Circle of Impact.

My experience working with people for whom their work has become more difficult is that it is a combination of several changes taking place. If each of the three dimensions of leadership of the Circle of Impact changes, then the challenge we face is in adapting to a new reality.

One of the key principles of the Circle of Impact is that the greatest change that we go through is in our self-perception. From this perspective, we define ourselves by our values, by our sense of purpose or why we do the work we do, and, by the impact that we hope to achieve.

This became one of the ways Sharon understood that she was in transition. The way she conducted herself as an insurance salesperson was changing. The company was also in transition, but in a different way. Sales growth took on a critical urgency as the owners wanted to improve their prospects for selling the company. As a result, the pressure on Sharon grew.

This transition point had Sharon feeling that she was neglecting her relationship to her clients. More of her time was spent in initiating new client sales, less with her long-time customers. In effect, changes in the structure of the company were making her work harder.

Sharon was at a transition point. She had several choices before her. She could change her approach to sales to meet the company’s expectations. If she did, her compensation would grow significantly. Or, she could leave and start her own company. Either choice requires a change in her self-perception. Neither of these choice will make her work life easier. There is no easier path for Sharon. Either she accommodates to the new sales philosophy to generate more sales from more clients or she starts over with her own company.

It is important to recognize that Transition Point #1: What Used To Be Easy Is Now Hard is signaling us that we are in the midst of change. It isn’t the change itself, but an indicator of it. This means that trying to make things easier is not the solution. Rather, it is looking at why conditions are changing to determine what we must do.

How does Sharon address this transition point? What is the critical question that she must answer? What does she really want from her life? Is being a top-performer in a larger firm more important than being a highly engaged with her customers? Or should she decide to open her own agency where she has the opportunity to create an environment where her values govern the whole of the business? It is not an easy question to answer.

When our work gets harder, it is typically because the complexity of it has grown. Simple seems to equal easy. Complex is therefore hard. However, it is also true that what is simple can seem complex where we are unclear about who we are and the kind of impact we desire to create. In this sense, the structure of work follows the purpose of it. In Sharon’s situation, changes in the structure of the company are challenging her self-perception.

If you are at a transition point where your work has become harder, where it once was easy, the place to begin is understand who you are, how your values matter to you in the context of work, and what has changed in the three dimensions to make things different. Establish this picture and you’ll begin to see a more integrated picture and have a better opportunity to know what this transition point actually means.

Next we’ll we’ll look at Transition Point #2:You Find That Your Performance Has Reached a Plateau, Neither Getting Better Nor Worse.

Dr. Ed Brenegar

Dr. Ed Brenegar is a Leader for Leaders working with individuals, their teams, organizations and communities who find themselves at a point of transition. Ed has developed an innovative leadership model called, Circle of Impact, that clarifies what the impact of their life or the work of their organization can be. From this perspective, impact is the change that makes a difference that matters. Ed. for over 30 years, has inspired and equipped people and organizations to practice this fresh understanding of leadership. All leadership begins with personal initiative to create impact that makes a difference that matters. Everyone within an organization or a community can, therefore, practice leadership initiative. In so doing, they turn what were once leadership-starved organizations into leader-rich cultures that make a difference that matters.