The 5 Stages Of Transformation

Keys for success in times of change.

The world is constantly evolving. This brings new challenges for both our legal departments and ourselves. A rapidly changing environment necessitates that we reinvent our skill several times throughout our career. After experiencing a broad range of “firsts” and working at constantly evolving startups, we’d love to share our strategy in the hopes you can use it to fuel success in both your life and career.

This article focuses on the five stages we’ve found ourselves going through on a regular basis when encountering change and, shortly, we will publish another article on how to best go through every stage to help transform your biggest challenges into incredible opportunity.

Stage 1: Frustration

Olga’s View: It’s been said that frustration is the most important aspect to learning, and it’s the first stage that you’ll encounter in the transformation process. Maybe you’re encountering a challenging personal situation, or you might be trying to help your jump over a major hurdle. Either way, this is the first step to winning. This stage occurs when we encounter conflicting feelings about the challenge in front of us, but this is a very valuable emotion to be experiencing. We may be upset with the situation, but we are all constantly growing professionals. Just like a child shouldn’t dwell on outgrowing his favorite outfit, you shouldn’t hold on too tightly to past experiences (whether positive or negative) to allow yourself to embrace the experience in front of you.

Katia’s View: Few things are more frustrating than taking what has worked for you in the past, applying it to a current situation and noticing that it’s just not working. Many people experience this when they switch jobs. Likely, you got into a certain groove in your past job, and you have the expectation that your will be good at identifying what the struggles at your new job will be and how to overcome them. You find yourself trying something that worked with your team seamlessly in the past, and are finding yourself frustrated that the same thing just isn’t working with your current team. It can be quite disorienting to feel like you’re starting over completely (even though, of course, you’re not). It’s just about letting go of certain things that worked before, to make room for what will work now.

Stage 2: Trial and Error

Olga’s View: When we work past the conflicting emotions that naturally occur as we become frustrated, we progress on to the next stage. This is where we encounter a lot of trial an error. When we progress into uncharted territory, we don’t always have full command of how we operate inside of our new roles. Whether you’ve recently become a parent, or you’ve found yourself in a new role professionally, you’re going to have to go through trial and error while you spark growth and change.

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While you’re in this stage, it’s important to stay confident and work through the obstacles that you’re facing. Remember that as part of getting to where you are now, you’ve already conquered a lot of uncertain circumstances. You will learn how to overcome all these “random” variables to create a stable formula, because you’ve already done it successfully a hundred times over.

Katia’s View: There is truly no short cut. Continuing with our example of starting a new job – you have to jump in and realize that you will, undoubtedly, fail at certain tasks. However, in this “failure,” you’ll also understand what the company’s core values are and how they’re implemented, learn about where your team is strong and where you can best provide value, and see how you’ve changed as a professional. Sometimes, part of the trial and error is just sitting back and observing (not the easiest of tasks for the typical “go get ‘em” lawyer personality).

Stage 3: The Aha!

Olga’s View: As you encounter quite a bit of confusion in the second stage, you may feel like you’re in a never-ending cycle. However, the third stage of transforming your challenge into an opportunity comes through discovering that “aha” moment. This is the moment where everything clicks and we release the friction that the change brought on. This is the best experience throughout the transformational process. It’s the moment where you’re free. You have outgrown the old habits, behaviors, and thinking patterns, and you’re finally ready to move on to the fourth stage with grace.

Katia’s View: Sometimes, it just takes one “click” to set off a whole chain reaction where you start finding your groove. Continuing with our example of a new job, the “aha” moment is often-times found in the small details. However, always remember that you’re the one coming into an already-established environment with lots of different personalities.Be careful not to try and change everything at once, or expect giant transformations too soon. Pushing too hard can actually make the “aha” moments harder to come by.

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Stage 4: Discovery

Olga’s View: Now that you’re settled into your new conditions, you’re ready to start mining and exploring its dynamics. This is the stage where we possess competence in our responsibilities and our day-to-day tasks, and this is the perfect time to begin exploring what matters most in our career and our life. When we encounter discovery, we rediscover those lost gems we’ve outgrown in the past. It’s the perfect way to get back to our roots so that we can reconnect ourselves with what we always want to honor, improve upon, and master through our limited time on this planet.

Katia’s View: At new jobs, true freedom and discovery happens when you find that delicate balance of taking what you bring to the table from your past experience, combining it with the trust and respect you’re earning from your new team, and developing the best approach going forward together. Once everyone feels like one cohesive unit, you can reexamine what your values are, make sure you’re connected to the things that are important to you, and make sure that you’re bringing that to the table in your new position.

Stage 5: Synchronization

Olga’s View: Synchronization is all about welding our old gems with the recently acquired gold we’ve found in our new conditions. This stage needs to be done with care, but it’s an incredible experience if we chose to bring in past skills that compound our newfound systems.

This stage generates brilliant insights, innovation, confidence, comfort, and peace within our careers and lives. It takes time to progress through, but it’s the stage where we can generate the most successful work we’ll ever encounter. This stage of transformation is a new beginning that helps you stay true to your roots while bringing in advanced strategies you never knew existed. It’s the perfect place to start a new chapter in a constantly evolving world.

Katia’s View: The process of blending old and new is incredibly rewarding, but one of the most challenging. For example, just as you get comfortable at your new position, you have to consistently make sure you’re not letting your past experiences guide you. Also, all of us have some kind of baggage we’re carrying around. In the synchronization stage, you may find that some old struggles reappear as you’re trying to merge the past with what’s working for you now. It’s critical to make sure you actually find a way to connect your past professional experiences with your current ones. Otherwise, you’ll end up segmenting what you learned, and won’t be able to optimize your current role for success.

We’ll delve more into managing these stages, reassessing them on a regular basis, and how to understand where you are in the process in our next article.


Olga V. Mack and Katia Bloom are startup enthusiasts who embrace the current disruption to the legal profession. Long gone are the days when in-house legal departments simply manage outside counsel or provide services. Today’s legal department is a sophisticated business unit that co-manages the company’s bottom line, embraces technology, and analyzes risks constructively. Mack and Bloom love this change and are dedicated to improving and shaping the future of the legal profession. Together they passionately collect and share inspiring stories of legal leaders who are thriving through the ongoing tectonic shift. Mack and Bloom are convinced that the legal profession will emerge from this revolution even stronger, more resilient, and inclusive than before. They are currently co-authoring a manual of the skills and traits lawyers need to succeed in — and even enjoy — today’s rapidly evolving in-house legal departments. You can reach them at olga@olgamack.com and katia@katiabloom.com or @olgavmack and @bloomkatia on Twitter.