Experiencing change: creating space for transformation
💫Is there a link between our experiences and transformation, and how might we create a space for it to emerge?
Every morning, I open the pages to my diary to write. Stream of consciousness mainly, though as a transformation designer I am often drawn to reflect on how we navigate both personal and societal transitions. The ritual of writing for 20 minutes (which I learnt from The Artist’s Way) sometimes involves ‘making myself sit down and pick up the pen’ and often requires a cup of coffee in hand to get me going. I’ve been doing it for a while now and it has been transformational for me in many ways.
Writing helps me create a space in which I can experience my thoughts. Not just as fleeting ideas but as structures (forms) of the mind, which are up for consideration. Sometimes I am surprised by my own ideas, sometimes I am moved by my own questions, and every time I am reminded of the power of experience as a tool for understanding the world. As Julia Cameron said: it is a creative, spiritual and transformative practice. Allowing me to reflect and integrate my experiences.
Experiencing to transform
We are experiential beings, and it seems to me that to truly understand and contribute to the transformation around us—whether it's in the workplace, in our personal growth, or within broader society—experiencing is critical.
The process of experiencing, as described by Mat Duerden's Types of Experiences model which we talked about on the Transforming Worlds podcast recently, shows that not all experiences are the same, yet all are important. We move through ordinary experiences gaining a sense of how things usually operate. These help us gauge whether there’s tension, a need for change, or if we’re on the right track. Then, we also encounter extraordinary experiences which range from memorable to transformative. These less usual situations can deeply change how we see the world, offering insights that lead to lasting change.
This is what I find so powerful: both the ordinary and extraordinary are necessary. Our ordinary, everyday experiences give us the data points to understand the current logic, while extraordinary experiences offer the chance to break free of that logic and explore new pathways. They create openings for transformation.
Experiences are visceral, personal and first-hand. They are grounded and concrete as opposed to distant and abstract. The question, then, becomes: How can we use experience design to help people and organizations navigate change?
The answer lies not in controlling outcomes, but in creating environments where people can learn experientially. This is the core of what I do as a transformation designer. And I am on a mission to (r)evolutionize change by making this kind of creative thinking a lived experience with people and teams.
Most people feel an anticipatory discomfort when faced with extraordinary experiences. The discomfort is in the mind(set). For we are stronger and more resilient than we dare to believe. There is immense power in doing, but it does require loosening the grip of our certainties in order to explore possibilities. As I wrote about in Change Ahead, the ‘Quest for Questions’ is a powerful tool. We don’t need to have all the answers before we start, simply asking questions as we go and engaging with experiences can lead to powerful insights.
Deliberately experiencing our discomfort
When leaning into our experiences as pathways for transformation, it’s important to remember that experiences require attention, participation, and reflection. As I see it, this is where the magic happens. Through experiences, we learn not just how things work but how they feel. This feedback loop connects us with our inner values and offers transcontextual insights—ways of understanding how we operate in the world, how we can change, and what we might do differently.
As many things that generate discomfort, being deliberate and aware helps in keeping us grounded. Like the pages of my diary help create a holding space for my thoughts. A key part of designing for transformation involves tools like visual frameworks and canvasses.
Visual thinking as reflective practices
Tools for keeping track of our thoughts and ideas in an explicit way are powerful because they are both simple and adaptable, while they excel at making the process explicit and integrating ideas visually. Visual frameworks provide the contours of a recognizable logic, yet are not the final, coloured-in versions, allowing us to enter the space and complete the story ourselves. It's this openness, this invitation to play and engage with the unknown, that allows us to explore adjacent possibilities. These tools don’t dictate outcomes; they create space for the participants to share their perspectives and draw conclusions together.
This reflective process helps us organize thoughts, unlock creativity, and make sense of the changes we experience. Putting our thoughts out of our heads in order to experience them fully and integrate the lessons and creative ideas into our doing.
Like journalling, these are simple practices, but incredibly effective in tapping into those deeper layers of self-awareness and understanding both individually and as a group. They help us organize the thought structures (the forms of transformation) and jointly see connections and patterns that I might otherwise miss (the trans of transformation).
I believe in paths that incorporate these reflective practices into everyday life. These are my top 3 practices, which I use both personally and professionally, and help me stay flexible and curious:
✨ Design with intention: When working on a project, I try to be very mindful of the experiences I’m creating for others—whether through design, leadership, or collaboration. Aiming to create spaces that allow participants to explore different types of experiences, from the ordinary to the transformative. Allowing maximum space for emergence of conclusions and thoughts while framing it with the intended outcome so that I can facilitate with gentleness and creativity in a
✨Use templates and frameworks: Implementing (and sometimes designing tailor-made) simple visual tools that are adaptable and invite participation. These tools should not be overly prescriptive but instead encourage exploration and interaction. I keep them sketchy and unfinished so that they can evolve as we explore, discover and learn.
✨ Writing as reflection: Take time to reflect about what I design both in my studio as with clients. Build-in time to reflect on our experiences, insights, and ideas. First individually, then as a group. I often use the 1-2-4-ALL tool. And just like I do myself, I encourage people to write by hand as it is a lost art and one that helps us organize our thoughts more intuitively than writing on digital devices. This reflective process can help us connect with our inner selves and give you clarity about how to move forward. First individually, then by consensus in the group based on our shared perspectives. And in all cases, experientially.
Ultimately, transformation, whether personal, professional, or societal: is a process that requires us to engage deeply with our experiences, reflect on them, and allow ourselves the freedom to learn and grow. It's in this space of curiosity and creativity that true change begins to take shape. These practices don’t necessarily need more time: but they do require us to be intentional, deliberate and fully present in our experiencing. Which might just be what our world is asking of us right now, so why not try it out for yourself?
