When organizations embark on change, they usually reach for familiar tools: Gantt charts, strategy decks, maybe even a change curve. These are essential and I recommend them. But I find that rarely do we initiate or encourage talk about what change feels like—that strange terrain where the old ways no longer work, and the new ones haven’t fully formed.
This is liminality: the space between.
And it’s precisely where the Prochaska & DiClemente Stages of Change model gets more powerful—when we overlay it with the psychological and emotional truths of liminal space.
The Missing Middle in Change Work
The Stages of Change—originally designed to map personal behavior change (like quitting smoking)—have been increasingly applied to leadership development, team dynamics, and organizational shifts. Some of the language feels clinical, but don’t miss the application opportunity. The stages include:
- Precontemplation: not seeing need for change
- Contemplation: recognizing need for change
- Preparation: getting ready for the change
- Action: taking concrete steps towards change
- Maintenance: sustaining and embedding change
- Relapse: reframe setbacks as learning opportunity
But in complex systems and human-centered workplaces, change is rarely linear, especially the emotional experience of change. People don’t step smoothly or consistently from Preparation to Action. Teams don’t glide into Maintenance. Leaders don’t skip through the upheaval of identity-level transformation like flipping a switch.
They linger in the middle.
And that middle is messy, uncertain, and liminal.
What Is Liminal Space?
Liminality (from the Latin limen, meaning threshold) is the in-between phase in any meaningful transformation. It’s the fog between departure and arrival—the stretch where old patterns dissolve but clarity hasn’t emerged. In organizational life, liminality might show up as:
- A leader post-reorg who no longer feels like themselves
- A team after a merger unsure of “how we do things now”
- A culture change initiative stuck between aspiration and implementation
It’s uncomfortable. But also fertile.
Why Should Leaders Include Liminality in Change Management?
While traditional change models focus on what needs to happen, liminality focuses on what it’s like to go through it. And that distinction matters. I’m advocating for both.
Here’s why leaders should pay attention to liminal space:
1. It reduces fear-based resistance
Most resistance isn’t about logic—it’s about identity, loss, or disorientation. Liminality gives leaders language to normalize discomfort rather than dismiss, misinterpret, or mislabel it.
2. It builds psychological safety
When leaders hold space for ambiguity without rushing to resolution, teams feel permission to not have it all figured out. That creates trust.
3. It supports creative emergence
Liminal space is a potential gold mine where new thinking and possibilities arise. By protecting this space (instead of prematurely solving it), leaders create conditions for innovation.
4. It honors the whole person
Real change isn’t just cognitive or behavioral—it’s emotional and relational. Leaders who engage liminality recognize the inner terrain of transformation, not just the outer metrics.
Where the Stages Meet the Thresholds
Liminality maps naturally onto the transitions between stages in the Prochaska model:
| Transition | Liminal Emotion | Leadership Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Contemplation → Preparation | Doubt, curiosity | Name the questions without rushing to solve |
| Preparation → Action | Vulnerability, resolve | Honor and mark the threshold; clarify the “why” |
| Action → Maintenance | Instability, fatigue | Normalize the wobble; reinforce early wins |
| Maintenance → Relapse | Embarrassment (if mistake, error, change challenges), reflection | Reframe the restart loop as learning, not failure |
By naming these emotional zones, leaders can better support the human side of change—not just the tactical side.
What About Prosci or Kotter
Models like Prosci’s ADKAR and Kotter’s 8-Step Process are well-established, useful models of change management. Both are important, practical and structured—and the frameworks are essential to plan, communicate, and implement large-scale change initiatives. But the predominant focus on externals (communications, sponsorship, project steps) easily bypasses the subjective interior: grief, fear, confusion, identity impact.
Liminality fills that gap. It reminds us that transitions are not just logistical—they are psychological. Overlaying liminality with any model enhances it. But if you’re coaching leaders, working at the team level, or guiding culture change, I encourage you to consider the Stages of Change model interwoven with liminal insight.
Final Thought
Change doesn’t fail because people resist it. It often fails because we don’t honor the in-between—the foggy, liminal terrain where people are still becoming who they need to be to sustain the change.
As an organizational psychologist with a clinical background, I bring experience and expertise in working to create architects of structure—and to equip you to lead and guide through thresholds.
Let’s map the middle, not just the milestones.
My workshop on this topic is depth meets practical-let’s connect if this resonates for your leadership, team, or organization.
References
Prochaska, J.O. & DiClemente, C.C. (1983).Stages and processes of self-change of smoking: Toward an integrative model of change. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51(3), 390–395.
