Alright in the End

"We have a saying," he said. "Things will be alright in the end. If things are not alright, it is not yet the end." The speaker is a bright, earnest young Indian man, seeking to turn around a down-on-its-heels hotel formerly owned by his deceased father and whose best days seem far behind.

Viewers of the newest-next British classic film, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, now showing in art houses across the nation, will recognize him instantly. Sonny, like everyone else in the John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) film, is trying to begin anew.

A cultural counterpoint to the the post-boomer band of British retirees, including actors Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Maggie Smith, and Dame Judi Dench, Sonny's character is trying to escape the thrall of a domineering mother to formalize a relationship, not only as keeper of an inn to house "outsourced senior citizens," but to marry an Indian girl born on the wrong side of the tracks. I highly recommend the film for anyone involved in leading change. And really, who would that not include?

Regular readers of this blog will appreciate my own interest in managing the transition that a new job with Gardner-Webb University and an impending move over three hours to the southwest of where we currently call home. Am I any different, I wonder, than the few fortunate people in the film determined not just to accommodate but to thrive amid new challenges?

Ironically, the first doctoral class I am assigned to teach is called, Reform and Change Theory Model. The Dean of the School of Education has given me a syllabus and a stack of books to read in preparation for teaching the class. Beyond those resources, there is another text that I have found very helpful in teaching aspiring school leaders. I will not require students to buy the text, but rest assured, ideas from William Bridges Transitions will drive class discussion.

Bridges equates change with a jump into the unknown. He says that, although we may not always be in charge of the change itself, we can manage our internal response to change. We do that by visualizing change in three zones.

The first stage is Endings in which we confront inevitable loss, anxiety and confusion. The second stage is the Neutral zone. Here we find ourselves adrift, devoid of solid ground. The third stage is the Beginnings zone where we may embrace a new way of being and plan for future action. I think leaders can be a lot more effective if they prepare their followers for the inevitability of transitioning through the three zones with up-front assurance that they will come out the other side in one piece. 

When I reflect on the characters in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, some succeeded at life and love in a new land while others failed. What the successful shared, it seemed, was an indefatigable embrace of the notion that change is a natural part of life. Like Bill Nighy's decent-man character or Dame Judi Dench's long-sheltered widow character, the next stage of life was met not only with optimism but a sense of adventure.

Go on. Do the hard thing. Make the change you need to make. "We have a saying," Sonny said. "Things will be alright in the end. If things are not alright, it is not yet the end."