Meet You In The MIDDLE?
By Jacqui Phillips
I used to think change was supposed to feel clearer and cleaner, with far more certainty. If it didn’t then I’d do my best to avoid it.
I thought there would be a sense of me knowing I was on the right path because everything would be clicking effortlessly into place.
Surely there would be signs. Momentum. A growing sense of confidence?
But what I’ve come to realise—very slowly, and most definitely not gracefully—is that change doesn’t usually arrive like that.
Change tends to arrive in layers.
Have you ever had a sense that something no longer works the way it used to, yet a new way is not quite clear?
Have you made decisions that don’t fully feel certain yet somehow feel true?
Have you ever experienced endings that come before you’re ready and beginnings that don’t look anything like you imagined?
Perhaps you’re somewhere in the MIDDLE of change?
I personally refer to this as “no (wo)man’s land”. That space between the old and the new.
Where something has shifted but hasn’t formed its new shape yet.
Whilst personally sitting in this MIDDLE space, I’ve found my curiosity growing.
Although I’m not leading an organisation, I am close to the conversations where change is happening and where my colleagues are actively supporting change.
And I can’t help but wonder:
What does this MIDDLE feel like for those of you who are holding that leadership responsibility?
What is it like to sense or know that something is shifting — strategically, culturally, operationally — while also navigating your own very human experience of change underneath it?
To be the one who others look to for clarity when parts of the picture are still forming?
To be asked for direction when the next step isn’t entirely visible yet.
From my sweet vantage point, the MIDDLE doesn’t disappear just because you’re in a leadership role.
If anything, it becomes more complex.
You have the external layer of change:
The plans.
The communication.
The outcomes you’re accountable for.
And then there’s the internal layer:
The uncertainty.
The shifting sense of identity.
The quiet questions that may not always have immediate answers.
And I wonder how often those two layers are supported together.
I’ve been noticing something important - most change frameworks focus on what needs to happen:
The milestones.
The delivery.
The structure.
Of course, those things matter, but do they account for what’s happening within the people leading and living the change?
The tension.
The resistance.
The unspoken uncertainty.
The very human experience that sits underneath every transformation.
This is where the work I’m part of starts to feel different.
At The Change Maker Group, the focus isn’t just on delivering change.
It’s on how change is experienced and led by the people involved.
The frameworks I see being used by my colleagues don’t separate the strategic from the human.
They bring them together.
They create space for:
Clear direction and tangible outcomes
Structured thinking and decision-making
And alongside that—real conversations about what’s shifting for individuals and teams
Sustainable change doesn’t come from process alone. It comes from people being able to fully engage with that process without having to disregard what’s happening for them underneath it.
So, if you’re in that MIDDLE:
Of holding responsibility.
Of navigating complexity.
Of being asked to move things forward.
Whilst also experiencing something deeper shifting — for you, for your team, or for your organisation, you don’t have to choose between being effective and being human.
The two can beautifully exist together.
And when they do, something changes in the way change itself is experienced.
I’m currently in my own version of the MIDDLE. My own personal no (wo)man’s land and sometimes it feels lonely.
I’m still noticing. I’m still learning. I’m still becoming.
But I’m also seeing, with clearer eyes, that this MIDDLE doesn’t need to be navigated in isolation.
There are ways to hold structure and humanity.
To lead with clarity and honesty.
To move towards outcomes without losing the people within the process.
Could this be where the real change actually happens?
Not once everything is resolved, but in the space between:
In the tension.
In the listening.
In the becoming.
In the MIDDLE.
If you’re there too, perhaps this is the moment to explore what support could look like — not just for the change you’re leading, but for the people experiencing it, including you.
Whether you’re leading change, supporting a team through it, or quietly navigating it yourself, there are ways to move through this that don’t require you to separate outcomes from the people experiencing them.
If you’re curious about how that could look in practice—or how it might support what you’re currently holding—my colleagues and I would be happy to meet you in the MIDDLE. Get in touch via our Advisory page.
Sometimes, the next step isn’t in the plan.
It’s in a conversation.