SYSTEMS THINKING RESOURCES
STRUCTURAL TRAPS
Liminal Space
A key capability of a changemaker is to inhabit liminal space without allowing the sense of vulnerability or disquiet of this phase of change to rock you off your course of change.
Most of us believe that there is no long timeline between current reality and the desired future state. That once we have begun the change action current reality becomes past, and the desired future state starts to become our new reality. That is magical thinking and leads us to often step away from transitions that are on course because we imagine that ‘nothing is happening’. Astute changemakers nurture the self-awareness and systems thinking capacities that allow them to see the liminal space as they are traversing it and make the journey less worrisome for others in the process.
Liminal space refers to a threshold or in-between state, which is neither one thing nor the other. It is a place of transition and transformation, where individuals or groups are in a state of suspension and are open to change.
Liminal spaces can be found in various aspects of human experience, including social, cultural, and religious rituals, where participants temporarily move from their everyday roles and identities to a state of liminality.
The concept of liminality was first introduced by anthropologist Arnold van Gennep and later developed by Victor Turner, who described it as a time of heightened communitas and potential for cultural change.