4.1 Problems with a model of change?

Using models such as Fisher’s can often provide an insight that might not otherwise have been found. Alternatively, you may have had some questions about this model. There may be limits to how useful you found it for understanding and developing career resilience. Some additional points that you could consider are:

• The model assumes that change is ‘imposed’ from outside the individual through workplace or organisational change. Developing career resilience also includes initiating change – taking personal action to develop your career, learning and skill set.
• The model is a general one, and implies that change events happen one at a time. You, and many others, may have experienced multiple changes in your working and personal life in rapid succession or at the same time. Multiple and rapid changes in working and life events can make change seem never ending.
• Presenting a model for transition can make it appear as if everyone deals with change in the same way. In his work, Fisher makes it clear that individuals move through these stages in different ways and may experience some stages unconsciously. You may have noted that you have ‘skipped’ stages, or repeated some experiences more than once.

In the final activity, you’ll consider your own learning from Week 1 and set yourself an action that takes you on the first step to building your own career resilience.