Change Confidence: Reclaiming Inner Ground in Uncertain Times

Author: Gisela Wendling, Ph.D.

We often think of confidence as something solid, something we either have or don’t. But during deep change, especially when it’s personal or high-stakes, confidence can suddenly fall away. What once felt stable can feel shaky. You might question your instincts, hesitate to speak or wonder if you are still the kind of leader others trust.

This is not unusual. In fact, it may be a sign that something important is happening beneath the surface.

Ego Loss or Emergent Self?

In transitional moments, what the Liminal Pathways Change Framework™ calls the liminal phase, leaders often experience what feels like a collapse of familiar confidence. The strategies, roles or instincts that used to work no longer feel aligned. It can feel like a breakdown of identity, as if the person you’ve known yourself to be doesn’t quite fit the current reality.

But this is not necessarily a crisis. Often, it is an invitation.

In psychology, this disorientation is sometimes referred to as ego restructuring. This is a temporary unraveling of how we make sense of who we are. It is not unusual. It is often the way transformation begins.

What begins to emerge is not a louder or more certain version of confidence. It is something quieter. It is the capacity to stay present, grounded and aligned even when outcomes are unknown. This is not confidence based on having all the answers, but on being in a creative relationship with uncertainty.

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”

—Joseph Campbell

What is Change Confidence, Really?

Change confidence is not boldness for its own sake. It is not about charging ahead or projecting certainty. Whether you are leading a team, facilitating transformation or navigating a personal transition, true change confidence is grounded in presence, not performance. The Change Maker’s Spindle, a change competency model grounded in the Liminal Pathways Change Framework, change confidence refers to the capacity to understand how transformative change works, remain emotionally present, internally resourced, and connected to purpose in the midst of uncertainty.

The Change Maker’s Spindle is inspired by Gandhi’s use of the spinning wheel as a daily ritual of renewal and resistance. It reminds us that just as Gandhi’s spinning was an act of reclaiming self-determination, the Spindle speaks to the alchemy of transformation: how disruption, if consciously engaged, can be spun into new insights, an evolving identity, possibilities and a new direction. It serves as a reminder that we must be the change.

Change confidence is not fixed or surface-level. For example, as a leader, you remain flexible but grounded even in the face of the emotional ups and downs and the disorientation that uncertainty brings. As a facilitator and coach, you can support others without having to rescue or control the process.

This form of confidence is more about attunement than assertion. It is not the stance of someone who insists they are ready, but of someone who is becoming ready, moment by moment, in response to what is emerging.

It grows from connection to your own internal state, to others in the field of change and to sources of meaning and support that go deeper than logic. It says: “I may not know exactly where we’re going, but I trust my capacity to meet what is next.”

The Four Dimensions of Change Confidence

The Change Maker’s Spindle™ outlines four domains that work together to support this kind of confidence:

Change Literacy (Mind): Understanding how change works, developmentally, emotionally and structurally gives leaders orientation and helps them make meaning, even when plans fall apart.

Emotional Fluidity (Heart): The ability to work with emotion, rather than avoid or suppress it, allows leaders to stay connected, honest and human, inviting trust and deeper participation from others.

Somatic Awareness (Body): Tuning into physical signals, like tension, fatigue or activation, helps leaders recognize early signs of stress or misalignment and make grounded, wise choices.

Inner and Outer Guidance (Spirit): Drawing from intuition, values and trusted sources of support strengthens a leader’s connection to what matters most and offers orientation when logic alone is not enough.

When these dimensions are in alignment, leaders experience whole-system coherence. This is a state where their thinking, feeling, sensing and deeper knowing are fully integrated and interactive. In this state, confidence is not forced; it’s embodied.

How Change Confidence Supports Growth

The Change Confidence Assessment was designed to support leaders in strengthening their capacity to navigate transformation. It reflects where you are currently resourced, and where you may feel under-supported, across all four domains of the Change Maker’s Spindle.

Here is how working with the assessment can help:

1. Awareness Builds Choice: You cannot shift what you cannot see. The assessment surfaces patterns, like where confidence drops in emotionally charged moments or where your conceptual framework needs strengthening.

2. Naming Reduces Shame: Losing confidence in the middle of change does not mean you are failing. It means you are human. The assessment helps normalize the disorientation and invites compassion rather than judgment.

3. Integration Supports Alignment: By reflecting on the interplay between body, mind, heart and purpose, you begin to build internal alignment. Confidence becomes less dependent on control and more rooted in coherence.

“You do not need to know precisely what is happening… What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope.”

—Thomas Merton

A Confidence of a Different Kind

Change confidence is not the absence of fear or doubt. It is the ability to stay in relationship with what is unfolding, even when clarity is incomplete. It allows you to move through, relate to others and lead change, not because you are unshaken, but because you are willing to stay present.

It is what allows a leader to say, “I don’t know yet, but I’m here for it.”

Change confidence is not a mask. It is not a role. It is an inner alignment that holds steady, even when the world around you is shifting.

Learn more about Change Confidence, the Change Maker's Spindle and take the new Change Confidence Assessment in our upcoming workshop, Stepping Into Your Transformational Agency (SITA).

If you would like to bring this workshop to your organization, or if you would like to engage our consulting services, contact us at [email protected].