This is a continuation of the chapter From Experience to Transformations, focused on the Delta Model. Part One introduced the model and talked about how in the middle segment one creates true transformation offerings from experiences, focused on the economic distinctions between the two.
That seemed like a good opportunity to bring up what I’m now calling “quasi-transformations”, experiences where people say or felt transformed, but weren’t really, for they aren’t sustained through time. This thinking originated with my conundrum in the spring about which of two frameworks for different types of transformations I should use, which I wrote about in the post Types of Transformative Experiences. The feedback on which of the two were better led me to believe that neither were good enough, which in fact led to the Delta Model! I wrote about how that all came about here, including a video on it.
But something I loved about one of the models was the notion of transient or provisional experiences, and those are now what I’m calling quasi-transformations. I’m not sure if it will make the final cut for the book, but if I did, the Delta Model chapter seems like the right spot. I’m currently planning on this being a “box” set apart from the chapter itself.
Perhaps your feedback will help me determine it! And while normally only paid subscribers get to offer feedback, this post is open to everyone, so do let me know what you think via the link at the bottom. (And feel free to put your email address in there for potential responses, but do not feel obligated to do so.)
Joe
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Quasi-Transformations
As part of my research into experiences & transformations, I have been fortunate to work with founder Dave Norton and his colleagues at the insights consultancy Stone Mantel on their annual program The Collaborative. The school-year-long Collaborative pools the time and resources of many people from various businesses to do direct customer research, qualitative and quantitative, and then guides participant companies in designing and validating new experience and transformation strategies.
One of the intriguing results from the research in the 2022-3 Collaborative was that many people said they were transformed after experiences in which they also said that afterward they did not really see differently nor do differently. My immediate thought when encountering the data was “They weren’t transformed at all.” And after thinking about it, I still think that the case; the result of their various experiences was not effectual, or if they were changed it certainly wasn’t sustained through time. But nonetheless, they said they were.
Fortunately, this is not the first time I’ve come across this type of situation where something didn’t make sense to me, and I’ve learned not to dismiss what people say or feel out of hand. Many research participants felt they underwent a temporary, transient, or provisional “transformation”, a change that happened to them for some length of time (morning, day, week, maybe a month), but then they went back to normal, without much of a long-term change, if any, in how they saw the world or did things differently in their lives.
Many research participants felt they underwent a temporary, transient, or provisional “transformation”
I think it’s quite common actually. Some of this could be like those who go to Burning Man or other transporting experiences who felt changed, often profoundly, but went back home and, without proper reflection and integration, let the changes dissipate.
Let’s call them “quasi-transformations” and recognize that there are many situations where people actually desire impermanent change. Live action role-playing (LARPing), costume play (cosplay), and alternate reality games (ARGs) all count here, where for a time people turn into a completely different person/animal/alien/being, and then take off their costume and their persona, stop acting, and become their normal selves again. Sports fantasy camps, war reenactments, and living history groups offer similar opportunities. As does any kind of game – physical, video, or virtual – as varied as shortstop for the New York Yankees, alien predator, western sheriff, or a thimble trying to get a monopoly of houses and hotels.
People also provisionally try out new careers through offerings such as VocationVacations, where customers take a vacation from work to work for companies such as microbreweries or bed-and-breakfasts for a week.[i] Vacations in fact may offer the best opportunities for this. People want to get away, and sometimes to be away, to see new sights, to do new activities, even to try out new ways of being without any expectations of lasting change.
I remember one vacation in southern California when we took our two girls to LEGOLAND in Carlsbad. Their absolute favorite experience was the LEGOLAND Driving School, where after driving small cars around they each received an “Official Driver’s License” (although their mom and I cannot say they came close to deserving it). They became “official drivers”, at least for the day and, since I brought them there, I also became a hero in their very excited eyes. (That didn’t last either.)
“aspiration” doesn’t fit for quasi-transformations
Consumers also enter many weight-loss and fitness programs seeking only temporary change. People may have a desire – “aspiration” doesn’t fit for quasi-transformations – such as “I want to fit in the swimsuit I wore last summer” with no intention of it lasting through fall. Cosmetic changes also fit the bill, such as Botox, dental whitening, tanning booths, makeovers, and procedures such as that of Glo2Facial, which as we saw in the last chapter exemplifies the Hero’s Journey, with both company and client knowing fully it that maintaining a “glowing face” will mean undergoing the procedure again in six weeks or so.
Cultural anthropologist Grant McCracken writes of four epochs of transformation in his book Transformations: Identity Construction in Contemporary Culture, and the last one – postmodern transformations – is filled with quasi-transformations. He documents how people perform temporary “changes” all the time, through fashion, status markers, games, sports, and many other means. As McCracken writes, “We are [quasi-]transformational for the sheer, entirely evanescent pleasure of being someone else for a moment.”[ii]
There are plenty of quasi-transformations that your company can value as an offering in and of itself
There are plenty of such quasi-transformations you can value as a consumer – and that your company can value as an offering in and of itself, even when you also offer true transformations. Just be sure not to promote or sell something as transformative when it is not, or very likely will not be. If you already have such offerings, consider how you could turn them into transformations by encapsulating preparation, reflection, and integration into them, and then add in follow-through (just as the lack of doing so can so often turn a hoped-for transformation into something temporary).
You can also use quasi-transformations, whether you sell them today or not, to lead into full transformations, which seems especially true in places such as transformational travel, weight loss, and fitness. Many virtual reality experiences also let you “try out” what it’s like to be someone (sometimes something) else. People use VR to try to recover from PTSD, a fear of flying, and other such issues, where they first experience situations in which they meet challenges and overcome obstacles virtually, and provisionally. They can then take those experiences into the real world to fully transform how they see and react to these situations, which can turn into a full transformation.
What could you do to take advantage of the very human desire for temporary change?
Joe Pine
© 2024 B. Joseph Pine II
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[i] The company later pivoted to become PivotPlanet, which now only gives out advice from experts in the various fields.
[ii] Grant McCracken, Transformations: Identity Construction in Contemporary Culture (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2008), p. 273.