What Is a Transformative Experience?
How transformative experiences work, and how leaders, educators, and organizations can design them on purpose.
Think of the experience that changed you most. Perhaps it was becoming a parent, a mentor who saw something in you before you saw it yourself, a crisis you came through, or a journey that left you different from when you set out. Experiences like these shape who we are. And research shows they follow a pattern that we can understand, and even design.
The Definition
A transformative experience is a learning experience that has an identity impact, changing our sense of who we are or who we aspire to become.
That definition comes from more than 25 years of research by social scientist Brad McLain, PhD, author of Designing Transformative Experiences. What sets transformative experiences apart from other memorable moments is the identity piece. An extraordinary experience may be unforgettable. A transformative one changes how you see yourself, and its effects ripple through many areas of life, often growing stronger over time.
How do transformative experiences work?
Across hundreds of transformative experiences, McLain’s research finds the same three-part sequence, which forms the ELVIS Framework (Experiential Learning Variables & Indicators System):
1. A discomfort zone experience. Transformative experiences don’t happen in our comfort zones. They involve some kind of risk or vulnerability: physical, emotional, intellectual, or social.
2. Narrative translation. We make sense of experiences by turning them into stories. Our most powerful experiences become our most important stories.
3. Identity impact. When those stories become part of how we understand ourselves, the experience changes our sense of self. That is what makes it transformative.
Do transformative experiences happen to us, or are they created by us?
Transformative experiences do not happen to us. They are created by us, whether we realize it or not. People often describe their most transformative experiences as things that happened to them. But the meaning they make, how fully they engage, and how they change ultimately come from within. The external events are the doorway. We walk through it ourselves.
Transformative experiences are also life invitations, often in disguise. They invite us into a new way of engaging with the world, or a new view of ourselves and our possibility spaces in life. And because their source is internal, they are subjective: what transforms one person may not transform another.
What makes an experience transformative?
McLain’s research identifies seven design elements, known as the ELVIS 7, that show up again and again in transformative experiences:
Risk: facing real uncertainty or vulnerability.
Control: shifting choice and ownership to the person having the experience.
Immersion: full sensory and imaginative engagement.
Social and emotional involvement: connection with others, and sometimes meaningful solitude.
Intellectual challenge: curiosity and problem solving.
Identity matters: connecting the experience to who people are.
Meaning making: helping people make personal sense of what they lived through.
Why do transformative experiences take time?
The deepest part of a transformative experience often happens after it’s over. McLain calls this “bake time”: the weeks, months, or years it can take to make meaning of what happened. That’s why the stories we tell about our most important experiences often change as we get older, and why designers need to support reflection afterward, not just the event itself.
Can you design a transformative experience?
You can’t force someone to transform, because transformation ultimately comes from within. But you can design experiences with a high likelihood of transformation. As the designer, you create the doorway, the room, and the invitation. Experience Design Leadership is the approach that teaches leaders, educators, and other experience designers to do this deliberately, using the ELVIS Framework and its seven design elements.
Examples of transformative experiences at work and in learning
A team that comes through an AI transition with a new, shared story about what it contributes.
A new employee whose onboarding helps them see themselves as belonging in the organization.
A student or teacher whose expedition or research experience changes how they see themselves as a scientist.
A leader whose stretch assignment, failure, or mentor reshapes how they understand their role.
How is this different from the philosophy of transformative experience?
Philosopher L.A. Paul has explored transformative experiences as life choices, such as becoming a parent, that are hard to evaluate in advance because they change who we are. Brad McLain’s work focuses on the practical side: the psychology of how these experiences unfold, and how leaders and educators can design them.
Where can I learn more?
Designing Transformative Experiences: A Toolkit for Leaders, Trainers, Teachers, and Other Experience Designers (Berrett-Koehler, 2023) presents the full research, the ELVIS Framework, and practical design tools. Brad McLain also offers keynotes, workshops, and consulting on designing transformative experiences.
About the Author
Brad McLain, PhD, is a social scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder who studies the psychology of transformative experiences, identity, and leadership. He is the author of Designing Transformative Experiences and creator of the ELVIS Framework and Experience Design Leadership.