Taking Church Through Change
Having attempted to bring change to our last parish, and found some people eventually unwilling to tough it out and keep moving with us, I find myself trying to find out how it could have been done better. The issue of change resistance is not necessarily about poor goal setting, but rather about process management. In the book "The Call to the Soul" by Marjory Zoet Bankson there is a delightful piece looking at the inside of those faced with change, "In truth, a new call terrifies me." she says. "When I get a sense of a new call, I harbour a wish to fit it in with what I am already doing. But I cannot because my life is already over full, and I do not want the work of shifting my priorities to make space for the unknown. I deny my failure to acknowledge a new call and keep this secret urge to myself, without naming it. I do not know what to say. I "forget" to speak about it with friends. Thoughts tumble and refuse to stay ordered. I behaved like a shock victim because I am afraid of change, am addicted to my comforts, and like the patterns or I have constructed to keep anxiety that day. I cannot get my mind around the new input, so I hang on to the patterns that have kept me going and hide behind my busy and is like a child: "I can't... I'm too busy... If only people knew what I've been through...I resist and only notice when things begin to fall apart or fail."
Bankson's inner view of the soul and its coping mechanism fortifies the exterior view of Peter Bregman' blog "How to Counter Resistance to Change." He says, "The job of a leader or manager (and these days who isn't a leader or a manager in one form or another?) is simple: to influence people. And there's one defining idea we have in our heads that makes that job harder. We believe that people resist change. So we do all sorts of things to counter that resistance. We try to motivate or coerce people to change. But instead of breaking through resistance, we create it. People resist being controlled. This is why 70% of corporate change fails..." Then Bergman says what's interesting is, "People freely choose to make major life changes every day. We move, get married, start families, face challenges, learn new technologies, change jobs, and develop new skills. Not all of these changes are smooth. But most of the time we seek those changes ourselves and make them successfully. So why are people willing to change in one situation and resistant to it in another?" The reason is he says, "because people don't resist change, they resist being changed."
My own experience was of individuals keen to have the change fully implemented without knowing the effect it might cause them personally to those who freeze with terror over its personal cost. Some want the new while others grip the old extremely tightly. The change isn't necessarily the problem but rather being told they have to be part of it. Bankson reveals the inner conflict and the war going on in the mind, that it's really about conflict between individuals and in that context Bregman suggests three steps to overcome this resistance: 1) define the outcome you want, 2) suggest a path to achieve it, 3) allow people to reject your path as long as they choose an alternate route to the same destination.
I must freely admit I have never liked being told I must do something or other and especially if there is an urgency attached to it. For one thing I'm usually involved in something else at the time and need time to chew the cud, to cogitate the notion until the time is right for me. Unfortunately the buy in for some is 100% who don't understand why they must wait, but the buyin is just 5% for others and the group must therefore move slowly if all are to go together. However a few just wont go there and though they start well you turn around and find them talking the rest of the group into inaction. This for a leader is very difficult place to be and to turn around. Oh for the wisdom of Solomon at times like this!
The Lord can take us the easy way in a very short time if we can bring ourselves to bend to His wisdom and obey or we can go the long way over an extended period but the generation resisting the Lord's change may have to all die off to allow the group to move ahead, hence the saying, "Over my dead body!" The nation of Israel spent forty years in the wilderness because they were afraid of change - time enough for all the resistant to pass away. Change happens every day; it is part and parcel of life and it can't be avoided. Christchurch knows about change and the emotional stress of such sudden processes. The people have no choice but to go with it and for better or worse they do.
Bankson's inner view of the soul and its coping mechanism fortifies the exterior view of Peter Bregman' blog "How to Counter Resistance to Change." He says, "The job of a leader or manager (and these days who isn't a leader or a manager in one form or another?) is simple: to influence people. And there's one defining idea we have in our heads that makes that job harder. We believe that people resist change. So we do all sorts of things to counter that resistance. We try to motivate or coerce people to change. But instead of breaking through resistance, we create it. People resist being controlled. This is why 70% of corporate change fails..." Then Bergman says what's interesting is, "People freely choose to make major life changes every day. We move, get married, start families, face challenges, learn new technologies, change jobs, and develop new skills. Not all of these changes are smooth. But most of the time we seek those changes ourselves and make them successfully. So why are people willing to change in one situation and resistant to it in another?" The reason is he says, "because people don't resist change, they resist being changed."
My own experience was of individuals keen to have the change fully implemented without knowing the effect it might cause them personally to those who freeze with terror over its personal cost. Some want the new while others grip the old extremely tightly. The change isn't necessarily the problem but rather being told they have to be part of it. Bankson reveals the inner conflict and the war going on in the mind, that it's really about conflict between individuals and in that context Bregman suggests three steps to overcome this resistance: 1) define the outcome you want, 2) suggest a path to achieve it, 3) allow people to reject your path as long as they choose an alternate route to the same destination.
I must freely admit I have never liked being told I must do something or other and especially if there is an urgency attached to it. For one thing I'm usually involved in something else at the time and need time to chew the cud, to cogitate the notion until the time is right for me. Unfortunately the buy in for some is 100% who don't understand why they must wait, but the buyin is just 5% for others and the group must therefore move slowly if all are to go together. However a few just wont go there and though they start well you turn around and find them talking the rest of the group into inaction. This for a leader is very difficult place to be and to turn around. Oh for the wisdom of Solomon at times like this!
The Lord can take us the easy way in a very short time if we can bring ourselves to bend to His wisdom and obey or we can go the long way over an extended period but the generation resisting the Lord's change may have to all die off to allow the group to move ahead, hence the saying, "Over my dead body!" The nation of Israel spent forty years in the wilderness because they were afraid of change - time enough for all the resistant to pass away. Change happens every day; it is part and parcel of life and it can't be avoided. Christchurch knows about change and the emotional stress of such sudden processes. The people have no choice but to go with it and for better or worse they do.
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Bob