While
managers simply seek to tweak existing processes, leaders seek to replace old
wineskins with new ones as Jesus said.That’s what makes leadership dangerous.People love to cling to their old wineskins — which isn’t to
say to love them—they just love clinging to them.Prying their fingers loose is dangerous, so most of us
settle for managing what’s in their hand, rather than leading them to something
new.
After
all, leaders take the arrows in the back, the barbs to the side, and run into
the walls built in front of them—all designed to stop change and preserve the
status quo.It’s a settled law of
leadership that people resist change.
But,
like most things that are settled, it may not be as settled as we thought.If people resist change so much, why do
they engage in activities that radically change their lives?What two events bring the most
transformation to a life?Marriage
and having children.These two
events change our lives more than anything else that we do, yet we continue to
get married and have children.We
volunteer for life changing events.Doesn’t that seem strange for people so resistant to change?
Further,
we adapt and even demand new technology.I have never considered myself a techno-geek, but the other day I
unloaded my briefcase and found:a
laptop, a smart phone, a blue tooth, a portable mp3 player, and a gps
device.Not bad for someone who
isn’t really a tech-savvy guy!And, think about all the change we’ve embraced to own each of these
devices.Every time Apple offers a
new device, they fly off the shelf.So, maybe we aren’t as resistant to change as we think.
As
with most issues, the truth is in the tension.People do resist change often because change isn’t proffered
in appealing ways.In the book Switch:How to Change Things When Change is Hard, authors Chip
and Dan Heath explode three myths about change that when believed push people
to resist rather than embrace change.
As
you coach your team through change, it is important to understand that people
are paradoxical—they resist and embrace change.They are schizophrenic when it comes to change.So, it’s important for the leader to make
choices based on truth, not myth as they coach the team through change.
MYTH 1:PEOPLE ALWAYS RESIST CHANGE
According
to Switch, what looks like resistance
is often a lack of clarity.As
leaders, we often settle for suggesting the change in the broadest terms,
rather than indicating simple steps to be taken for the change to happen.Or, if we do introduce the change
beyond broad terms, we overcomplicate it with too many details that overlap and
confuse the issue rather than bring clarity to it.
The
church I am privileged to lead is a multi-ethnic, multi-generational church of
diverse economic income.One of
our primary aims is to demonstrate reconciliation—but it’s not just enough to
tell the pastoral staff and volunteer leaders to demonstrate
reconciliation—there’s not enough clarity to that edict.One pastor might demonstrate
reconciliation by having a foot-washing service for people from different
groups, while another might institute a strict quota system to make sure all
groups are represented on the leadership team of that ministry.
Most
likely, nothing would happen.Why
not?Because the team was faced
with too much fuzziness and not enough clarity.They were given a change order with no clarity.In fact, they were faced with too many
choices.And, when we are faced with
too many choices, we revert to the status quo.
Think
about the neighborhood store with 31 or more different flavors.How many times have you ventured
outside of your favorites?If
you’re like most people, you don’t often reach beyond some type of chocolate or
vanilla.When we’re presented with
so many options, we get uncomfortable.Should we go with this one, or that one, or the one over there?And so, what do we do?Nothing.
As
the leader, we often view that as resistance when it’s really a lack of
clarity.
In
our case, we developed seven core convictions for a multi-ethnic,
multi-generational church of diverse income and talked with each pastoral staff
member and other leaders about how these core convictions could be implemented
in their ministries in order to demonstrate reconciliation.That clarity broke down the walls of
resistance.
MYTH 2:PEOPLE RESIST CHANGE BECAUSE THEY ARE LAZY
Again,
Chip and Dan Heath make a different assertion in their book.Instead of assuming your team is lazy
when they resist change, you might consider that what looks like laziness is
often exhaustion.Change takes
effort.
Most
leaders recognize they only have so much change
in their pockets. By that, it is understood that there is not an unlimited
supply of change that a leader can initiate in an organization.It is tempered by past success, the
trust level of the people, the current morale of the organization, and number
of other complicated factors.Wise
leaders understand how much change is
in their pocket and never overspend.
What
most leaders fail to recognize is that there is only so much change in the team members’ pockets, as
well.While leaders have the
ability to initiate only so much change, followers have the ability to implement
only so much change.Wise leaders
understand they may have left over change because the team members are
suffering from change overload.
Think
of it like this.Most of your day
is spent on auto-pilot.You don’t
think about getting ready for work in the morning. You just do it.You don’t think about driving the kids to school.You just do it.How many times have you found yourself
on the way to the school with no kids in the car?You were on auto-pilot heading in the direction you normally
travel.
That’s
how we live much of our lives—until we are asked to change.Then, we have to exert
energy—emotional, mental, and spiritual energy.And, our team members only have so much of it.When we exhaust their energy by
initiating too much change at once, we often interpret it as laziness on their
part when in fact we may simply be moving too much change too quickly.
MYTH 3:PROBLEMS WITH CHANGE ARE ALWAYS PEOPLE PROBLEMS
In
fact, many problems with change have nothing to do with people.They have everything to do with broken
systems and busted processes.The
reality is that we don’t always make the path of change clear for our teams to
follow.We tell them to change,
but we leave the path cluttered and filled with obstacles.
Often
church leaders bemoan the number of people who sign up for ministries or
volunteer opportunities.One
church I’m familiar with advertised for ministry opportunities in the bulletin
and during the video announcements, but saw little results in the number of
people who signed up.
What
was wrong?Did their people lack
commitment?Were their
advertisements not appealing?Was
there a need for new pastors to lead those ministries?Was a wholesale cultural change
necessary?
The
answer?None of the above.
What
was needed was a clear path.At
the end of each announcement or video, the congregation was given an extension
to call.For more information,
call extension 222.Not
surprisingly, no one called.They
might have been interested, but they had to leave the service, go home, wait until
the church office was open and make a phone call the next day.Between Sunday morning and Monday
morning, the world revolves a full revolution and so do people’s lives.
That
church didn’t have a people problem, they had a path problem.
And,
the solution was simple.They
inserted a connection card in the worship folder.Now, to respond to an announcement, the congregation may
sign up on a connection card and drop it in the offering.They don’t have to wait, remember an
extension, or even go to the lobby.Sign ups have exploded.
The
leader could have harangued the team or the church for their lack of
commitment, preached a series on getting involved, or cleared the path of
obstacles.It wasn’t a people
problem, it was a path problem.
As
you coach your team through change, the assumptions you make are
important.Yes, change is
hard.And, that makes leadership
dangerous.But, your assumptions
may exacerbate the change process, rather than enable it.As you begin to initiate change, it
might be good to embrace these three assumptions and correlating actions:
1.What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity,
so provide crystal clear direction.
2.What looks like laziness is often exhaustion, so be
sure to measure the amount of change in your pocket, as well as your team’s.
3.What looks like a people problem is often a situation
problem, so be sure to unclutter the path for your team to travel.
