Today's article is only 840 words with pictures! Short enough to click through in 2 minutes.
Consider the following diagram:
The vertical axis represents how large a change is being proposed. The horizontal axis represents how many people are impacted by the change.
(One of these days I am going to run a series of webinars on Dave’s Diagrams for Diagnosis, Discussion, and Decision. Who’s in?)
Visionary leaders love casting vision. In a new congregation, vision casting can move a system quickly.
But after a congregation is well-established, or it’s a legacy congregation situation, or a successor leader to one who led a long season of growth comes in, vision casing for significant change must be accompanied by deep work.
What do I mean?
In working with visionary leaders, most often Senior/Lead Pastors, of larger churches, there is the unstated belief:
“If I preach enough on it, in an inspirational way…and talk about it enough, people will catch on and begin to follow it.”
Or:
“We decided this at the Senior Team level, and I have cast vision for it; now everyone will either get on board or get off the bus.”
Large scale change, including rollouts of:
Big New plans…
New programs that impact a lot of people…..
New or altered worship services…
How our board will change in composition or direction…
How our compensation policy will change…
How our multisite approach will change…
Where residents and interns are utilized…
How our volunteer recruitment, screening, and deployment will change…
And dozens of other types of changes impact broad strata of the staff and church.
Vision casters think casting vision mainly happens through:
Worship experience announcements…
Staff meetings where changes are announced…
Larger gatherings and large group settings…
But my experience is that we have to work deeper and personally to get an actual, profound change when proposing initiatives like the above.
“But the staff keep hearing rumors about upcoming changes, and we felt we needed to tell them early on,” is a story I hear as well. But often, communicating significant changes to a large group of impacted staff will lead to more resistance than is necessary.
Moving too quickly into the more extensive system will not produce the intended impact.
There is a statement in Nascar auto racing, “Go slow to go fast.” It describes certain tracks where a wise driver must learn to brake into a corner to carry more momentum out of the corner. For a drive that is used to running “hammer down” all the time, this is a huge mental challenge.
Fundamental changes and curves in our experience are better handled by braking into the corner to accelerate out. Go slow in, to go fast out.
To do that, consider a campaign of communications through one-on-one or small team sessions where the change leaders, most often the lead pastor and/or executive pastor, explain several details about the proposed change.
These discussions are usually after a team assigned to work through 85% of the changes has done its work. That could be a small team or a large team. Cultural conditions and decision structures in your congregation will determine that.
Lessons after the advert.
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Article continues now…..
And consider whether this is just a change for the staff, the staff+key volunteers, or the whole system.
First – “Here is why we are considering this.”Start with the why.
Second – “These were some other options that we explored”—perhaps listing some of the pros and cons of each option.
Third – “Here is why we are thinking of doing it this way.” Explain the favored option right now where we are headed.
Fourth – “Here is where you can help us – what are we missing? What are your questions? What is clear and unclear about this?” The change leader is not asking for their approval, assent, or agreement. They are asking for help with the direction currently chosen.
Fifth – Ask: “As you think about the rest of the team or congregation – where do you feel the obstacles will be? What are your ideas about overcoming them?” My experience is that this yields some invaluable insight into helping speed the change.
These conversations help refine a plan and gain some valuable tweaks that help get plans from 85% stage to 95% stage.
The feedback will also help a vision casting leader know how to adjust the framing and explanation of the change to help the broader system understand and engage in the new direction.
Some call this “Front Channel and Back Channel” process work, or front stage and backstage work. You must manage both channels to be a successful change leader.
Often, I advise change leadership teams to run these exercises with small groups of high-impact volunteers, and team leaders who don’t live daily in the church staff bubble. Often leaders discover more resistance in staff than in congregants.
But this step also prevents misfires and changes AFTER large group announcements where we have to rework the changes.
There is nothing wrong with reworking a change or having a failed launch. These failures can still work.
But valuable time and momentum are often lost. Save time and energy by doing it properly the first time.
P.S. – Yes, I am a NASCAR fan. “Boogity, Boogity, Boogity, let’s go racin.”
This week on the podcast: GREAT THINGS GOD HAS DONE.
Beth Nelson - Prarie Heights Church in Fargo, ND.
From regular attender to pastor of one of the largest congregations in the region. Hear how God has worked through her young life to lead this dynamic congregation.
Listen in here and to all the past episodes.
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