Change is Easy; It's the Transition That Will Kill You!

I am attending the Equipping Institute at Group Publishing this week in Loveland, CO. Change was the topic of one of the sessons today. Needless to say, most churches can be labeled “change resistent,” and many church leaders struggle to successfully lead their congregations through meaningful change.

The cause of resistance to change within a church can be one or more of several things:

• Tradition

• Culture

• Bottom Line (out of touch with true mission, e.g. bingo vs. discipleship)

• Layperson Influence (many voices speaking into the decision-making process)

• Comfort

Mastering Transitions

One of the Aha moments for me today was this statement by William Bridges: “It isn’t the changes that do you in, it’s the transitions. Transitions get messy. The perception or reality is that people must give up something to move on to the next new thing.”

In his book, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, Bridges highlights three stages of transitions. Understanding these stages will help you successfully navigate change within your organization.

Letting Go — the beginning of the realization that there will be a loss. This is when change is communicated early and people begin to think and talk about how an upcoming change will impact them.

Some tips to help people let go:

• Communicate. Talk openly, early, and frequently about the change.

• Acknowledge feelings. These could range from anger, joy, sadness to even a sense of loss or grief.

• Honor and value the past. The new does not need to be at the expense of the past. You may have people in your church who invested a lot of time and money in something that you are now proposing be done away with. A quote from Andy Stanley is very appropriate: “Remember, whatever you are trying to change was at one point someone’s good idea.”

The Neutral Zone—the “nowhere between two somewheres.” In the midst of transition, there are many challenges, some expected, some unexpected. It is common at this stage for people to long for the past when everything was safe, known, and worked. This can also be a time of high creativity and productivity.

Some tips to help people navigate The Neutral Zone:

• Communicate. Explain and help people understand where you are heading.

• Don’t rush the process. People navigate change at different speeds and comfort levels.

• Celebrate and share God sightings.

New Beginnings—the new normal. This stage has nothing to do with a start date, and you really can’t place an end date on it. It is at this stage in the transition when people accept and embrace the change. For example, you can live in a house for several months before it feels like home.

Tips to help manage the new normal:

• Communicate.

• Be consistent.

• Celebrate and share God sightings.

• Symbolize the new beginning. (This is essentially creating memorial markers. We do this by intentionally leading our congregation in activities that will help them to begin creating new memories now that change has happened. For example, when I was with Grace Church, we brought our church family into our new worship center while it was under construction. We gave everyone a Sharpie market and had them write a Bible verse on the concrete floor of the worship center. While this was happening, we took pictures. Today, 12-years later, if you tore up the carpet, you would find several hundred Bible verses scribbled on the floor and the names of people who were with us in 2001.)

How do you help people master the transitions of change?