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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdpt0IHN_wc

Carey (with more hair) is a church leader I've been appreciating as a leader who is embracing changes and trends. As far as I can tell he stays faithful while staying relevant.

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Carey Nieuwhof on Leading Your Church Through Change

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True Story of Overcoming Church Resistance to Change

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True Story of Overcoming Church Resistance to Change

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"This case study has told the story of one church that overcame the deep-seated resistance to change found in most congregations."

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https://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement?language=en
A hilarious short cheeky moment and how early followers create critical mass.

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With help from some surprising footage, Derek Sivers explains how movements really get started. (Hint: it takes two.)

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Personal Habits Toward Lasting Deep Change

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Personal Habits Toward Lasting Deep Change

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LORdAns2lDY

All 3 parts were impactful for me this year. Honing in on claiming new identity. "I am a man of prayer, so I follow through on this new prayer habit."

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High-Impact Habits for Successful Leaders - Part 1

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https://www.ted.com/read/ted-books/ted-books-library/beyond-measure

"Beyond Measure reveals how organizations can make huge changes with surprisingly small steps..."

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In this wise and witty guide to creating strong company culture, business leader Margaret Heffernan lays the groundwork for a new kind of thinking: Organizations can create seismic shifts by making deceptively small changes.

Far beyond a prescriptive list, this book spills over with fascinating anecdotes from organizations around the world. Heffernan reveals the surprisingly small changes any organization can make: how to empower every person as a leader: how to open channels as a real, active listening; the important of cutting back hours (and also leaning into crunch time); why leaving the office does wonders for your working brain; how conflict works as an essential tool for creative thinking; why companies that actively solicit involvement beyond their walls are so much more effective; how simple activities strengthen social capital between workers.

Packed with compelling stories and startling statistics, Heffernan takes readers on a tour across the globe. Drawing from her years of experience as a business leader and ultimately proving that it's often the small changes that make the greatest, most lasting impact.

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In this wise and witty guide to creating strong company culture, business leader Margaret Heffernan lays the groundwork for a new kind of thinking: Organizations can create seismic shifts by making deceptively small changes. Far beyond a prescriptive list, this book spills over with fascinating anecdotes from organizations around the world.

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7 Questions to ask yourself when you're resisting change.

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7 Questions to ask yourself when you're resisting change.

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Sometimes the person most resistant to change is you. Here are some helpful questions to move you forward.

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As a leader, you probably think your people are the biggest obstacle to change in your church or organization.

Ready for a surprise?

Sometimes the biggest obstacle to change is you. And the longer you've led, the more that's true.

Why?

Two reasons.

First, you've led for a while, which means you've settled into patterns and ways of doing things that feel comfortable. And that makes it harder to change.

Second, you may have had success doing what you've done in the past. I realize these days, given several years of crisis, that success may not be what it once was. But at least you knew you could do it.

Success is wonderful, but it also makes you conservative - less willing to take risks and adapt. The more you have, the less you're willing to lose.

That's true in money and possessions. It's also true in leadership and growth. Nobody wants to roll backward.

Currently, we're preparing for some of the biggest changes in our company since we started it a few years ago.

Over the next few months, we'll be rolling out not just a brand new podcast network, revamped website, app, and brand, we'll be changing our entire business model. Hopefully to serve leaders even better (I think you're going to love what's coming).

But, to my surprise, I found myself resisting some of the change and a few ideas my team was generating.

It was surprising to me because I literally wrote a book about change. Yeesh.

What's going on? I asked myself.

I ended up embracing the change (with enthusiasm), and generating ideas of my own to help advance it, but in the process, I uncovered some questions to ask yourself when you're leading change.

Once you answer these questions, you can see past any smokescreen between you and the future. And then you'll be free to seize the opportunities in front of you.

1. Why am I saying no?

It's one thing to say no. It's another thing to figure out why you said it.

In redesigning our website, we'll be turning off our post-share counter and comments. I really resisted these changes.

Some of my posts have been shared tens of thousands of times, and it's a signal to a reader that the content is popular. I also resisted turning comments off my posts.

But the team had a point: Privacy changes over the last year or so by Google, Facebook, and Apple have made tracking new posts far less reliable, and the plugins we use to track shares create other problems on our website. In addition, because of all these changes over the last year, almost all the share counting has been inaccurately low. And, how people share content has changed.

Understanding all of that was true, I'd still look at posts like the one below with 25K shares and 1600 comments and think, "Why can't we just get back to the way it was?"

Then I realized I was starting to sound as old as the two or three decades in age that separate me and most of my team.

It took some more team discussion, but I finally realized why I was resisting these changes: I use the number of shares, the post traffic, and the comments to help me (and the team) figure out what's resonating, what's not, and what the leaders we serve are thinking.

I didn't realize that until the third round of discussion on this, but once I did, everything clicked - for the team and myself.

While we don't know how to fix the share issue (so that's going to disappear), we're going to move comments to a much better forum where I can continue to monitor what people are talking about and participate in the discussion in a more meaningful way.

In addition, we're going to set up some custom Google Analytics reports to track what's resonating and what's not so we can figure out how to better serve our audience with future content.

Problem solved.

Once you know why you're resisting change, you can stop resisting it.

And, of course, if there's a good reason not to change, you've just unearthed it.

2. What am I holding onto?

Usually, if you're resisting change, you'll realize you're hanging onto two things: past success and what you know.

It's easy to get into headspace where you think you've mastered something because you had to work your way from the ground up. You know this better than anyone and you've been successful with it in the past.

There's a grain of truth in that of course. Maybe a few grains.

But what you miss is that clinging onto past success will ruin your future.

You end up being the person still trying to sell CDs in the age of streaming, or trying to get your audience to come to you so you can fill up a building, rather than going to them so you can meet them where they're at.

If you're holding onto the past, you won't have much of a future.

3. Why am I not listening to X?

At some point in the process of change, you'll likely start to tune out or dismiss certain voices.

I agree that you should tune out toxic people, but I assume you're wise enough to not have hired toxic people, put them on your board or made them part of your inner circle. So that's not really the issue when leading change.

No, the challenge will be that you stop listening to people who disagree with you. And one sign of a healthy team culture is that people feel free to disagree, not on the mission but for sure on the methods.

When you find yourself tuning out a team member, ask yourself why.

Chances are it's because you don't understand his/her position well enough. And if they can't articulate exactly why, it's your job to help them do it.

One of the best strategies for that is to ask them why 3-5 times (in a row). Not accusingly at all, but genuinely and out of curiosity, keep asking why.

When you get layers deep into the reasoning, one of two things will happen.

They'll realize they don't have a great position, or you'll realize you don't.

And in both cases, that's a win and you can move forward.

The alternative, of course, is that if you keep tuning certain people out, they'll either stop talking or they'll leave.

And the long-term consequences of that are staggeringly bad.

As Andy Stanley says, leaders who refuse to listen will eventually be surrounded by people with nothing to say.

4. Am I focused on who I want to reach or who I want to keep?
Focus on who you want to reach, not who you want to keep.
This is another piercing principle I learned from Andy Stanley, Reggie Joiner, and Lane Jones a number of years ago.

The more people you've reached, the harder this one gets.

When you've had a lot of momentum in the past, it's far easier to look back than it is to look ahead.

Which explains, in part, why so many church leaders are still focused on getting everyone they can back into the building. They remember a day (c.2019) when the room was full or fuller. Of course, 2019 is dead, and we're not heading back to the pre-pandemic world, but into a post-pandemic era that has changed so much.

You can focus on who you want to reach, or who you want to keep, but not both.

In fact, if you start reaching more people, some of those people you were so focused on trying to keep will shuffle back in. They'll be attracted by a renewed mission.

5. Is this really 'wisdom' and 'prudence' speaking, or am I just afraid?

I've heard so many leaders resist progress in the name of being 'wise' or 'prudent.'

Wisdom and prudence can be great things, but the smarter leader looks beneath the justifications and asks a deeper question: Am I just afraid?

And often the answer to that question is 'Yes'-yes you're afraid.

And that makes you human. People are always afraid of the unknown. And the future is unknown.

But ask yourself this: would you rather be afraid of change, or would you rather be afraid of never fully accomplishing the mission?

6. What's the alternative?

Another great question to ask yourself when you find yourself resisting change is "What's the alternative?"

The answer, much of the time, is more of the same.

And inevitably, more of the same morphs into slow, steady decline.

Every leader and every organization has a life cycle that has, at most, about a 10-year run before it heads into stagnation and decline, unless, of course, you disrupt yourself and reinvent everything. (Here's my theory on leadership and the 10-year run).

If you don't like where 'more of the same' is heading, change.

[ss_click_to_tweet tweet="If you don't like where 'more of the same' is heading, change." content="If you don't like where 'more of the same' is heading, change." style="default"]

7. Why have I stopped risking?

Remember all the risks you took when you were younger?

What happened?

Easy...now you have something to lose. And as we've already said, success makes you conservative.

So ask yourself, "Why have I stopped risking?"

Change is risky. Staying the same is even riskier.

So Change

So, we're going ahead with a lot of big changes here at careynieuwhof.com. Stay tuned. It's going to be a ride, and my hope is you'll be so much better served.

That's the goal, right?

So what do you need to change?

Now, you not only know what to do, you know why you'll do it.

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7 Questions You Should Ask Yourself When You're Resisting Change

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As a leader, you probably think your people are the biggest obstacle to change in your church or organization. Ready for a surprise? Sometimes the biggest obstacle to change is you. And the longer you've led, the more that's true. Why? Two reasons.

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Leaving the Fold: A Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving Their Religion a book by Marlene Winell

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Have you been harmed by toxic religion? Learn how to recover and reclaim your life.Psychologist Marlene Winell is uniquely qualified to address the subject of this book. In addition to her personal experience with leaving fundamentalist religion, she has worked with clients recovering from religion…

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Simon Sinek: How to start a cultural transformation?

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For the last blog post in this series on leading church change with the Word, let's approach this whole topic strategically. On a very practical level, what are the key avenues for leading with the message, methods, and means of the Word in your congregation? In other words, what are the most strategic contexts in which to communicate with your people continually and consistently that the Bible is the authority in all areas of doctrine, ministry philosophy, programming methodology, and decision making in your church?

I realize every church is different and so your congregation may have an avenue or two that is unique to your ministry context. However, I believe there are four avenues in every church from which pastors must lead strategically with the Word. This is particularly true when it comes to leading change in church revitalization.

Consider each of these briefly:
1. The Pulpit
Faithful, expositional preaching, week in and week out, is critical for a church to experience revitalization. I've heard it said that as the pulpit goes, so goes the health of a church. I believe this is true. God has always used the faithful, passionate preaching of His Word to transform hearts, as well as congregations. Establishing the Bible as the sole authority each and every week from the pulpit will help shape a congregation's understanding of who is ultimately in charge: God.

One of the reasons many churches are dying today is because they have knowingly or unknowingly allowed idols of various kinds to creep in and hijack authority, which belongs to God and His Word alone. These idols often take the form of traditions, programs, systems and mindsets that are out of sync with the Word, quenching the Spirit and His desires for the congregation. This is not a healthy place for a church to be.

For this reason, we must speak the truth in love to our people about the dangers of idolatry. As we love and shepherd the flock, our preaching must address the deep concerns and warnings God lays out in Scripture regarding idolatry. Idolatry exists in our hearts individually, as well as in our congregations as a whole. We do this humbly, but we also do so boldly.

We must let the Bible speak for itself. We must let the Bible wound, that it might ultimately heal. That it would bring conviction and correction. That it might bring salvation and direction. The pulpit is key in this. Whether it's an ungodly attitude toward lost people, an unwillingness to make changes that are clearly in the best interest of the congregation as a whole, a fear of engaging the changing community or maybe even a prideful works-righteousness mentality, whatever it is, we must apply the authoritative Word of God to idolatry in our churches. This is what good leaders do. This is what faithful shepherd pastors do. This is what God has called us to.
2. Leadership Meetings
Leadership meetings are a primary place for pastors, deacons and others to lead from the Word. Often in churches, the only time the Bible is really used is in the corporate worship gathering and Sunday School or small groups. It's rarely included in meetings or gatherings beyond perhaps a brief devotion. It shouldn't be strange for the Bible to be discussed regularly during leadership meetings. In fact, if the Bible truly is our authority, we should have our Bibles open and ready to use at all times that God Himself might guide us.

So, in your leadership meetings, establish early on that the Bible will play a central role in your discussion and decision making together. For example, as you talk about a new outreach event, use the Scriptures to explain why this idea is biblical and why having an outward, missional focus is what God desires of your church. When we lead like this, we are handing over authority to the Word of God, where it belongs. We are demonstrating what it looks like when a church truly is led and governed by God, through the Scriptures.
3. Congregation-wide meetings and gatherings.
Most of the churches we lead are going to have regularly scheduled congregational meetings (or gatherings) with our members. In these meetings, we want to allow the Word to guide the agenda and the discussions, especially early on in the revitalization process.

For example, during a congregational meeting, whenever we are presenting a new ministry idea or strategy, we should always connect it with key Scriptures that back it up. We want our people to see that God is the leader to whom we all submit in this church. He directs us. He tells us what to do and where to go. And He does this through His Word, by the Spirit. The Word of God leads to life, and we want God's people, His church, to come alive as they submit to the Word.

The best way to love and lead a congregation is to first love and lead the individuals that comprise that congregation. This is especially true when it comes to leading change. We must seek to get individuals on board, one at a time, with particular changes. This happens best as we pursue folks one on one, leading them with and from the Word.

What does this look like? As we are meeting with individuals about key issues and potential changes that are coming up in the church, we reason with them from the Bible. We seek to show them that we as a church care most about doing what God says to do, in God's way. And as we do this, we are sensitive to each individual's questions and concerns. We take the time to listen well and then help them to understand from Scripture why we believe God is leading in this new direction. In leading this way, we are demonstrating again what it looks like for God, through His Word, to be the authoritative leader of your church. It isn't your agenda you are after, but God's.
Leading from the Word, with the Word
The bottom line is that we are called to lead and pastor dying churches God's way, for God's glory. For this to happen, we must help our churches recapture a passion for the Word of God. This includes helping them understand and live out a joyful submission to the Bible as the inspired, inerrant, authoritative and sufficient Word that it is. In doing this, God's Word will rule in your church, which assures God will reign over your church. May we be humble pastors who seek to lead from the Word, with the Word, for the glory of God and the good of His church.
Related Posts in This Series This post originally appeared on Mark's blog, Preach Lead Love.
Published April 6, 2021

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Leading Church Change with the Word, Part 5 - Church Replanting

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For the last blog post in this series on leading church change with the Word, let's approach this whole topic strategically. On a very practical level, what are the key avenues for leading with the message, methods, and means of the Word in your congregation?

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The "immature" millennials actually want to be in charge.

According to a survey conducted by Virtuali and Work Place Trends, 91% of respondents expressed a desire to lead. Nearly 50% of them also said that they believed leadership is the empowerment of others.

From the same survey more than half indicated they believed they had strong leadership skills in the areas of communication and relationship building. However, many also indicated a lack of confidence in industry experience and technical expertise.

Perhaps what really stands out is that millennials seem to approach leadership in different ways than previous generations. They also have different expectations of the leaders they work under. For example, while 76% believe corporations are doing some social good, the majority also believes that international companies are not doing enough.

Clearly, whether they are seeking to become leaders themselves, or responding to the leadership styles of their employers, millennials are causing some disruption to traditional leadership. Here are seven ways they are influencing leadership today.
1. They're showing a willingness to leave when leadership doesn't meet standards
This is very simple but also very powerful. Millennials will leave jobs much more readily than their predecessors if they do not believe leadership meets their expectations and needs. This, combined with the sheer numbers of millennials in the workforce right now, is driving leadership change.
2. Millennials are expressing different needs regarding leadership training
Millennials who are interested in leadership aren't just aware of their strengths and weaknesses, they also know how they wish to improve their skills. The Millennial Leadership Survey mentioned above indicates that this generation of emergent leaders prefers to develop their careers through a combination of mentorship programs and online training.
3. They embrace a flat management structure
A flat management structure appeals to millennials for two reasons. First, as employees they dislike the idea of having to navigate through multiple layers of management in order to do their jobs. Also, as potential leaders, they value an organization where movement within the organization doesn't simply go 'up the ladder'. A flat management structure facilitates both communication and career development both upward and laterally.
4. Millennials value leaders who seek feedback from all employees
As an extension of their desire to work and lead in companies that have adopted a flat management structure, millennials want to work with leaders who value feedback from all employees. To millennials, it simply doesn't make sense that only the thoughts and experiences of those in management should be the only factors in organizational decision making.

This is because millennials are often keenly aware that the further up the corporate food chain people are, the more they tend to lose understanding of the challenges other employees face. They also tend to dismiss the validity of their experiences.
5. They push back against policy for policy's sake
As a whole, millennials are actually willing to comply with and embrace policies that they see as being beneficial to the organization and the employees. However, they are also questioners and disruptors by nature. If policies don't make sense to them, or if it's clear that policies no longer add value, millennials are quick to challenge them.

As millennials progress into positions of leadership, they may be more willing than previous generations to delve into policies and begin making changes. As employees, they have high expectations that leaders will be willing to examine and adjust policies that don't add value.
6. As leaders they seek to empower and transform
Because millennials work best when they feel empowered to make decisions and take action to help consumers and benefit the organization that they work for, it should come as no surprise that they embrace empowerment when they enter leadership positions. It should also come as no surprise that they believe they can most benefit their teams and the organization as a whole by identifying ways to improve policies and processes, whether that's providing better employee welfare, facilitating drug rehab for employees who need it or providing more work flexibility.
7. They seek and support flexibility and work-life balance
As leaders or team members, millennials see the value in flexible hours, telecommuting, location independence, even the option to select the devices they will use on the job.

"Millennials place a high value on self care, convenience and time with loved ones," said Aleksandr Korotkov, CEO of Uservice Blockchain Technology. "They believe that work life balance is good for happiness and emotional health. Because of this, workplace flexibility is very important to them. As a CEO, I'm happy to give it to them, and it's paid off for my business. My team is happier and more productive for it."

Some may be tempted to say that millennials should simply comply with the traditional leadership that has worked for the generations before them. The issue with that is that it's short sighted. Much of what millennials want from and as leaders truly works for them, and helps them to become more engaged in the work they do. Further, now that they are a larger part of the workforce, it's inevitable they will be the ones who influence leadership. Ultimately, the companies that are able to change with these new expectations are going to be most successful.

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7 Ways Millennials Are Changing Traditional Leadership

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The "immature" millennials actually want to be in charge. According to a survey conducted by Virtuali and Work Place Trends, 91% of respondents expressed a desire to lead. Nearly 50% of them also said that they believed leadership is the empowerment of others.

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The Big Opportunity -- Leading Change news

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One of the greatest myths of leadership is that you must be in charge in order to lead. Great leaders don't buy it. Great leaders--whether they have the official authority or not--learn how to be an influential presence wherever they are.

In How to Lead When You're Not in Charge, author and pastor Clay Scroggins explains the nature of leadership and what's needed to be a great leader--even when you answer to someone else.

Drawing from biblical principles and his experience as the lead pastor of Buckhead Church in Atlanta, Georgia, Clay will help you nurture your vision and cultivate influence with integrity and confidence, even when you lack authority in your organization or ministry.

In this book, Clay will walk you through the challenge of leadership and the four basic behaviors all great leaders have and how to cultivate them:

With practical wisdom and humor, Clay Scroggins will help you free yourself to become the great leader you want to be so you can make a difference. Even when you're not in charge.

"This book will be one of the most, if not the most, pivotal leadership books you'll ever read." - Andy Stanley

"If you're ready to lead right where you are, this book can show you how to start." - Dave Ramsey

"Read this book! The marketplace is full of leadership messages, but this one is a stand out." - Louie Giglio

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How to Lead When You're Not in Charge: Leveraging Influence When You Lack Authority

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How to Lead When You're Not in Charge: Leveraging Influence When You Lack Authority: Scroggins, Clay, Andy Stanley: 9780310531579: Books - Amazon.ca

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Since the mid-2000s, organizational change management and transformation have become permanent features of the business landscape. Vast new markets and labor pools have opened up, innovative technologies have put once-powerful business models on the chopping block, and capital flows and investor demand have become less predictable. To meet these challenges, firms have become more sophisticated in the best practices for organizational change management. They are far more sensitive to and more keenly aware of the role that culture plays. They've also had to get much better on their follow-through.

Yet according to a 2013 Strategy&/Katzenbach Center survey of global senior executives on culture and change management, the success rate of major change initiatives is only 54 percent. This is far too low. The costs are high when change efforts go wrong-not only financially but in confusion, lost opportunity, wasted resources, and diminished morale. When employees who have endured real upheaval and put in significant extra hours for an initiative that was announced with great fanfare see it simply fizzle out, cynicism sets in.

How to Lead Change Management

DeAnne Aguirre, senior partner with Strategy&, discusses techniques that can help companies transform quickly and effectively.

Our experience with organizational change management suggests that there are three major hurdles to overcome. The first-no surprise-is "change fatigue," the exhaustion that sets in when people feel pressured to make too many transitions at once. A full 65 percent of respondents to the Katzenbach Center survey reported this as a problem. The change initiatives they suffered through may have been poorly thought through, rolled out too fast, or put in place without sufficient preparation. Fatigue is a familiar problem in organizational change management, especially when splashy "whole new day" initiatives are driven from the top.

Change initiatives also flounder, according to 48 percent of the respondents, because companies lack the skills to ensure that change can be sustained over time. Leaders might set out eagerly to raise product quality, but when production schedules slow and the pipeline starts looking sparse, they lose heart. Lacking an effective way to deal with production line problems, they decide their targets were unrealistic, they blame the production technology, or they accuse their frontline people of not being up to the task. A much better way to solve the problem is to invest in operational improvements, such as process design and training, to instill new practical approaches and give people the knowledge and cultural support they need.

The third major obstacle is that transformation efforts are typically decided upon, planned, and implemented in the C-suite, with little input from those at lower levels. This filters out information that could be helpful in designing the initiative while also limiting opportunities to get frontline ownership of the change. In the Katzenbach Center survey, 44 percent of participants reported not understanding the changes they were expected to make, and 38 percent said they didn't agree with the changes.

The following list of 10 guiding principles for change can help executives navigate the treacherous shoals of transformation in a systematic way.

1. Lead with the culture. Lou Gerstner, who as chief executive of IBM led one of the most successful business transformations in history, said the most important lesson he learned from the experience was that "culture is everything." Businesspeople today understand this. In the Katzenbach Center survey, 84 percent said that the organization's culture was critical to the success of change management, and 64 percent saw it as more critical than strategy or operating model. Yet change leaders often fail to address culture-in terms of either overcoming cultural resistance or making the most of cultural support. Among respondents whose companies were unable to sustain change over time, a startling 76 percent reported that executives failed to take account of the existing culture when designing the transformation effort.

Skilled change managers make the most of their company's existing culture.

Why would this be true, given the widespread recognition of culture's importance? Perhaps it's because change management designers view their company's culture as the legacy of a past from which they want to move on. Or they get so focused on structural details-reporting lines, decision rights, and formal processes-that they forget that human beings with strong emotional connections to the culture will be enacting these changes. Or they assume that culture, because it is "soft" and informal, will be malleable enough to adapt without requiring explicit attention.

Yet skilled change managers, conscious of organizational change management best practices, always make the most of their company's existing culture. Instead of trying to change the culture itself, they draw emotional energy from it. They tap into the way people already think, behave, work, and feel to provide a boost to the change initiative. To use this emotional energy, leaders must look for the elements of the culture that are aligned to the change, bring them to the foreground, and attract the attention of the people who will be affected by the change.

In two healthcare companies undergoing a merger, culture led the post-deal integration. Using a culture-related diagnostic questionnaire, the change management team asked people to describe each company's operating style-and mapped the responses from the two legacy companies to get a sense of their combined strengths and challenges. It quickly became clear that where one company had a culture attuned to bottom-line results, the other tended to focus on process. Optimally, the new company would need to skillfully use processes to deliver clear results. By first taking the time to recognize and acknowledge each company's underlying culture, leaders of the merged firm harnessed deeply ingrained strengths to energize the change and avoided the incoherence that could have resulted from a less intentional and sensitive redesign.

2. Start at the top. Although it's important to engage employees at every level early on, all successful change management initiatives start at the top, with a committed and well-aligned group of executives strongly supported by the CEO. This alignment can't be taken for granted. Rather, work must be done in advance to ensure that everyone agrees about the case for the change and the particulars for implementing it.

A clinical research firm was committed to tripling its size over the next decade to achieve a more competitive position. Because the company was still pretty much operating as a startup after 25 years, this required a far-reaching organizational redesign. Before starting the design phase, finance leaders gathered at an off-site meeting to begin a rigorous exercise in alignment. The exercise included a leadership team effectiveness survey, which revealed that though these leaders called themselves a team, they didn't really see themselves that way. Instead, they mostly operated as lone rangers, in characteristic startup style.

Each of the executives in the group made a thoughtful individual presentation about the case for change. Most of them agreed on the general direction the company needed to take to achieve rapid growth. But their descriptions of how to move in that direction-for example, what the first concrete steps should be-were all over the map. They were then tasked to work together to develop a case for change that every one of them could support.

To hammer out these agreements, these top executives had to listen closely to their colleagues and weigh conflicting points of view. The exercise was demanding, but they began to coalesce around a coherent vision for what the company should look like in 10 years. Most importantly, the experience of working together so intensely led the executives, for once, to act as a collaborative and committed team. By the end of the off-site meeting, they found that they were all using the same language to describe what the company needed to do. As one participant noted, the experience had transformed him, which in turn gave him confidence that together they could cascade the plan to other groups at other levels of the hierarchy.

3. Involve every layer. Strategic planners often fail to take into account the extent to which midlevel and frontline people can make or break a change initiative. The path of rolling out change is immeasurably smoother if these people are tapped early for input on issues that will affect their jobs. Frontline people tend to be rich repositories of knowledge about where potential glitches may occur, what technical and logistical issues need to be addressed, and how customers may react to changes. In addition, their full-hearted engagement can smooth the way for complex change initiatives, whereas their resistance will make implementation an ongoing challenge.

Planners who resist early engagement at multiple levels of the hierarchy often do so because they believe that the process will be more efficient if fewer people are involved in planning. But although it may take longer in the beginning, ensuring broad involvement saves untold headaches later on. Not only does more information surface, but people are more invested when they've had a hand in developing a plan. One common aphorism in change management is "you have to go slow to go fast."

IBM recognized the need for such an approach in 2003, when rolling out a new initiative on culture. The leadership team had met intensively to develop clear definitions of the cultural traits the organization would require going forward. They then declared a "values jam," a website set up for a 72-hour period, where anyone in the company could post comments, responses, suggestions, and concerns. Leaders then made key changes based on the feedback they received and communicated clearly how the input they'd received was being incorporated.

4. Make the rational and emotional case together. Leaders will often make the case for major change on the sole basis of strategic business objectives such as "we will enter new markets" or "we will grow 20 percent a year for the next three years." Such objectives are fine as far as they go, but they rarely reach people emotionally in a way that ensures genuine commitment to the cause. Human beings respond to calls to action that engage their hearts as well as their minds, making them feel as if they're part of something consequential.

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman and her senior executive team appear to be following this principle in their transformation efforts. They have sought to activate a strong personal connection between HP and its employees, by drawing directly on the company's cultural history and traditions. For example, through symbolic gestures such as tearing down the fences that surrounded the executive parking lot and moving top executives into cubicles, the company has reinforced the original "HP Way" ethic in which the intrinsic quality of the work is as important as one's position in the hierarchy. (Whitman tells this story in an April 2013 LinkedIn blog post, " The Power of Transparent Communication.") This strategy contrasts with that of Whitman's immediate predecessors, who had declared it was time for the company to abandon its core identity. In any organization facing a challenging environment, the emotional connection fostered by moves like these is likely to make a major difference.

5. Act your way into new thinking. Many change initiatives seem to assume that people will begin to shift their behaviors once formal elements like directives and incentives have been put in place. People who work together on cross-functional teams will start collaborating because the lines on the chart show they are supposed to do so. Managers will become clear communicators because they have a mandate to deliver a message about the new strategy.

Yet lines on a chart and bold statements of intent have only so much impact. Far more critical to the success of any change initiative is ensuring that people's daily behaviors reflect the imperative of change. Start by defining a critical few behaviors that will be essential to the success of the initiative. Then conduct everyday business with those behaviors front and center. Senior leaders must visibly model these new behaviors themselves, right from the start, because employees will believe real change is occurring only when they see it happening at the top of the company.

Leaders of a major global manufacturer seeking to escape bankruptcy believed the company had lost touch with customers because of entrenched problems in its culture. Managers operated in an overly layered system without much accountability. They were ponderous, risk averse, insular, and prone to spending time on approvals and office politics. Instead of implementing a dramatic, full-scale turnaround, the change team demanded that leaders adopt three specific behaviors:

Make major, visible decisions in days instead of weeks or months.

Spend time with people at the frontline leadership (supervisory) level, asking for their input and engaging them in frank discussions.

Ensure the middle and lower ranks have direct contact with real-life customers.

Because these behavioral shifts were both limited and clearly spelled out, they were implemented quickly. Leaders were asked to act "as if" the organization did things this way, rather than trying to think their way out of old ways of being. These behaviors accelerated the company's passage out of bankruptcy, which occurred ahead of schedule.

6. Engage, engage, engage. Leaders often make the mistake of imagining that if they convey a strong message of change at the start of an initiative, people will understand what to do. Nothing could be further from the truth. Powerful and sustained change requires constant communication, not only throughout the rollout but after the major elements of the plan are in place. The more kinds of communication employed, the more effective they are, which is why HP's tearing down that fence was so important: Symbols reinforce the impact of words.

A global publisher undertook a major initiative to become more digital, putting in place far-reaching structural changes. The top leaders decided to engage people throughout the company at a variety of levels. First, they convened a series of town halls where large groups were given the news and invited to ask how the company-wide shift would affect them. Executives followed this with function-wide meetings where people could learn, for example, about the prospective impact on finance or human resources. The company also offered a version of fireside conversations they called "PIE chats" (PIE stood for performance, innovation, and execution). Finally, an internal trade fair was planned to showcase what various teams were doing to make the company more digital. This multifaceted and ongoing communications effort kept the message alive, giving every employee an understanding of the change and a stake in the outcome.

7. Lead outside the lines. Change has the best chance of cascading through an organization when everyone with authority and influence is involved. In addition to those who hold formal positions of power-the company's recognized leaders-this group includes people whose power is more informal and is related to their expertise, to the breadth of their network, or to personal qualities that engender trust.

We call these informal leaders "special forces." They can be found throughout any organization. They might include a well-respected field supervisor, an innovative project manager, or a receptionist who's been at the firm for 25 years. Companies that succeed at implementing major change identify these people early and find ways to involve them as participants and guides. There are three distinct kinds of informal leaders:

* Pride builders are great at motivating others and inspiring them to take pride in their work. People influenced by them feel good about working for the organization and have a desire to go above and beyond.

* Trusted nodes are go-to people. They are repositories of the organization's culture. They are the ones approached by people who want to know what's really happening in the organization-for example, when they're trying to figure out if those leading a change initiative are actually going to follow through.

* Change or culture ambassadors know, as if by instinct, how to live the change the organization is making. They serve as both exemplars and communicators, spreading the word about why change is important.

Informal leaders must be identified before they can be engaged. The best way to do this in a large organization is to run a network analysis. By mapping out connections and seeing who people talk to, you can complement the formal org chart with one that enables you to lead outside the lines.

8. Leverage formal solutions. Persuading people to change their behavior won't suffice for transformation unless formal elements-such as structure, reward systems, ways of operating, training, and development-are redesigned to support them. Many companies fall short in this area.

A law firm tried to professionalize its clubby culture, which clients perceived as inwardly focused. The lead partner group recognized that associates needed more formal mentoring and development. The existing system, in which partners who headed the practice groups conducted all the training, had led to uneven results. So the transformation team created a development committee and put out a call for experienced staff members willing to work with new hires. The team was delighted when a strong group of contributors volunteered and put in the time required to design a robust development program and start engaging associates.

After a strong start, however, the effort faltered; people who had been enthusiastic fell away. Debriefing those involved, leadership identified the problem: No formal mechanisms were in place to support or reward this participation. Calculations for bonuses left development work out of the equation, and although senior partners paid lip service to the "wonderful work" the development committee was doing, they seemed to regard its members as internal volunteers. Once they recognized this problem, the firm's leaders enacted substantial policy changes, starting with a mechanism the compensation committee could use to take into account the contributions made by those who trained others.

9. Leverage informal solutions. Even when the formal elements needed for change are present, the established culture can undermine them if people revert to long-held but unconscious ways of behaving. This is why formal and informal solutions must work together.

A top-tier technology company was trying to inculcate a more customer-centric mind-set after a decade focused on relentlessly cutting costs. Survey diagnostics revealed significant customer dissatisfaction with the quality of the company's products, which were too often released into the marketplace with significant flaws. A set of new procedures was put in place along with metrics to identify gaps in product development, process quality controls, and cross-teaming at the front lines.

But one of the most powerful solutions was purely cultural and informal-changing the informal motto that governed frontline decision making. The slogan of the cost-cutting era, "Ship by any means," was replaced by a new aphorism: "If it's not right, don't ship it." Pride builders were enlisted to instill the message that everyone needed to prevent flawed products from going out, even if that meant pulling products apart to check them or slowing down production. By asking people at every level to be responsible for quality-and by celebrating and rewarding improvements-change leaders were able to create an ethic of ownership in the product and vanquish the old ethic: "We just do what we're told."

10. Assess and adapt. The Strategy&/Katzenbach Center survey revealed that many organizations involved in transformation efforts fail to measure their success before moving on. Leaders are so eager to claim victory that they don't take the time to find out what's working and what's not, and to adjust their next steps accordingly. This failure to follow through results in inconsistency and deprives the organization of needed information about how to support the process of change throughout its life cycle.

A global consumer products company had made a far-ranging commitment to lowering costs. Leaders designed a robust change template and implemented it widely; the metrics indicated that they were succeeding. But the company wanted to be sure that people understood the ongoing nature of this commitment. So they rolled out a series of pulse surveys and convened focus groups to describe the case for change and the new behaviors required of everyone.

The first round of surveys found that only 60 percent of respondents understood the message. The company then called on informal leaders to play a bigger role in evangelizing for the initiative. They continued to run these surveys and focus groups to measure the result until a more sizable majority of the staff had shown they were prepared.

These 10 guiding principles offer a powerful template for leaders committed to effecting sustained transformational change. The work required can be arduous and exacting. But the need for major change initiatives is only going to become more urgent. It behooves us all to get it right.

Reprint No. 00255

Author Profiles:

DeAnne Aguirre is a senior partner with Strategy& based in San Diego. She is the co-leader of the firm's global Katzenbach Center and an expert in culture, leadership, talent effectiveness, and organizational change management. She advises senior executives globally on organizational topics.

Micah Alpern is a senior associate with Strategy& based in Chicago and a member of the Katzenbach Center's operating team. He is an expert in culture transformation and organizational change management.

This article is a revision and update of "10 Principles of Change Management," by John Jones, DeAnne Aguirre, and Matthew Calderone, s+b, Summer 2004.

Also contributing to this article was s+b contributing editor Sally Helgesen.

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organizational change management best practices

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10 principles of leading change management

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Since the mid-2000s, organizational change management and transformation have become permanent features of the business landscape. Vast new markets and labor pools have opened up, innovative technologies have put once-powerful business models on the chopping block, and capital flows and investor demand have become less predictable.

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wrap around for supporting youth and family navigate change. 

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wrap around for supporting youth and family navigate change. 

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What is Wraparound?

Wraparound differs from many service delivery strategies, in that it provides a comprehensive, holistic, youth and family-driven way of responding when children or youth experience serious mental health or behavioral challenges. Wraparound puts the child or youth and family at the center. With support from a team of professionals and natural supports, the family's ideas and perspectives about what they need and what will be helpful drive all of the work in Wraparound.

The young person and their family members work with a Wraparound facilitator to build their Wraparound team, which can include the family's friends and people from the wider community, as well as providers of services and supports.

With the help of the team, the family and young person take the lead in deciding team vision and goals, and in developing creative and individualized services and supports that will help them achieve the goals and vision. Team members work together to put the plan into action, monitor how well it's working, and change it as needed.

The National Wraparound Initiative and the National Wraparound Implementation Center (NWIC) have developed a variety of resources designed to help families, researchers, practitioners and policy makers understand Wraparound.

More resources:

Why Wraparound?

Wraparound - before it was even called Wraparound - got started several decades ago as a response to what was obviously *not* working well for children and youth with serious mental health or behavioral challenges, and their families.

Back then, the kinds of intensive and helpful services and supports that children and families needed were often simply not available in their communities. And as for the services that were available, they were often focused on what the systems or providers wanted families and children to do, and not focused on what children and families needed in order to thrive. This meant that children and families would be involved with multiple systems and providers, with each one developing a separate plan telling the child and family what to do.

Not surprisingly, outcomes from this situation were not good. Many children ended up placed in residential treatment far away from their families and communities, often for very long periods of time. After being out of home, it was hard for children to come back and do well in their home communities and schools.

In contrast, Wraparound programs are able to keep children in their communities, producing better outcomes at lower cost.

Wraparound Outcomes

There is now strong evidence that, when Wraparound is done well (i.e., with "fidelity"), young people with complex needs are more likely to be able to stay in their homes and communities, or, should a crisis occur, to be in out-of-home placements only for short periods of time.

Young people in Wraparound tend to have better outcomes than similar young people who don't receive Wraparound, across different areas of their lives including mental health, and functioning in their homes, schools and communities. And all of this saves money by minimizing the time that young people spend in out-of-home facilities like residential treatment centers or psychiatric hospitals, which can cost $1000 - $3000 per day.

For a quick review of the research on Wraparound's effectiveness in promoting outcomes, see this 2017 summary of rigorous research, or for a more in-depth discussion, see the full-text comprehensive review of Wraparound research. Further information is also available about cost savings and fidelity. The National Wraparound Initiative works closely with the National Wraparound Implementation Center (NWIC), which provides training and consultation to states and communities seeking to implement Wraparound with fidelity.

What takes place during the Wraparound process?

Wraparound is commonly described as taking place across four phases of effort: Engagement and team preparation, Initial plan development, Implementation, and Transition. During the Wraparound process, a team of people who are relevant to the life of the child or youth (e.g., family members, members of the family's social support network, service providers, and agency representatives) collaboratively develop an individualized plan of care, implement this plan, monitor the efficacy of the plan, and work towards success over time. A hallmark of the Wraparound process is that it is driven by the perspectives of the family and the child or youth. The plan should reflect their goals and their ideas about what sorts of service and support strategies are most likely to be helpful to them in reaching their goals. The Wraparound plan typically includes formal services - including research-based interventions as appropriate to build skills and meet youth and family needs - together with community services and interpersonal support and assistance provided by friends, kin, and other people drawn from the family's social networks. After the initial plan is developed, the team continues to meet often enough to monitor progress, which it does by measuring the plan's components against the indicators of success selected by the team. Plan components, interventions and strategies are revised when the team determines that they are not working, i.e., when the relevant indicators of success are not being achieved.

For more information, see the NWI document that describes the phases and activities of Wraparound, or the User's Guide to Wraparound, which presents a description of the process in simple terms for families or system partners.

What are the implementation requirements for Wraparound?

High quality implementation of Wraparound requires a supportive organizational context as well as a hospitable system context. A supportive organization ensures that a variety of conditions are in place to support high quality practice. For example, ensuring that staff acquire the skills and competencies they need to carry out their roles in Wraparound; ensuring that caseloads are reasonable and compensation is adequate; and ensuring that data is collected and analyzed so that the organization can monitor practice quality and program outcomes.

Providing comprehensive care through the Wraparound process also requires a high degree of collaboration and coordination among the child- and family-serving agencies and organizations that make up the system context of a Wraparound program. These agencies and organizations need to work together to provide access to flexible resources and a well-developed array of services and supports in the community. In addition other community- or system-level supports are necessary for Wraparound to be successfully implemented and sustained. Research on Wraparound implementation has defined these essential community and system supports for Wraparound, and grouped them into six themes:

Community partnership: Representatives of key stakeholder groups, including families, young people, agencies, providers, and community representatives have joined together in a collaborative effort to plan, implement and oversee Wraparound as a community process.

Collaborative action: Stakeholders involved in the Wraparound effort work together to take steps to translate the Wraparound philosophy into concrete policies, practices and achievements that work across systems.

Fiscal policies and sustainability: The community has developed fiscal strategies to support and sustain Wraparound and to better meet the needs of children and youth participating in Wraparound.

Access to needed supports and services: The community has developed mechanisms for ensuring access to the Wraparound process as well as to the services and supports that Wraparound teams need to fully implement their plans, including evidence-based interventions.

Human resource development and support: The system supports Wraparound staff and partner agency staff to fully implement the Wraparound model and to provide relevant and transparent information to families and their extended networks about effective participation in Wraparound.

Accountability. The community implements mechanisms to ensure the right children and youth are enrolled in Wraparound; to monitor Wraparound fidelity, service quality, and outcomes; and to oversee the quality and development of the overall Wraparound effort.

For more detail on implementation, see NWI resources, including the Implementation and Practice Quality Standards and the Implementation Guide. Contact the National Wraparound Implementation Center (NWIC) for assistance with your implementation questions.

What specialized staff roles are needed for the Wraparound process with families?

Wraparound is intended to be a way of supporting individuals with a range of complex needs in any community. In addition, Wraparound is individualized to meet the needs of each youth and family who participates. Thus, across Wraparound programs, people in a variety of different roles - both professional and non-professional - play important roles in carrying out the Wraparound process with families and their children. Most typically, implementing a Wraparound project requires a cadre of individuals who are trained and supported to effectively lead the process. These individuals most commonly include Wraparound facilitators (or care coordinators), family support partners, and youth support partners. In addition, other types of professionals may play important roles in carrying out the Wraparound process in a community. These professionals include clinicians trained on research-based practices to address psychosocial needs, in-home behavioral support specialists, resource coordinators, and others.

The NWI's resource library has detailed information about various staff roles for Wraparound. (Click on "Human Resource Development" and then "Roles for Wraparound.")

Wraparound is a complex process involving many different skill sets. People with key roles for carrying out the Wraparound process therefore require substantial training, as well as ongoing coaching and supervision, to ensure that they have the knowledge and skills they need. Not only do Wraparound facilitators (or care coordinators) and parent and youth support partners require training and coaching to criteria for skillful practice, but also providers in the service array need to be trained and supported to use evidence-based strategies and interventions. Most Wraparound projects, at least in their early stages of development, rely to some extent on outside people for training and for consultation on how to set up ongoing procedures for staff development and quality assurance. Finding a consultant or trainer has not always been easy, however, since Wraparound is not a proprietary model. To address this issue, the NWI launched the National Wraparound Implementation Center, which provides training, coaching, and a method that facilitates development of local expertise and sustainability. Regardless of who provides Wraparound training and staff skill development, the NWI urges sites and states to follow the guidance described in its comprehensive Guidelines for Training, Coaching and Supervision for Wraparound Facilitators.
The information on this page has been peer reviewed through the NWI.

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Wraparound Basics or What Is Wraparound: An Introduction

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This page introduces Wraparound, a completely different way of responding when children or youth experience serious mental health or behavioral challenges.

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Self defence classes that teach deescalation methods for conflict.

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Self defence classes that teach deescalation methods for conflict.

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A foundational Christian belief is that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for our sins. For many, the most important result of this is that believers go to heaven when they die. Bestselling author, scholar and bishop, N. T. Wright, thinks we're missing a critical aspect of what Jesus accomplished on the Cross if we limit our understanding just to this explanation. His latest book, The Day the Revolution Began, explores the Crucifixion and argues that the Protestant Reformation did not go far enough in tranforming our understanding of this event. Mike Bird, author of What Christians Ought To Believe, interviewed Wright about how Christians should view the Crucifixion.

Tom, you describe Jesus' death as the beginning of a "revolution." What was that revolution and why does it still matter today?

Most Western Christians have been taught that Jesus died so that they could escape the results of sin and go to heaven after they die. The New Testament, however, regularly speaks of Jesus' death as the defeat of the powers of evil that have kept the world in captivity, with the implication that the world is actually going to change as a result-through the life and work and witness of those who believe this good news. Think of Revelation 5:9-10. Humans are rescued from their sin so that they can be "a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth." That began at Easter and, in the power of the Spirit, has continued ever since. Of course, the "reign" of Jesus' people, like that of Jesus himself, is the reign of suffering love . . . but that's a whole other story. Suffice it to say that the vocation of God's people today is to continue to implement that revolution.

Even as Western cultures grow more secular, we still find the Crucifixion presented in art and echoed in music. Plus the notion of sacrifice for others is still very much a Christian theme that novels like Harry Potter seem to borrow from. Why do you think the cross, its image and message, is so captivating?

It seems as though the world knows in its bones that the cross of Jesus was the ultimate revelation of true power and true love. Most people for some of their lives, and some people for most of their lives, nurse sorrows and wounds whether secret or open; and the thought or sight of Jesus on the cross, perhaps particularly when it's painted beautifully or set to wonderful and appropriate music, speaks of the true God not as a distant, faceless bureaucrat, nor as a bullying boss, but as the one who has strangely come into the middle of the pains and sorrows of the world and taken their full force on himself. In a sense, all of Christian theology, certainly theology of the cross, is the attempt to explain, to give a wise and scriptural account of, that very immediate, personal, visceral impact.

We tend to think of the cross as a very churchy or religious symbol, like the Apple logo or the McDonald's sign, but what did the Crucifixion mean for people in the first century?

Crucifixions were common in the first century. It was a fairly standard punishment for slaves or for rebel subjects. It was a way for the Roman Empire to say "We are in power, and this is what we do to people who get in our way." Crucifixion was unspeakably horrible, with victims often left on crosses for several days, pecked at by birds and gnawed at by vermin. It was deliberately a very public execution, to warn others: When the Spartacus rebellion was put down, roughly 100 years before Jesus' day, 6,000 of his followers were crucified all along the Appian Way between Rome and Capua, making it more or less one cross every 40 yards for 130 miles. Anybody, and especially any slave, walking anywhere on that road would get the point. But it wasn't just (what we would call) a "political" point. In Jesus' day Rome was "deifying" its emperors, at least after their deaths, making the present emperor "son of god." Rebelling against Caesar's empire was therefore a kind of blasphemy, and crucifixion a restatement of the theological "fact" that Caesar was "Lord." That is the context for Mark's statement that the centurion (a Roman army commander) at the foot of the cross looked at Jesus and said, "Truly, this man was the Son of God.'"

A lot of preaching and teaching about the cross takes the form of a syllogism along the lines: He is a holy God; we are sinful people; therefore, we need a God-man to die on cross to take our guilt away. However, you suggest that while there is a kind of logic to that, it really misses the main point. The cross is not the resolution of two opposing premises, but rather it is the climax to a grand story. How so?

I would much rather people believed that God was holy, that they were sinful, and that the cross resolved that problem, than that they either didn't believe in God or didn't believe that they were sinful! Let's be clear about that. But the Bible tells a bigger story. The human problem isn't just that God set us a moral exam and we all flunked it. It is that God gave humans a vocation: to reflect his image, to be (again, as in Revelation) a kingdom and priests, summing up the praises of creation and reflecting the creator's wise rule into the world. Human rebellion and idolatry, then, doesn't just mean that we are in trouble (though we are); it means that God's larger purposes for creation are not going ahead as intended. So the long story of God's plan to put things right, starting with Abraham, climaxing in Jesus and the Spirit, and looking ahead to the new heavens and new earth, isn't the story of guilty humans being forgiven so they could go to heaven, but of idolatrous (and yes, therefore guilty) humans being rescued in order to be worshippers and workers in God's restoration movement, God's kingdom-project. The problem comes in three stages: 1) We have swapped our biblical heritage of new heavens and new earth for a form of Platonism ("going to heaven"-which you find in the first century in Plutarch, not in Paul!); 2) we have swapped the biblical vocation of humans (to be "a kingdom and priests") for a moral contract in which the most important thing is whether or not we've passed the moral exam, and if we haven't what can be done about it; and 3) we have therefore swapped the rich biblical account of what Jesus' death achieved for a slimmed-down version which can easily be heard to say that an angry God took out his bad temper on his own Son . . . which is the sort of thing a pagan religion might say. So, as I say in the book, we have platonized our eschatology, as a result of which we have moralized our anthropology, and have therefore been in danger of paganizing our soteriology. Fortunately, the Bible itself will help us get back on track.

You provocatively say in the book that a lot of Reformation churches, including your own Anglican tradition, have often failed to know what to do with Easter. Well, what are we to do with Easter, in particular, Good Friday?

I'm amused by the way you put that, because clearly you are taking the word "Easter" to mean the whole weekend, whereas I was meaning specifically Easter Sunday! Actually, many churches, including my own, are quite good at the ways in which they commemorate, and so inhabit once again, the days from Palm Sunday to Good Friday. The various liturgies that have been developed can be excellent ways of slowing us down and enabling us to sense at several levels the dark horror of Jesus' death. My problem comes on the Sunday (I wrote about this at more length in Surprised by Hope, by the way.) And actually it isn't just a problem about the Reformation churches; it is a problem for the whole Christian West, Catholic and Protestant, liberal and charismatic, the lot. The Eastern Orthodox do all this much better. (They have other problems, perhaps, but at least they know what Easter is about.)

In the West we have been so seduced by the Platonic vision of 'heaven' that the resurrection of Jesus is seen simply as the "happy ending" after the crucifixion, and as the prelude to his "going to heaven" so that we can go and join him there later. This misses the central point that the resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of the new creation, in which we are to share already in the power of the Spirit. This affects everything, from prayer and the sacraments to mission and service to the poor. And yes, it ought to be reflected liturgically in whatever tradition we stand. Playing this back to the meaning of the cross, we realise that new creation is now happening because the dark powers that have kept the world enslaved to sin and death have been defeated. Perhaps there are themes there which could be brought more explicitly into our Good Friday commemorations as well. But the Christian life is meant to be a sustained and focused celebration of that achievement. Present suffering and struggle are held within the narrative of Jesus' victory on the one hand and the final redemption of all creation on the other. That is what climactic passages like Romans 8 are all about. I would love to see churches trying out different ways of embodying all of this in the way we order our public worship.

We often focus on what Paul or John thought about Jesus' death. But what did Jesus think about his approaching death, how was it part of his messianic mission, and what did he think his death would achieve?

It is clear from all four gospels that Jesus believed, as many Jews believed, that the Jewish people were the bearers of the Creator God's plan to overthrow the evil of the world and make a way through into new creation. It is also clear that he believed, as some other Jews seem to have believed, that this divine plan might come about through the intense suffering of a small number of faithful Jews (look at 2 Maccabees for an example, though the theme goes back into books like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel). I and others have argued in various places, including this new book, that Jesus believed that this intense suffering would be focused on one man; and that he would be that one man. He would take upon himself the suffering, shame and death of the world, in order to overcome the powers of the world and launch God's long-intended project of new creation. Jesus seems to have understood all this as the proper outworking of Israel's whole scriptural narrative, focused particularly on Passover. He chose Passover, after all, as the moment to do what had to be done, the freedom-festival that resonated with the great theme of God's victory over the powers of evil and his rescue of his people to be his "royal priesthood" (Ex. 19.6). The idea of a "new exodus" had been around for a long time, and Jesus seems to have believed that it was his vocation, drawing to a point his announcement and inauguration of God's kingdom, to make it happen, though in a way nobody else had seen coming. This personal Passover-vocation was then given particular shape by scriptural resources such as Isaiah, the Psalms, and Daniel. The Scriptures had to be fulfilled; not in some arbitrary manner, checking off a random list of things to do, but in the sense of a long narrative, much of which had been dark and unpromising, reaching an astonishing, shocking, startling climax. Only in retrospect did Jesus' followers look back and figure it all out; but all the signs are that this was what Jesus had in mind all along.

In particular, the victory which Jesus believed he would win in this way was, in Israel's Scriptures, the victory of God himself. That is a whole other theme, but an important one for us, in case we should imagine that this human vocation was all about twisting God's arm to do something he might not otherwise have done. Jesus believed that, in being obedient to this human vocation, he was embodying or, if you like, incarnating the loving, rescuing God of whom Israel's Scriptures had been speaking all along. Jesus' own sense of vocation and (what we loosely call) "identity" lies at the heart of the church's developed belief.

When the early church tried to explain why the Messiah had to die and what his death achieved, they naturally looked to the Old Testament. What biblical images or stories did they rehearse when it came to explaining the significance of Jesus' death?

The early church, exactly in line with Jesus' own vocation and action, developed the theme of Passover, not as a miscellaneous metaphor but as a way of saying that the "new exodus" had now at last come to pass. But, as in Jewish Passover-celebrations, many other scriptural themes clustered around as well, not least the strange sufferings of the psalmists, the dramatic (and royal) image of Isaiah's "suffering servant," the dark figure of Zechariah's dying shepherd, and, not least, Daniel's image of "one like a son of man" who is exalted after the apparent dominance of the "monsters."

All these together generated various major themes. Sacrifice is one; the law-court is another. But these, again, are not just miscellaneous images. They mean what they mean within the larger scriptural narrative in which God's redemptive and restorative purposes for the world are fulfilled at last through Israel's representative. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:3, quoting a very early gospel summary, that "the Messiah died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures." In accordance with-in other words, along the line of, as the climax of, in fulfilment of the entire scriptural narrative. We in the West have been in danger of turning that into "The Messiah died for our sins in accordance with the story we have learned to tell "-the story, that is, of an angry God and endangered sinners-with a few scriptural proof-texts thrown in. Of course the wise Creator is angry with everything that defaces and destroys his good creation; of course we sinners are indeed endangered if we do not allow the gospel to embrace us. But to reduce the gospel to those two points is like reducing a great four-part hymn simply to the alto and tenor lines. We need the firm bass of the full scriptural narrative, and the glad tune, in the top line, of the kingdom-story told by the four gospels and Acts. We need the harmony of the inner parts, of course; but that means what it means in relation to the larger music.

When we say that Jesus died for us, what does the "for" mean?

The "for" is itself explained by "in accordance with the Scriptures." In the Bible, Israel is God's chosen people for the sake of the world; then various people, like prophets, priests, and kings are chosen for the sake of Israel; then, at the time of the exile, the remnant was chosen as a kind of "true Israel"-a concept we find in many writings of the time, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. The point is that what happens to this group-and, in Jesus' own vocation and the church's perception, to this one man-happens on behalf of the whole world. So, as Paul puts it in Romans 8:1-4, there is "no condemnation" for those who are "in Messiah Jesus"-those who belong to him by faith and baptism-because in his death God "condemned sin in the flesh." The millennia-old representation had narrowed down to one point, and the punishment of Sin itself-the dark force behind all our actual sins-took place once and for all. That is what we ought to mean when we say, as of course I do, that he died "in our place and on our behalf." We should, however, beware of shorthand formulations (including my own!). In good biblical theology, the summaries mean what they mean within the larger story of the Bible as a whole and, not least, the Gospels as a whole.

There is a great hymn called "In Christ Alone," which says that on the cross "the wrath of God was satisfied." But you argue that we must not forget the love of God here either. So what does the cross have to do with the love of God?

I have often said that if a church wants to sing that hymn-and I agree that it is a great hymn in most other respects-then at least every second time they sing it they should sing "the love of God was satisfied" instead at that point. There is a deep and dark truth under what the writer said, and it's the truth I just mentioned, as set out in Romans 8:1-4 and elsewhere. But people can all too easily hear that and sing it with a very different narrative in mind: the narrative according to which, in a parody of John 3:16, God so hated the world that he killed his only son. Yes, God hates sin. Yes, the death of Jesus is-because of his representative messianic role-the moment when sin is condemned. But the way most people hear it is taking a large step towards a pagan idea which, frankly, not only puts a lot of people off Christianity but quietly hints at a license for other forms of anger and brutality. From the very beginning, Jesus' followers insisted that his crucifixion was the personal expression of the ultimate divine love: "the son of God loved me and gave himself for me," said Paul in Galatians 2:20, and he and John return to this theme again and again (John 13:1 says "having loved his own in the world, he loved them to the uttermost"). Romans 8 is the great climax: Nothing in all creation shall separate us from the love of God in the Messiah, Jesus our Lord. To understand this, you need (of course) at least the beginnings of a doctrine of the Trinity, so that what the Son does is the full expression of the Father's love and purpose. That is why-to revert to an earlier question-many people simply sense, whether they can articulate it or not, that the cross is the effective sign that the God who made the world is the God of powerful, rescuing love, a love that has come down to share the very depths of human tragedy and, by taking its weight on himself, to rescue us from it and enable us by his Spirit to share in his new creation as a result. This is a love that goes to work; a love that will not let us go.

Finally, if you had to preach one biblical text on the cross, what would it be, and roughly what would you say?

An impossible question, of course, but though I might well have gone for one of the Pauline texts I have quoted above, or indeed for Revelation 5:9-10, I would want to come back to the Gospels; and, despite strong claims from the other three, I would go for John's story of the cross. One could focus on the final word, "finished," in John 19:30. Many have expounded that in terms of a bill being "paid"; but the whole of John's gospel is framed by the prologue, which looks back to Genesis 1, so that I think we must take it, at least primarily, in terms of the finishing of God's work of redemption, parallel to the finishing of God's work of creation in Genesis 2:2. It all fits: Jesus dies on the Friday, the sixth day of the week; on the seventh day he rests in the tomb; and on the eighth day . . . new creation begins.

Depending on how long the sermon was to be, I might well want to pan back a little to include two other themes from John 19. First, the almost unbearably tender moment with Mary and John in verses 25-27, expressive of the love spoken of in 3:16, 13:1, and elsewhere. Second, Pontius Pilate saying "What I have written I have written" in verse 22, expressive-after Jesus' long argument with Pilate earlier on!-of the way in which Caesar's official representative, rather like Caiaphas in John 11:49-52, was telling a truth far more than he knew when he wrote "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." Jesus was dying as Israel's representative Messiah, doing for Israel and the world what Israel could not do. And here is Caesar's official representative recognizing, despite himself, the truth which will relativize Caesar and all other earthly rulers.

Of course, there is much more. There always is. But this would be enough for, perhaps, a 20-minute sermon at least. If it had to be shorter, I'd probably just stick with the Genesis echo.

More information about Wright's new book and online courses from N. T. Wright can be found on www.ntwrightonline.org. Mike Bird blogs at www.patheos.com/blogs/euangelion/.

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N. T. Wright: The Church Continues the Revolution Jesus Started

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A foundational Christian belief is that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for our sins. For many, the most important result of this is that believers go to heaven when they die. Bestselling author, scholar and bishop, N. T.

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The 10 Commandments for Change Management Leaders

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As a change management leader, you’re tasked with guiding your organization through complex and winding transformations. Here are 10 principles to help.

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I received a call from the chief transformation officer of a midsize financial services company. Their company-wide change effort to shift from a product company to a services company was in shambles after being underway for nearly two years. "We thought we'd done everything we needed to do to keep this transformation from derailing," he told me. "We communicated relentlessly, held virtual town halls to engage people, and resourced dozens of initiatives to support the vision for change. But we've ended up with nothing but hamsters running on wheels. We've made no measurable progress, cynicism is setting in as people are mired in activities that feel futile, and we've long lost sight of the vision for why we started this journey in the first place."

Our in-depth diagnostic revealed derailers I've seen ensnare change efforts for decades, no matter how well intended the efforts were. Leaders frequently underestimate the amount of work required for the change, overestimate the organization's capacity to make the change, and misjudge how the organization views their connection to the change.

Despite the vast body of knowledge available to leaders on how to effect lasting, positive organizational change, too many executives continue reaching for the same comfortable levers that consistently miss the mark. Thus, the oft-cited failure rate of organization transformations continues hovering around 70%. If you've got a major change on the horizon (or have one stuck in a ditch), here's how to avoid (or extract yourself from the grips of) three of the most common saboteurs of organizational change.

Scope naiveté: Underestimating the work

Simply put, most leaders want transformational change to be easier than it is. There's not a first-time change leader who hasn't said, "This is so much harder than I expected." In response, I commonly ask, "On what did you base those expectations?" I usually get an agape look and silence in response.

By its nature, transformational change creates discontinuity because it touches the entire organization. In the case of the financial services company, shifting from product to service centricity meant every aspect of the organization, from sales to operations, was going to be touched by the need for change.

By contrast, incremental change - for example, implementing a new technology platform or launching a new product - touches discrete aspects of the organization. My client made the mistake many companies do: Assuming that a larger volume of incremental changes would add up to transformation. So, they sprayed the organization with disconnected initiatives whose efforts weren't coordinated, that were actually under-resourced for what they were expected to deliver, and whose project leaders lacked the authority to make material decisions or impose consequences on those unwilling to cooperate. Instead of accelerated change, the result was obstructed change - a system clogged with an overload of disparate efforts that everyone stopped caring about.

When you mix this with a barrage of glitzy one-way communication campaigns, many naturally conclude that the change is "all sizzle, no steak." Pep-rally town halls attempting to hype the potential benefits of the transformation are met with cynical disbelief as those dealing with the disconnected, competing, under-resourced, and poorly led initiatives wonder how leaders could be so out of touch.

Multifaceted transformational change needs to be appropriately scoped, resourced, and most importantly, integrated. Every initiative must be linked to every other initiative. In the case of my client, efforts to market the benefits of newly positioned services needed to be synched with the efforts of operations people to actually deliver those services. Messages to customers needed to synch with new skills those delivering the services needed to acquire. Centralized services from corporate needed to dovetail with local branch offices' ability to customize services. And it all needed to be sequenced and paced in a way the organization could productively absorb. Though the need for all of this was foreseeable, none of this work had been considered when the transformation was conceived. Once these efforts were appropriately integrated, means and ends began to match, and real change eventually aligned with the messages.

Change laziness: Overestimating the organization's capacity

What many executives responsible for declaring change forget is that those who have to deliver the change still have day jobs. They neglect to calculate the capacity those impacted by change will need to make it successful while still carrying out their day-to-day responsibilities. Many executives set change in motion and get distracted by the next shiny object that excites them soon after. Instead of working on changes needed in their personal leadership, they make videos reminding people of the "strategic importance" of change, have their communications people write newsletter articles with their byline, and inadvertently declare premature victory by citing early progress on efforts that don't actually amount to tangible change. Transformation lazily gets reduced to nothing more than a campaign.

With the financial services company, we viewed no less than 17 beautifully produced videos featuring many senior executives, read scores of newsletter articles touting examples of early adopting customers of the company's new services, and read through hundreds of emails from the 23 initiative leaders updating the organization on their various activities. The open rate of these emails was around 18%.

Despite so much information "communicated" about the change, our assessment revealed widespread confusion about its purpose and a slew of misperceptions about what was actually going on. Worse, since the inception of this transformation, the organization had layered on multiple additional changes that leaders claimed were connected to the transformation, but in reality, were not. For example, human resources began implementing a new HR information platform across the whole company that they'd put off for years. They labeled it "People Service" to create the illusion of a connection to the broader transformation in hopes to garner greater buy-in.

Transformational change starts with an honest acknowledgement of how hard the work will be, how much capacity and discipline the organization actually has, and the personal commitments of sponsoring executives to change first. Further, communicating change effectively requires listening to the organization twice as much as telling the organization about the change.

First, we recommended pausing a number of efforts. Leaders shut down initiatives the company had neither the capacity nor resources to implement successfully. Then, they instituted listening circles in which leaders were only allowed to ask questions, and not get defensive while hearing employees talk about the mess that had been made. We helped identify aspects of people's day jobs that could be paused in order to redeploy needed capacity toward change. And we identified six critical leadership capabilities that executives leading a service company must all have, assessed the company's top 45 leaders against these capabilities, and put development and coaching plans in place for each of them. Their updates to the organization now included acknowledgement of the capabilities they assessed low on and what they were doing to improve. This gave the transformation an instant boost of credibility as the organization could now see these leaders put their own skin in the game. Public commitments to personal change are a leader's signature of integrity on changes they commission.

The perceived pet project: Misjudging how others see you

It's no secret that many transformation efforts are born of a leader's personal convictions and interests. The success of such projects often leads to the advancement of that leader's career. And there's nothing wrong with that. That is, unless the leader tries to hide it behind lofty spin about "the greater good" or downplays the grueling sacrifice required by others to make change happen. Sponsors of change fear that acknowledging their personal connection to a transformation might hinder gaining the organization's commitment. And if leaders only want the benefits with none of the personal cost, lost commitment will indeed be the result.

But leaders who are willing to roll up their sleeves and do their part to advance an arduous transformation are smart to let the organization know how and why the change is personal to them. (Leaders for whom a major change is nothing more than smokescreen behind which they hope to advance their career shouldn't be foolish enough to think the organization doesn't see right through it.)

In the case of my client, the transformation was conceived largely by an executive who had joined the company as head of strategy about a year prior. She had come from another financial services company that failed to make the same migration to selling services. She knew the industry was shifting and would mercilessly leave companies behind that neglected to stay ahead of growing customer trends. And if she could succeed at leading that change here, it would set her up as a likely successor to the CEO. Being relatively new to the company, she feared people would assume she was exclusively out for the top job, so she overcompensated by depersonalizing the change, which backfired. What people concluded was that she was only there for the short-term stock bump but would eventually give up, cash out, and move on.

Ironically, her story of past failure revealed deep personal convictions that gave the change greater merit, and her public ownership of wanting to stay at the company long term (obviously not specifying in what capacity) quickly put her in a more trustworthy light. Through a series of virtual town halls, she expressed her passion for the transformation and why she believed the organization could be successful and acknowledged her insecurity about being new to the company and wanting to be accepted. By owning her story, she helped people to stop ascribing the self-interested motives she assumed she was avoiding and instead double down on their own motives for why the change would be good for everyone.

Transformational change must become personal for every employee if it's going to stick. With her story as a foundation, we conducted a series of virtual workshops that invited employees to connect their own sense of purpose to the aspirations of the transformation. In small groups, employees got to share their vision for how their role would shift and the impact their work could eventually have on customers, the company, and their careers.

If you're in the throes of or about to start a major transformation, I trust you have a sense for how hard it will be. The unforeseen obstacles you'll face will test your endurance and optimism. Do the necessary work to prepare yourself and your organization for the journey. The one obstacle you can best prevent from derailing transformation is yourself.

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How Leaders Get in the Way of Organizational Change

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I received a call from the chief transformation officer of a midsize financial services company. Their company-wide change effort to shift from a product company to a services company was in shambles after being underway for nearly two years. "We thought we'd done everything we needed to do to keep this transformation from derailing," he told me.

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Do More Better is a very practical book on Christian productivity. It is a book that helps us to focus our personal and leader's lives onto God and become more productive in a way that is glorifying to Him.

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Do More Better is a very practical book on Christian productivity. It is a book that helps us to focus our personal and leader's lives onto God and become more productive in a way that is glorifying to Him.

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"Productivity is effectively stewarding your gifts, talents, time, energy, and enthusiasm for the good of others and the glory of God."

"The simple fact is, you are not the point of your life. You are not the star of your show. If you live for yourself, your own comfort, your own glory, your own fame, you will miss out on your very purpose. God created you to bring glory to him."

More quotes...

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"Productivity is effectively stewarding your gifts, talents, time, energy, and enthusiasm for the good of others and the glory of God." "The simple fact is, you are not the point of your life. You are not the star of your show.

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Just Do Something is a book of theological reflections and an encouragement for Christians to step forward in faith. It is a book that helps and motivates when it comes down to decision making.

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Just Do Something is a book of theological reflections and an encouragement for Christians to step forward in faith. It is a book that helps and motivates when it comes down to decision making.

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This review originally appeared on my blog, Jacob's Café.

This review of Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung was made possible through a complimentary copy of the audiobook through christianaudio's reviewer program.

I was looking forward to this book, expecting a bit of an incarnational perspective on finding God's will. That was there, but not in the way I expected. It presented nothing useful and was possibly the worst religion book I've read (or listened to). In fact, I think it can be quite spi...more

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This review originally appeared on my blog, Jacob's Café. This review of Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung was made possible through a complimentary copy of the audiobook through christianaudio's reviewer program. I was looking forward to this book, expecting a bit of an incarnational perspective on finding God's will.

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Here’s How to Prove the Value of Training to Your Organization

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Tips and tricks for proving the value of training at your organization.

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Change is one of the most controversial issues in almost any organization. There's something inside you and me that clings to the status quo, hoping that it will work one more time, even if it hasn't worked in a long time.

Sometimes the need for change is obvious. If nothing has changed since 1962, the case for change presents itself. But often it's more subtle than that.

As leaders, we spend a surprising amount of time trying to convince ourselves that change is really that necessary. We've seen how change has swallowed colleagues alive. We've watched great leaders suffer as they met all kinds of opposition. We sense the conflict pending in our own community. So we ignore the signs that would tell us change is needed.

So, how do you know your organization needs to change? How do you stay 100% honest as a leader and engage the difficult issues?

Answer: You constantly watch for the signs you need to change.

What are those signs? Well, there are plenty of them. Change needs to happen on a macro-level and it also needs to happen on a micro-level. Because the need for change almost inevitably means some level of conflict, it's easy for a leader to move into denial - to pretend the status quo isn't really that bad.

But great leaders don't run when they see a need for change. They embrace it and demonstrate the courage needed to navigate the change required.

So how do you know if your church needs to change? At the macro and micro level, here are 21 signs your church needs to change:

1. Your stories are about what used to happen, not what's going to happen. You need to change because your memories exceed your dreams.

2. You're still growing but any real innovation has stopped. Every season has a shelf life. Smart leaders prepare for the next season before the current one expires.
3. Your team is misaligned. This means you need to change your culture. Misaligned organizations will always struggle with organizational health and unity in purpose and mission.
4. Your growth is mostly transfer growth. You're missing your mission. Enough said.
6. You think about the obstacles associated with the future more than you think about the opportunities. This kind of thinking breeds a culture of fear. Decline is right around the corner, if not already present.
5. The number of baptisms has slowed. Signs like this are the canary in the coal mine.

7. Your volunteer turn over is too high. Something needs to change in your volunteer culture or structure.

8. Your volunteer turn over is too low. Something needs to change because you have no room for new people. Many dying churches have the same people serving in the same role for decades.
11. You're not offending people. 12. Your average age is creeping higher. 13. People are afraid to suggest new ideas. 14. People are content with the status quo. 15. You are talking about the same issues in meeting after meeting. You're stuck, and progress will become increasingly difficult until you tackle this. 17. Your community wouldn't notice if you disappeared. 18. Your passion level is average-to-low. 19. You don't look like your community. 20. Talk doesn't translate to action. 21. You're still breathing. Change is a constant. The day we stop changing is the day we begin to die. Most of your decisions result in nothing significant. Check your progress more than you check your intentions. Churches that have become a subculture look like themselves, not like their community. Next week, my new book, Leading Change Without Losing It, officially releases. The book is designed to help leaders navigate change in the face of opposition. We'll be celebrating the launch with a 5 part blog series that responds directly to your questions about change. Leave a comment here to participate. Stop by the blog daily between Monday December 10th and Monday December 17th for special launch week pricing and giveaways as well as some very practical conversation about how to lead change. Declining organizations always lack passion. Churches that only serve themselves miss their mission. When you think you've arrived, your vision is departing. Your leadership culture may have become more about preservation than innovation. A sure sign you're missing the next generation. Organizations that make a difference always anger someone. Just make sure you're offending the right people.
9. You're not hearing stories of life change. Stories are the currency of effectiveness.

10. You haven't done anything exciting in the last six months. Stagnation starts subtly.

16. Your growth curve has slowed or stopped. The change probably should have started a year or two ago. Analyze and act now.

Those are 21 signs I've identified. But there are so many more.

What would you add to this list?

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Change is one of the most controversial issues in almost any organization. There's something inside you and me that clings to the status quo, hoping that it will work one more time, even if it hasn't worked in a long time. Sometimes the need for change is obvious.

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A vital book explaining the essential causes of the Great Recession in a style so readable that virtually anyone could wrap their head around it.

The book was adapted into an excellent film in 2015 which i can say, completely unashamedly, that I have watched about seven times (and which I would say had been robbed of the academy award for best picture, if the other nominations that year hadn't been just as good). Like many others, I'd gone into the film with a 'vague soundbite you repeat so you don't sound dumb' but not much more, and the insight it imparted made me want to really get my head around the whole catastrophe.

I got the book wondering whether the movie had at all been cut down or exaggerated, but in general it appeared surprisingly true to the original text - things that I had assumed were added for the sake of characterisation ended up being mirrored in actual, real life events (such as Vennett/Lippmann's quant, and the 'he doesn't even speak English' line - not simply added by the director, Lippmann really is that much of a conniving pos). Perhaps more importantly, however, very little is left out of the explanation of how CDOs work, and how they contributed to the crisis.

For me, herein lies the main value of the book (as someone who had already seen the film): restating concepts in different ways, such as to solidify your understanding. While my experience of the films did take me from basically nothing to a rudimentary analysis, I still found myself struggling with some aspects (I found the Jenga tower, used to explain tranches in the film, was more confusing than it was enlightening); the book instead utilises different approaches to conceptualising these derivatives, strengthening comprehension - it made far more sense that the BBB rated tranches of the mortgage bonds were on the bottom of the tower if the risk is imagined as a flood, which you are naturally protected from the higher up you go, and also if you consider the dividends paid from the bonds pouring from the top down. I similarly found the explanation of synthetic CDOs far more useful - the visceral response l had to realising the sheer scope of the overvaluation in the movie didn't need an explanation, but understanding exactly how a synthetic CDO worked (and their relation to credit default swaps) was much easier with the author's guidance.

What's more, Lewis's analysis of the situation is enlightening and spot on throughout - this is exemplified by a conversation he has with the former CEO of Salomon Brothers in the epilogue, where the former CEO puts the crisis down to greed while Lewis recognised that the whole issue is far more structural; there are no 'bad apples', because replacing all the 'greedy' people in the various institutions would have given the same result as they were simply doing what seemed in their best interest at the same. He correctly identifies that the issue is with the financial system as a whole and it's perverse incentives which lend itself to these crises repeating themselves over and over.

This analysis runs throughout the book, making it a joy to read as each page seems to impart a far greater understanding than the last. Additionally, the medium of text gives it far more scope to cover how the experience affected the main characters - depicting Christian Bale popping indigestion pills in response to stress is good filmmaking, but doesn't compare to Michael Burry viscerally describing how his insides 'felt like they were dissolving'. There is also greater context given to most actions - such as the muted response from investors in Scion capital, despite their absurd gains due to Burry's genius - which gives a more holistic picture of how the run up to, and aftermath of, the collapse affected those who predicted it.

This book is not only excellent down downright necessary for anyone who is trying to understand how the world has changed - and continues to change - in response to one of the worst economic downturns in history, as well as how it came about in the first place; the author's comment that stagnant wages could be overlooked by cheap loans seems very prescient now that we have neither wage growth nor cheap money. If you watched the film and weren't blown away, you probably wouldn't get that much out of the book - but if you enjoyed the film, or even if you haven't seen the film but are in a state of ignorance about the actions which culminated in the events of 2008, this book is a must-read.

5/5

-

Originally posted on Goodreads, 28/12/18

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Book review: 'The Big Short' by Michael Lewis (2011)

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A vital book explaining the essential causes of the Great Recession in a style so readable that virtually anyone could wrap their head around it. The book was adapted into an excellent film in 2015 which i can say, completely unashamedly, that I have watched about seven times (and which I would say had been robbed of the academy award for best picture, if the other nominations that year hadn't been just as good).

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Change is an inevitable part of life, but knowing that doesn't mean dealing with change is easy. Finding ways to accept and cope can make these transitions smoother and less troubling.

This article discusses why change is so difficult and what you can do to become better at dealing with change.

Why Dealing With Change Isn't Easy

Change requires adjustments. Sometimes these can be small things like finding a new way to do something or adding a new step to some of your daily routines. In other cases, you might find that change introduces significant disruptions to the way you live your life. This can create stress or feelings of anxiety and depression in some cases.

This doesn't mean change is always bad. But even good changes you are excited about can be stress-inducing. Things might not have been perfect before, but you may have been comfortable in your previous state of equilibrium. You had a routine. You knew what to expect, so you weren't thrown off by surprises or unexpected challenges.

As change happens, your routines are disrupted. You suddenly have to adapt as you are pushed further and further out of your comfort zone.

The stress these changes bring can feel overwhelming at times. And it can have negative effects on both your physical and mental well-being. For example, you might find yourself experiencing symptoms such as:

Anxiety

Changes in appetite

Depression or sadness

Irritability

Muscle pain

Problems sleeping

Stomach upset

Tension headaches

Trouble concentrating

Having strategies to cope can help you become more resilient to stress and make it easier to adapt to the transitions in your life. You might not be able to stop changes from happening, but you can take greater control of how you respond.

Recap

Tips for Dealing With Change

How you cope with your changes can play a role in your overall mental well-being, including how you feel about your life. If you are struggling to cope with a change in your life, you might be left with feelings of negativity, bitterness, or regret about the outcome.

If you tend to be resilient in the face of life's challenges, you might bounce back and adapt with relative ease. But if you tend to struggle more with transitions, you might need a little extra help to get back on track.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take when dealing with change to help make those adjustments easier.

Prepare Yourself

Change often happens when you don't expect it, so keeping an eye on the future and preparing yourself, at least mentally, might be helpful. Spend some time thinking about events that are coming up in the future that may lead to changes or disruptions.

For example, if you know that you will be switching jobs, moving, or helping an aging parent, there are steps you can take now that will make those transitions less stressful. For example, you might:

Create checklists of things you need to do before the event happens

Save money to avoid financial stress during times of transition

Talk to career planning or financial professionals about your goals

Discuss what will happen in the event of an emergency

Make conscious choices about what you want to change in your life

When you are the one to initiate a change, there's a stronger chance that you'll feel like you have more control over what's going to happen. It is often the unexpected changes in your life-whether it's a job loss, divorce, or death of a loved one-that can leave you feeling afraid and unsure of what will happen.

While avoidance can sometimes reduce stress in the short term, research has found that it actually increases stress and anxiety in the long term. For example, avoidance coping might lead you to stay in a job you hate or a relationship that makes you unhappy because you are afraid of dealing with the stress of making a significant change in your life. Avoiding that change, however, will inevitably lead to more stress and unhappiness down the road.

Preparing yourself and taking proactive steps toward dealing with changes is a better way to take control and feel empowered.

Change How You Think

The way you think about change plays a major role in determining how well you deal with it. Automatic negative thinking patterns can undermine your ability to focus on the positive. When negative thoughts bog you down, it is more challenging to have faith in your coping abilities.

Cognitive reframing is a technique that can help people change these negative thoughts. It's a strategy you can utilize in your day-to-day life to help look at situations with a more realistic, hopeful attitude.

Cognitive reframing is all about shifting the perspective from which you view a situation. For example, if you see a change as something that is upsetting the balance of your life, chances are that you're going to find it much more challenging to handle that change effectively.

It's more empowering to shift that perspective to focus more on your strengths and abilities to adapt. This way, you might see the positives that come out of the situation or believe in your ability to survive and thrive through change.

While cognitive reframing is something you can work on with the help of a therapist, it is also something that you do anytime you notice yourself caught in a pattern of negative thinking.

If you want to shift into a more positive mindset about a change in your life:

Notice cognitive distortions: Are you engaging in patterns like catastrophic or all-or-nothing thinking that worsen your thoughts?

Consider the evidence: How realistic are your thoughts? What evidence is there to dispute your negative thinking?

Be kind to yourself: Is your self-talk kind and compassionate? How can you show yourself kindness in this situation?

Recap

Maintain Routines

When the world is changing all around you, holding on to some sense of normalcy can be a useful way to minimize stress and find comfort. Research has found that maintaining routines can help people get a better handle on symptoms of stress and anxiety.

Simple things like going to bed and waking up at the same time each morning can provide you with a sense of structure, even if it feels like other areas of your life are less predictable.

Other activities you might want to incorporate into your daily routine that may help your mental well-being during times of transition include:

Getting regular physical activity

Eating healthy meals

Getting plenty of rest each night

Creating realistic daily goals

Carving out moments for relaxation techniques like mindfulness or deep breathing

The routine that works for you depends on your own situation and needs. Think about the habits and daily activities that bring you comfort and peace and try to work some of those into your day, even if you are dealing with difficult or dramatic shifts in your life.

Find Social Support

Social support is essential for mental well-being, but this can be particularly true when dealing with change.

Friends, loved ones, and other social connections can provide support in various ways when you are dealing with changes in your life. Ways you can benefit include gaining:

Emotional support: Friends and loved ones can listen and provide empathy and comfort.

Encouragement: Your social support system can also encourage you to succeed when confronting some type of challenge.

Information: Social connections can also be a great way to learn things and gain information that you might need as you make a change in your life.

Tangible support: Sometimes, changes bring a need for actual physical help with certain tasks. For example, you might need someone to bring you meals when you are sick or drive you to appointments.

Research has shown that social support interventions can be helpful for people who are dealing with health-related changes in their lives. According to one study, group meetings and phone calls help people feel less lonely and isolated after a severe diagnosis. These interventions also promoted health behaviors, such as getting exercise and taking medications, and were linked to improved survival rates.

It's important to remember that other people might not be able to recognize your need for a specific type of support. In many cases, asking for the kind of support you need is a great place to start.

For example, you might call a friend and ask if they have time to talk about what you are experiencing. Or you might ask a loved one if they are willing to help you move or drive you to an appointment. Being specific and making a direct request can help ensure that you get the help that you need.

Caring For Yourself

In addition to mentally preparing yourself for the challenges of making a change, it is also essential to be sure that you are taking care of yourself physically during a transition period. When things are in flux, you might find that you neglect many of your basic needs.

Stressful events often seem much worse when you are exhausted or hungry, so taking some time to attend to your basic needs by eating a healthy meal, getting some rest, or just taking some time to relax can restore some sense of equilibrium to your life.

When to Get Help

In some cases, people may develop an adjustment disorder following a difficult or stressful change. These conditions are marked by experiencing emotional and behavioral symptoms that create significant disruptions in a person's life, including relationships, work, and school.

If you are having difficulty dealing with change, talk to your healthcare provider or mental health professional. They can recommend treatments that may help. In some cases, psychotherapy, medications, or a combination of the two may help deal with symptoms of stress caused by changes in your life.

A Word From Verywell

You can't always control change, but you can manage how you respond to those changes. Developing a positive mindset is a great way to promote resilience, but it is also important to care for yourself during these times of transition. Make sure you are sticking to a routine, caring for your physical and emotional needs, and asking your loved ones for help when you need an extra hand.

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How to Get Better at Dealing With Change

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Change is an inevitable part of life, but knowing that doesn't mean dealing with change is easy. Finding ways to accept and cope can make these transitions smoother and less troubling. This article discusses why change is so difficult and what you can do to become better at dealing with change.

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With how fast industries move, technologies advance, and current events shift, organizational change is now a normal part of doing business. But change is rarely easy. And the bigger and more complex a business is, the more challenging it is to implement change effectively.

Yet the ability to incorporate necessary changes into how you do business plays a direct role in long-term success. That requires a thoughtful, strategic approach to every change the business takes on, which is what change management is all about.

As Rachel Breitbach, the Change Management and Agility Practice Lead at Farwell describes it, "change management helps you look at the impacts to people-how they're going to react to the barriers to adopting that change-and help them, ultimately, to be able to adapt and move forward."

What are change management models?

When the need for change becomes obvious, your organization must determine the best steps to take to put that change into effect. If you play it by ear and hope for the best, you're taking a big risk. Many change projects fail. But if you look to examples of successful change management to base your own strategy on, your odds of success increase.

That's where change management models come in. Change management models provide specific guidelines to help organizations through the process of planning and implementing change more successfully. Let's look at a proven change management process that's been developed by experts and tested by other businesses.

Why understanding change management models is valuable

Learning the different change management models teaches organizations about best practices to use in a change project. Whether you pick one model, or use some combination of a few, they can lead to development of a more effective change management methodology.

Change projects are frequently big, complicated, and costly. Breitbach points out that "you want to make sure that whatever you're investing in, whatever that change is, that it sticks." Using a trustworthy change management model helps you consider all the factors you need to get buy in from employees and stakeholders. And it offers a shortcut for developing a change management workflow you can use for each new change you implement, rather than starting from scratch every time.

8 types change management models to consider

There are eight main change management models organizations turn to for inspiration.

This model is named after its originator, Kurt Lewin, who developed it in the 1950s. It's divides the change process into three steps:

Unfreeze This is the preparation stage. Analyze how things work now, so you accurately understand what needs to change to get the intended results. In this stage, you also make your case to employees and communicate what to expect so everyone impacted is prepared.

Change This is the implementation phase. Put the change into practice, and keep communicating and providing support for all employees involved.

Refreeze To avoid falling back into the old way of doing things, develop a strategy to check in and make sure the change sticks. Review how the new processes work and measure how well you've reached your goals.

Developed by McKinsey & Company consultants this model involves breaking a change program into seven components to focus on:

1. Change strategy

2. Structure of your company

3. Business systems and processes

4. Shared company values and culture

5. Style or manner of the work

6. Staff involved

7. Skills your staff have

Breaking organizational change down into these core components helps to avoid overlooking any important factors.

Harvard professor and change management expert John Kotter created a theory focused primarily on the people involved in a change process and their psychology. He divides it into eight steps:

1. Create a sense of urgency to motivate people

2. Build your change team with leaders and change agents of various skills and departments

3. Define your strategic vision for what you want to accomplish

4. Communicate with everyone involved in the change management process to get them on board and make sure they know their role

5. Identify roadblocks and address anything causing friction

6. Create short-term goals to break your change management plan into achievable steps

7. Keep up the momentum throughout the process of implementation

8. Maintain the changes after the initial project is complete

The ADKAR model, developed by Jeff Hiatt, the founder of Prosci, formulates five main goals to base your change management process on.

Awareness Ensure everyone in your organization understands the need for change

Desire Make your case so that everyone involved wants the change

Knowledge Provide the information each person needs on how to accomplish their part of the change process

Ability Make sure all employees have the skills and training they need to successfully do their part

Reinforcement Continue to work with employees and stakeholders after the change is accomplished, to make sure they stay on top of doing things the new way

The nudge theory is less a step-by-step model than employing a particular mindset to encourage change. Instead of issuing top-down change requests from senior executives and expecting people to fall in line, the nudge theory is about finding a persuasive way to nudge your employees toward wanting the change on their own. This involves thinking about the change you want to make from your employees' point of view, presenting it based on how it will benefit them, treating it as a recommendation more than a command, and listening to feedback throughout the process.

Created by the change consultant William Bridges, this model emphasizes the emotional transition people go through in the course of experiencing and accepting a change. The model recognizes three stages companies should help guide employees through:

Ending, losing, and letting go-For many people, the first reaction to change is a resistance marked by fear and discomfort.

The neutral zone-When the change is starting to take place, people will be stuck between letting go of the old status quo and welcoming the new.

The new beginning-Finally, if handled well, once the new change is in place people will enter the stage of acceptance and comfort with the new way of doing things.

This framework, created by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, will be familiar to many as the model used to describe the experience of grief. It can be applied to many experiences of change, so understanding these stages can help you better address employees' response to an organizational change.

Denial-Refusal to believe is a common knee-jerk response to information a person doesn't want to hear.

Anger-When an unwanted change feels forced on a person, anger is natural.

Bargaining-People may try to push for a compromise to avoid having to accept the change entirely.

Depression-If employees are upset about the change and feel hopeless about it, they may enter a stage of depression.

Acceptance-When people realize there's no other option, they eventually reach the point of acceptance.

Ideally, you want to design your change approach to address these potential feelings head-on and keep employees from experiencing the worst of them.

8. The Satir change management methodology

Created by the family therapist Virginia Satir, this model is based on trends she saw in how families experience change. But as with the Kübler-Ross, it can also apply to business changes.

Late Status Quo-where you are when starting out

Resistance-the natural response many people have when change is first introduced

Chaos-when the change is starting to be implemented and there's still confusion and resistance

Integration-when productivity begins to level out, suggesting general acceptance

New Status Quo-when employees settle into the new normal

Create a change management methodology that's right for you

Each of these change management methodologies emphasize the importance of centering your employees in how you plan and implement a change. Think about their feelings and treat effective communication with them as a top priority.

There's not one change management style that's the best across the board. Instead, by understanding all of them, you can determine which one makes the most sense for your business needs, or take elements from each one that apply to your situation.

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Organizational change management: 8 proven models to navigate change

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With how fast industries move, technologies advance, and current events shift, organizational change is now a normal part of doing business. But change is rarely easy. And the bigger and more complex a business is, the more challenging it is to implement change effectively.

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The biblical basis of navigating change.

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The biblical basis of navigating change.

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"Has God really said..." the serpent whispered, introducing doubt into the Garden so long ago. Throughout the centuries, the devil has prompted man to question God's warnings about the consequences of sin, His promises of redemption, and His healing power. The answer to all of these is found in 2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" Believers since the time of Christ have found God's promise to change man's inner character through the work of the Holy Spirit to be true. But in our own generation, Satan has once again created doubts in God's people that God really means what He said.

Christian psychologists have added to these doubts when they suggest that "inviting the Holy Spirit to take over our life leaves part of our being untouched."﻿﻿ To declare such a thing is to say that if anyone is in Christ, he really is not a new creation. The old things have not really passed away; all things have not become new. No, if the psychologists are right, the old things have to be dredged back up and fondled until a mystical healing takes place. The bottom line is this: If 2 Corinthians 5:17 is wrong, then the Bible is false and Jesus is a liar. Paul would respond, "Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar" (Romans 3:4).

The Source of Total Transformation

Let's look at what God says about the changes He produces in people's lives. He promises, "I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 11:19). That is a description of a total transformation of the inner being. With that comes an entirely new lifestyle: "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Romans 6:4).

This is not a superficial change that lasts only a short time, "for you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God" (1 Peter 1:23). According to Ephesians 4:24, this is a "new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Paul repeats this concept in Colossians 3:10, where he says the new self "is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator."

This is a difficult concept for intellectuals to understand. Just as Nicodemus wondered how a grown man could be born again (John 3:3), modern scholars ask, "How can accepting Christ as Savior really transform a troubled mind? Surely it takes more than the Bible and the Holy Spirit to permanently heal the dysfunctional."

While some people insist that years of therapy are required to cleanse the troubled soul of painful memories, Paul recommends "the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5). The Bible provides real hope: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3). In view of psychological claims, is that "living hope" to be understood only as a warm theological sentiment? Does Jesus' resurrection mean nothing to our practical day-to-day experiences in this depraved world? If so, so the world has the right to laugh at Christians for clinging to such a weak and powerless faith.

Biblical Case Histories of Change

Let's look at some case histories in the Bible that show the transforming power of God through Jesus Christ. Look first at the change that took place in Peter's life. In Matthew 26:74, he cursed and denied the Lord because of his fear of the Jewish leaders. Yet in Acts 2:22-24 we witness a dramatic change as he fearlessly accused the Jewish leaders of murdering Jesus:

Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

Peter's life was undeniably and forever changed by the resurrection power of Jesus Christ and the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit.

Look at the change in the demon-possessed man in Mark 5. He was described as violent and in agony of soul. "Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones" (verse 5). But after his personal encounter with Jesus, when his town's people came to see what was happening, "they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid" (verse 15). He was "in his right mind" not after years of therapy, but after only a few minutes with the Savior.

A little further on it says that the man begged to go with Jesus. "Jesus did not let him, but said, 'Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.' So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed" (verses 18-20). Why do you suppose they were amazed? Because he had been hopelessly insane and now he was obviously healed. The Lord who cured dysfunctional minds centuries ago still heals hearts and minds in our own day.

Some integrationists might argue, "That may be true if the problem is demon possession, but for common problems of modern life we still need psychotherapy. For example, what about serious psychological problems like sexual addictions?"

Well, let's consider the woman of Samaria. Meeting her at the city well, Jesus asked her for water. "The Samaritan woman said to him, 'You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?' " Jesus sensed an opportunity to minister and turned the conversation to spiritual things: "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water" (John 4:9, 10).

When the woman showed an interest, Jesus invited her to get her husband so he could join their conversation. " 'I have no husband,' she replied. Jesus said to her, 'You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true' " (John 4:17, 18).

The woman was so amazed at Jesus' insight into her life that she recognized Him as a prophet. Jesus explained to her that He was the Messiah her people and the Jews had been expecting for so long. "Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 'Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?' They came out of the town and made their way toward him" (John 4:28-30). John writes that many of the townspeople became believers because of her testimony, and "they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, 'We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world" (verses 39-42). A woman who might be described as a nymphomaniac was totally changed and became a sincere evangelist through the power of God!

The apostle Paul's conversion was so intense that even his name was changed. Consider these contrasting descriptions of Paul's attitude toward the members of the early church: "Saul was still breathing o
ut murderous threats against the Lord's disciples" (Acts 9:1) and "then Paul answered, 'Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus' " (Acts 21:13). Only Christ can produce such sweeping change of character!

Personal Case Histories of Change

Example after example could be given of Christ's transforming power not only from the Scriptures, but also from the testimonies of today's saints. Every Bible-preaching pastor could relate story after story of dysfunctional people who have been saved and are being sanctified by the gentle work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

I could tell you of a woman who was on her way to commit suicide when she saw our church's banner on a movie-theater roof. She slipped into our service unnoticed and was gloriously saved by the grace of God. She had lived a life of sorrow, immorality, and abuse, but she became a beautiful witness of God's transforming grace.

Then there was a young man who timidly sat in the darkness at the back of the theater one Sunday. His shoulder-length hair and biker outfit masked the pain in his heart, and he was trapped by alcohol and drugs and deathly afraid of the future. Christ met him that morning and drew him into the family of God. He became a new creation in Christ and was freed from substance abuse. Now he and his wife and darling children work faithfully with us in our church. He serves as one of our elders.

A young lesbian began attending our church and listened intently to the promises of God. She found freedom in Christ and rejoices in what God has done for her. A young father struggled with deep anxiety and depression for years until he turned his life over to Christ and found relief. Now he is an example of patience and joy as he faithfully serves in our ministries. I could go on and on, but this is the point: Christ promises to change human lives if we will only follow His directions. And He keeps His Word!

Paul instructs believers to follow an entirely different therapy: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:2). Fortunately, the Lord does not merely tell us to be transformed; He tells us how it can actually be accomplished.

Four Biblical Steps

to Permanent Change

In the Scriptures, God has given us a clear four-step process of transformation. It is found in 2 Timothy 3:16, 17: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Step One: Teaching Doctrine

Our belief system is the foundation of our every thought and action. Some have said, "You are what you eat." In the spiritual realm, we are what we believe. If we want to help people solve the problems of living, we must teach them solid doctrine.

Many Christians actually believe that the truths of the Bible are just too complicated for the average person to understand. Please don't make that common mistake. The Scriptures were given to be read, understood, and obeyed by everyone.

We need to know about God and His attributes, His role as Creator, man's sinful condition, and God's plan of salvation. We need to know about the practical working of the Holy Spirit in our personal lives. All of that is food for the soul. That's what Jesus meant when He said, " 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God' " (Matthew 4:4).

New believers will not understand the deeper truths of God all at once, but if they are truly born again they will "like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it [they] may grow up in [their] salvation" (1 Peter 2:2). God wants believers to feed on the meat of the Word, not just milk, as they mature. The writer of Hebrews makes this plain:

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil (Hebrews 5:11-14).

Knowing how to distinguish good from evil is one of the purposes of doctrine. Because modern Christians have so little doctrinal training, they are easily led into false doctrines and empty philosophies. Not being familiar with the basic truths of the Word, they fall for psychological pabulum being advertised as deep wisdom. Their souls hunger for deeply satisfying truths, but they are given shallow and tainted solutions for their heartaches.

Jesus said that the reason people fall for error is that they "do not know the Scriptures or the power of God" (Matthew 22:29). The reason Christians are enticed into immorality, pornography, lust, unfaithfulness, and divorce is not just carnal weakness. The greater cause is that they do not know the truths of the Bible or God's power to deliver them from temptation. They believe the addictive lie that "I just couldn't help myself." Many Christians call themselves alcoholics because they believe the disease myth and the dogma that once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. Yet the Scriptures clearly promise total cleansing and power over sin. The reason so many believers are being dragged back into their painful past is that they believe the theories of psychologists who act as though they know more about the wounded heart than God does.

Doctrine can be called another name: wisdom from God. Solomon exhorts us to make the pursuit of wisdom our top priority: "Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding" (Proverbs 4:7). He insists that there is no better investment: "Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold" (Proverbs 3:13, 14). Paul exhorts Timothy, "Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers" (1 Timothy 4:16).

Biblical counseling is deeply concerned with accurate doctrine. Paul told Titus that a minister "must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it" (Titus 1:9). In counseling, I am not nearly as concerned with the latest finding or newest therapy as I am with a counselee's beliefs. I want to know what the counselee believes about God, what he believes about man's need, what he believes about Jesus, and what he believes about the work of the Holy Spirit. I want to know whether he is committed to obeying all the commands of Scripture or he is inclined to submit only to the principles that please him.

I want the counselee to understand the character of Jesus so that he will have God's model against which to measure his own attitudes and actions. The goal in counseling is for believers to "reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming" (Ephesians 4:13, 14).

Spiritual growth-developing maturity in Christ-and permanent change require accurate doctrine.

The secon
d step in the process of permanent change is confronting sin. It may be called rebuke, reproof, admonition, or any appropriate expression of disapproval of wrong beliefs, attitudes, or actions. The Greek term in 2 Timothy 3:16 is elegmos, which means "an exposure of." It is pointing out sin for the purpose of helping our brothers. As James says, "Remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins" (James 5:20).

Note that Jesus balances this responsibility by warning us to examine our own hearts before we dare to rebuke someone else: "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye" (Matthew 7:5). That is why a counselor's personal life is very relevant to the counseling situation.

Reproof is an uncomfortable procedure for the counselor and the counselee. I understand the reluctance with which pastors rebuke sinful behavior in their people. It is dangerous to tell a prominent member of the church board that he is sinning. It is risky to confront a strong-willed chairwoman of a music committee about divisive attitudes. The pastor's job may well be placed on the line. Nonetheless, God has called faithful preachers of the Word to the ministry of rebuking.

Think how Nathan the prophet must have trembled on his way to David's palace to confront him about his sin with Bathsheba. Yet with the authority of God he pointed at David and said, "Thou art the man!" Boldly he asked, "Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites" (2 Samuel 12:7, 9).

Fortunately for Nathan, David was tenderhearted toward the Lord and received the rebuke as from God and genuinely repented. Not all counselees react that way. Still, even if his life had been required, I believe Nathan would have fulfilled his calling. Pastors and counselors, we must do the same for our Lord and for our people. Failure to do so is a form of malpractice, and God will hold us accountable. "Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt" (Leviticus 19:17).

A person who truly wants to change will receive rebuke. He will repent if he has the attitude David had: "Let a righteous man strike me-it is a kindness; let him rebuke me-it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it" (Psalm 141:5).

We need to remind our people that loving, biblical rebuke is from the Lord: "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke" (Proverbs 3:11).

God does not enjoy rebuking His children, but He firmly says, "Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you" (Deuteronomy 8:5). I am comforted to know that "the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in" (Proverbs 3:12). Though reprimand is unpleasant, it is a necessary part of the process of change, and it is a proof of God's love and our relationship to Him.

A counselee who turns away from rebuke in pride and anger is not really interested in change. Until he humbles himself before the Lord and is ready to listen and obey, he will continue his destructive patterns. Though the rebuke may be received negatively, the biblical counselor is obligated to obey the Lord. Jesus commands believers to rebuke one another: "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him" (Luke 17:3).

As a point of balance, Paul reminds us to have a right attitude when we rebuke another: "Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers" (1 Timothy 5:1). Nonetheless, Paul insists that ministers fulfill their duty to "preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction" (2 Timothy 4:2). If there are those who resist, Paul says to "rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith" (Titus 1:13). Because the biblical counselor is speaking from the platform of the Scriptures, he is to "encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you" (Titus 2:15).

If a counselor loves his counselees, he will rebuke them when necessary and will lovingly plead with them to respond, as God urges us: "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent" (Revelation 3:19).

It is not enough for a counselor to point out sinful behavior and to tell a counselee to mend his ways. That's like a doctor with a patient who complains of pain in his shoulder. "When does it hurt?" the doctor asks. The patient lifts his arm over his head with great effort and misery, and says with a grimace, "When I raise my arm like this." The doctor takes his glasses off, leans back in his chair, and says, "Then don't raise your arm like that." The doctor didn't really help the patient. All he did was rebuke the action causing the pain.

Biblical rebuke gets down below the surface error to discover the real cause of sinful attitudes and behaviors. Almost without fail, the immediate cause of sin is wrong belief, wrong thinking patterns, selfishness, or some combination of the three. The young husband who is bitter toward his wife for resisting his too-frequent demands for sex may complain that she is "frigid" and unresponsive. But the truth is that he has a wrong understanding of God's purpose for sexual intimacy. He has allowed his mind to dwell on lustful thoughts, and is thinking only of his own physical urges rather than his wife's needs. An examination of the man's doctrinal (yes, doctrinal!) beliefs about sex, his pattern of dwelling on sexual thoughts, and his self-interest must be compared with biblical teaching on each of those issues in order to expose the sin behind the behavior.

Let's review the process so far: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16, 17). The first step for change is teaching right belief, or doctrine. The second is rebuke, or the recognition and exposure of error in belief, thinking, or action.

The third step is correction of those errors. The Greek term epanorthosis ( epi, "to"; ana, "up," or "again"; orthoo, "to make straight") is almost a picture of step three, for it literally means "to make upright again."

Paul explains this process in Ephesians 4 when he says, "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires" (verse 22). There is an active choice required in correcting one's self: putting off the old self, or, as Paul calls it, the "sinful nature." He reminds us that we do not have to satisfy our old nature: "Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation-but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it" (Romans 8:12).

Paul readily admits that Christians have experienced all of the evil desires common to man: "All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3). He is more explicit in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11:

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were.

This is one of the most important passages in biblical counseling. Note how Paul des
cribes the Corinthians: "That is what some of you were." He is saying to them, "You no longer are what you once were. God has totally transformed you! The old labels of your past life no longer apply."

Putting off the old nature requires an active choice of the one desiring change, but without the supernatural work of God, it is impossible. Paul completes the description of the process in 1 Corinthians 6:11: "But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." It is the work of the Holy Spirit to "wash" us clean-to correct us, to set us upright again. This is done in the name of Jesus as we identify with His crucifixion by considering our old desires as though they were dead. "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin" (Romans 6:6).

Choosing to change is difficult, to be sure. We humans hate change because of our fear of the unknown. We grow comfortable with the familiar, even if it is harmful. On the one hand, we want things to remain the same, yet pain and guilt can become so oppressive that we are motivated to seek relief. That is why a sense of guilt is necessary and productive. Just as physical pain is a sign that something in our body is damaged and needs to be treated, so spiritual pain-conviction and guilt-are given to us to show us that something in our inner man is wrong and that we need to seek correction.

Correction begins when a person accepts Jesus as Savior and Lord. "But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11). And it continues as the believer endeavors to "live by the Spirit, [so that he]...will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature" (Galatians 5:16).

Actual permanent correction, therefore, can only be accomplished when a person has been born again and has experienced the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. A counselor who does not understand this dynamic principle will try to help his client change outward behaviors by dealing with symptoms, but ultimately the counseling will fail unless the counselee makes a personal commitment of his inner being to Jesus Christ.

Step Four: Instruction in Righteousness

Correcting what is wrong in a person's life through faith in Jesus Christ enables a counselee to put off the old nature, at least for a time. The battle between the old nature and the new continues, however, as Paul confessed in Romans 7:15-19:

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing.

Correction is a choice. "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" (Romans 6:1, 2). And just as correction is a choice of submission that each person must make, so maintaining one's walk with God is also a matter of choice. Paul calls this part of the change process putting "on the new self," and indicates that it happens when we are "made new in the attitude of your minds" (Ephesians 4:24). The characteristics of the new self are "true righteousness and holiness."

The Scriptures indicate that the focus of our mind largely determines the results. Paul writes about the enemies of Christ, that "their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things" (Philippians 3:19). Paul said that those who "oppose the truth-men of depraved minds...as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected" (2 Timothy 3:8). Writing to Titus, Paul says, "To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted" (Titus 1:15).

In order to put on the new nature, Paul advises the child of God to "set your minds on things above, not on earthly things" (Colossians 3:2). Peter takes up this theme when he writes, "Prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 1:13). When the believer commits himself to this process, the result is similar to what God promised Israel: "I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people" (Hebrews 8:10).

Paul clarifies this process in Romans 12:1, 2 and declares that putting on the new nature involves every area of one's life-physical, spiritual, social, and mental: "I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices [physical discipline], holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship [spiritual discipline]. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world [social, cultural discipline], but be transformed by the renewing of your mind [mental discipline]."

Each of these four areas needs to be explored in counseling. What is the counselee doing physically that is displeasing to the Lord? What spiritual principles is he violating that contribute to his problems? What social and cultural compromises is he making that prevent him from living a life that is pleasing to the Lord? What is the focus of his mind? Is he filling his thoughts with worldly values, goals, and solutions, or is he concentrating on Christ Himself and the glorious promises in His Word?

God offers His children incredible fringe benefits for following His blueprint for change. Not only has He provided a way for us to live eternally in the future, but He gives us the keys to joyful living in the present.

Characteristics of the Transformed Life

Psalm 119 is only one of many passages on the transforming power of God's Word. Consider some of the characteristics that can be manifest in believers' lives when they fill their inner beings with biblical principles.

* Their lives are obedient to the Lord: "Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. They do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways. You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed" (verses 2-4).

* Their lives are full of praise: "I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws" (verse 7).

* Their lives are characterized as pure: "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word" (verse 9).

* They have victory over sin: "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you" (verse 11).

* They enjoy obeying the Lord: "I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word" (verse 16).

* They receive direct counsel from the Word: "Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors" (verse 24).

* They are refreshed and strengthened by the Word: "My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word" (verse 28).

* They are people of integrity: "I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws" (verse 30).

* They experience inner freedom: "I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free" (verse 32); "I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts" (verse 45).

* They become unselfish: "Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain" (verse 36).

* They turn away
from worthless and destructive practices and philosophies: "Turn my eyes away from worthless things; renew my life according to your word" (verse 37).

* They have hope: "Do not snatch the word of truth from my mouth, for I have put my hope in your laws" (verse 43); "remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope" (verse 49).

* They experience comfort in the midst of suffering: "My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise renews my life" (verse 50); "I remember your ancient laws, O Lord, and I find comfort in them" (verse 52).

* They develop good judgment: "Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands" (verse 66).

* Their hearts are sensitive: "[Unbelievers'] hearts are callous and unfeeling, but I delight in your law" (verse 70).

* They have eternal values: "The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold" (verse 72).

* They develop wisdom: "Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me" (verse 98); "I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes" (verse 99); "I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts" (verse 100).

* They find guidance: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path" (verse 105).

* They have an aversion for evil: "Because I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path" (verse 128).

* They understand deep truths: "The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple" (verse 130).

* They sorrow over the sinfulness of the world: "Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not obeyed" (verse 136).

* They experience joy in the midst of trouble: "Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands are my delight" (verse 143).

* They become people of prayer: "I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word" (verse 147).

* They remain true to God even through persecution: "Many are the foes who persecute me, but I have not turned from your statutes" (verse 157).

* They have peace and stability: "Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble" (verse 165).

* They receive help from God: "May your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts" (verse 173).

And these promises are from one psalm alone! They are promises for every child of God who will seek His truth, regardless of how serious our problems are. They are promises for me. They are promises for you.

Go back and note all the characteristics of mental health that are related to the Scriptures. How dare psychologists tell us that the Scriptures are deficient in ways that only modern psychology can supply! The Bible provides all the necessary information for "training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16, 17). Thoroughly equipped.

Instruction in righteousness is the maintenance program for spiritual and mental health. Too many Christians mistakenly believe that they can experience "maintenance-free" spirituality; that it comes without choice, effort, or discipline. The truth is that it requires daily submission of our wills to the Lord by feeding on His Word to sustain the transformed life. There really is no mystery to this process; it just seems like too much work. We would rather depend upon a radio preacher or televangelist for our spiritual food. We would rather warm our hearts with contemporary music than the cleansing coals of God's Word. We would rather pick up the newspaper than the Bible. We would rather play than pray. We want excuses instead of exhortation. We want man's theories instead of God's truth. We want comfort rather than conviction. We want to be entertained more than we want holiness. We want self-esteem instead of self-denial. But instruction in righteousness requires us to turn back to God and His Word.

There you have it-four steps in a biblical method for permanent change: doctrinal teaching, acceptance of rebuke, correction of wrong patterns of thinking and acting by putting off the old nature, and building up the new nature through instruction in righteousness.

In summary, let us review the two systems that claim to effect change in people's lives. One comes from the heart of God, the other from the heart of man. You must decide which system you will follow.

Psychology has offered an alternative to Christianity with a fully developed system of faith. Christianity starts with the assumption "In the beginning, God..."-the existence of the Creator-while psychology starts with the assumption "In the beginning, bog..."-the evolutionary theory. Christianity sees man as a special creation of God, made in His moral image, while psychology views man as the end result of billions of years of random events.

Christianity believes that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and the only absolute source of truth; psychology believes that truth is where you find it and that man's mind is the final judge. Christianity has a leadership of ministers who preach from the Scriptures; psychology has a priesthood of therapists who quote one another. Christianity is supported by the tithes and offerings of its disciples; psychology is supported by fee schedules and insurance payments.

The Bible claims to have explanations for man's deepest questions: Where did we come from? Why are we here? How are we to behave? How can we change? What is our future? Psychology claims to have even deeper answers for these ultimate questions, which can only be revealed by therapists who have had years of formal training.

The Bible claims to reveal the motives of the human heart, while psychology claims to explain the unconscious drives of the human mind. Christianity claims that humans can be transformed by the miraculous and mysterious power of God. Psychology claims that it can transform man by helping him to understand, accept, and love himself.

The Bible says that man is by nature a sinner, separated from the life of God. Psychology says that man is essentially good and needs to recognize his full potential. The Bible says that without Christ, man is hopeless; psychology says that man is limited only by his imagination. The Bible says that man is lost and that Christ is the only way; psychology says it can help man find his own way.

The Bible calls sin by name; psychology says that man suffers from disorders. The Bible says that God's people must not conform to the world; integrationists say that we must counsel the way the world does. The Bible says that each person is responsible for his own choices; psychology says that each person is a victim of his environment.

The Bible says that man can be forgiven, cleansed, and healed. Psychology says we must return to our past, embrace our pain, and explore our inner self. The Bible's answer for guilt is man's repentance and God's forgiveness; psychology's way is for the conscience to be desensitized. The Bible says that we must crucify self; psychology says that we must actualize self. The Bible says that our battle is spiritual; Freud says that the battle is sexual.

Down through the centuries, without the aid of psychotherapy or innovative techniques, Christianity has produced millions of permanently transformed lives by the liberating truths found in Jesus Christ. In barely one century, psychology has captured the minds of millions with a message that has enslaved mankind to vacillating theories which promote sinful behavior.
Psychology points man to self. The Bible points man to God.
Lawrence J. Crabb, Jr., Inside Out (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1991), p. 49.

© 2010, Matt. All rights reserved.

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A Biblical Method For Lasting Change | LearnTheology.com

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"Has God really said..." the serpent whispered, introducing doubt into the Garden so long ago. Throughout the centuries, the devil has prompted man to question God's warnings about the consequences of sin, His promises of redemption, and His healing power.

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Understanding the effects of change on a small rural community.

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Prairie stays put, president leaving - ChristianWeek

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THREE HILLS, AB-Prairie Bible Institute (PBI) will remain in Three Hills. At meetings in late October, the well-known Christian training institution's board of governors rejected a proposal to move part or all of the school from the town of 3,600...Read More→

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What does good leadership look like when navigating change...

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Productive change doesn't happen by itself. As an effective change leader, you must know how to guide it using these 3 elements.

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We must understand how to correctly approach change to ensure that the change is both experienced and approached well.

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Pioneer church consultant Lyle E. Schaller, who consulted with more than 6,000 congregations, declared in his book Strategies for Change: "The need to initiate and implement planned change from within an organization...is the number-one issue today for most congregations..." (p.10).
Change is disruptive
Psychiatrist Dr. Karl Menninger, founder of the famous clinic which bears his name in Topeka, Kansas, observes: "All of us on the staff (900) are convinced that all change is experienced by all people as a loss and is followed by anger."

Management guru Peter Drucker in his book Landmarks of Tomorrow lists three risks in innovation and change:

* It will make current practices and patterns of operation obsolete.

* It will fail.

* It will succeed and produce unforeseen consequences that will create new problems.

These unintended consequences have been experienced in many lines of work. For example, biologist Garrett Hardin observed: "You can never merely do one thing."
A climate in which change can occur
Several management leaders talk about four alliterative words. They are trust, time, talking and tolerance.

Most horses and most people do not like to be surprised. Before the worn out blanket under the horse's saddle is replaced, the wise owner positions a new one in the stall to absorb the scent of the horse and the stable.
Frustration, confession and forgiveness
Often a leader desires changes in the congregation. Sometimes this is because of the normal frustrations of dealing with self-centered, stubborn and sinful members.

A wise counselor suggested that it is important to hold up a mirror to examine oneself as well. Does the image reveal those same kinds of tendencies?

William Bridges author of the book Transitions counsels: "Genuine beginnings depend on...inner realignment rather than on external shifts" (p.138). Before a breakthrough can happen in the congregation what changes may God first want to bring about in you?
The changed church leader
One pastor shared an experience that turned his personal ministry around. He had never been a high achieving student. He later discovered he had a hyperactivity syndrome.

However, as a pastor he had one basic focus: get prepared for Sunday-that he could do. About the same time, early in ministry, he was led to complete a spiritual gift inventory. It revealed that among his top gifts were teaching and to his shock...knowledge! This encouragement assured him that despite his lack of academic success his ministry would be blessed by the Lord.

Others have received a renewed sense of call and their "fit" through research and methods developed by Lavern Brown, Gordon Penfold and Gary Westra found in their recent book Pastor Unique and at turnaroundpastor.com.
Will a group change?
In one established congregation at least five pastors tried to change the role of what the members called "the deacons." According to their denomination, deacons were to provide care for the poor, sick and shut-ins, but this group only wanted to receive the offering.

How much time and energy had been invested in the re-education process to no avail? The answer is to add a new team for a new task.
Seasons when change may occur
Many have observed change when a new pastor arrives. In addition, change in a congregation may occur rapidly when a number of members return with excitement and new ideas from a retreat. The worldview and priorities of teens and adults are dramatically altered by taking a mission trip.

Consultants and professors Norman Shawchuck and Roger Heuser, in Leading the Congregation, reveal themes of change during traditional church seasons (p. 128). Changes in music, mood and our responses are thus appropriate.

Advent - preparation, expectation, hope

Christmas - surprise, gift, joy

Epiphany - light, witness, call

Lent - reflection, repentance, increased commitment

Easter - resurrection, new life

Harvest - reaping, fruitfulness

For change to occur there is often a necessary but overlooked "season." A four-year "Mainline Evangelism Study" revealed that the few congregations that had exciting success in reaching new adults with the gospel had rediscovered prayer.
The Lord is in the business of change
Dozens of Bible verses are about change. The seeds of change may take time to bring forth fruit. In 1 Corinthians 3:6, Paul planted; Apollos watered; the Lord gave the increase.

The God of the Bible is emphatic: "I will make all things new" (Isaiah 43:19).
Photo source: istock
Jim Farrer
A broadly-trained church consultant, Jim Farrer is the founder of Vital Signs Church Consulting and a member of the Society for Church Consulting. A veteran of ministry positions in Canada and the U.S., he has trained leaders from 18 denominations and led seminars and coaching sessions nationwide. His articles have been published in the Journal of Evangelism and Missions and the Great Commission Research Journal. You can reach him by e-mailing revup1@yahoo.com or calling 814 629-5211.
Learn More "

More on Vision, Mission, Strategy and Culture

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Pioneer church consultant Lyle E. Schaller, who consulted with more than 6,000 congregations, declared in his book Strategies for Change: "The need to initiate and implement planned change from within an organization...is the number-one issue today for most congregations..." (p.10).

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Thinking about Renaming Your Church? Consider These Important Factors Before Moving Forward

Remember phone books? It's been a while, I know, but they used to be our primary resource for finding local listings for pizza parlors, mattress stores, and churches.

If you found an old, local phone book and began to flip through it, you'd find that a lot of things have changed. You'd probably notice that you don't recognize many of the church names in your area, not because they've closed up, but because they changed their names since. In fact, many churches have changed their name at least once in the past few decades.
Reflecting People and Culture
Church names used to be easy to come up with. They were simply descriptive of denomination and place. "We are the very first Baptist church in Reno, Nevada. What should we call ourselves?" Simple. "First Baptist Church of Reno!"

Or "Our building is going to be on Golden Road. What should we name it?" Easy. "Golden Road Bible Church!"

But as churches shifted toward more strategic outreach, and as church leaders became attentive to their branding and communications, church names started to become more reflective of the people and culture inside rather than their place on the map.

Strategic Storytelling

In my role as Director of Strategy at PlainJoe Studios, I've had the privilege of guiding many churches through the branding and re-branding process, which we call "strategic storytelling." We help churches identify their core story (their history, people, and culture) and then strategize how they will tell that story to the community they intend to serve. Often, that process includes deciding whether or not they should re-name the church.

I believe that strategic naming (whether for your church or business) should always follow a process that does two things; 1) ensures you're aiming at something and 2) helps to narrow your focus in support of your organization's purpose and story.

But before you call all the "creative people" in your congregation to a church name brainstorm (don't do that, by the way), start by asking yourself (and your key leaders) some strategic questions that will guide you toward discovery of your church's core identity.

6 Questions to Ask When Renaming Your Church

Put some thought into these questions to help guide your church re-naming discussions.

Why do we want to rename our church?

If it's not broke, don't fix it... but if there's a strategic reason to change your name, get out the tools. If you're moving locations, transitioning leadership, or introducing a new missional focus, it might be the perfect time to change your name. Don't change your name just because you're bored. If you're struggling internally, a new name is probably not your best solution. Beware the trap of changing your name to look "New and Improved" while under the hood, it's the same old thing.

What is our church's history?

Your church stands on the shoulders of where you've been. Take time to discover your history. Your church was started by a particular group of people, at a particular time in history, and for a God-guided reason. Your history is marked by formative milestones which defined its place in the community and created the culture you share today. Some things have remained the same, and some things have changed drastically. Consider how your church's history brought you to where you are today.

Where are we headed?

Paint an imaginative picture of your preferred future. Close your eyes and imagine walking into your church five years from now. Think about what it looks like, how it feels. Consider what success looks like for your church and how you'll be accomplishing your mission. With the future in mind, think about how well your current name might still fit or if there might be a better time to change the name in coordination with another strategic change-like a move or construction of a new building.

What common themes seem to repeat in the life of our church?

Try to discern patterns in what God does through and in your church. God may have provided a scripture, metaphor, or distinct picture of your church's identity and direction. Think about common phrases, sayings, or cultural touchstones that resonate with where you're going as a church. Consider what the actual values of your church are, not the ones printed in the charter, but the things that are more caught than taught. Then imagine the elevator conversation where you describe your church and emphasize certain specifics to a stranger who has never attended.

What kind of names are we drawn to?

There are different kinds of names. Determine what type and style fits best with where your church is headed. Ask yourselves what you hope for in a new name. Consider whether there are any non-negotiables that must be included or avoided in your name like a denomination or certain descriptor. Look around and decide if there are any local landmarks or geographical areas that should play into your new name. List some of the other church names you see as being effective and ask yourself why you're drawn to them.

How could our new name be interpreted negatively?

Don't forget to look at your new name from all angles. Just because a good idea makes sense in an elders' meeting doesn't mean it translates the way you want it to for every audience. Ask yourselves what it might communicate to people outside of the church, and inside. There may be certain cues or connotations that can be inferred from the name that you haven't thought of yet. Then take your name and smash it together into a website URL to see what new words it forms.

Re-naming your church is a monumental move. It's not something to consider lightly. As you consider your new name, remember that it will be the most public reflection of your church's identity deep into the future, even if they don't bring phone books back.

If you're ready to explore renaming your church, check out the free Church Name Discovery Tool by Plain Joe. This tool will help you narrow your focus to highlight your church's purpose and story. Check it out.

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A Church Name Change: 6 Critial Questions to Ask Before Taking Action

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Thinking about Renaming Your Church? Consider These Important Factors Before Moving Forward Remember phone books? It's been a while, I know, but they used to be our primary resource for finding local listings for pizza parlors, mattress stores, and churches.

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Our mindset will determine where our corporation/church will go.

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The change must being with us.   Our team will determine the success.  Wise recognition along each step will point to success or failure of the task.

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The only thing consistent in a leaders life is change.  "Leaders should want far more for their people thank from their people" - Kevin Myers. 

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Only Jesus possesses all the skills to be a perfect leader.  Our team will greatly determine how successful our organization will become.

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Only Jesus possesses all the skills to be a perfect leader.  Our team will greatly determine how successful our organization will become.

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Lead Like Jesus // Week 2 - Hands of a Leader // Ashley Wooldridge

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The messy middle can be a terrifying place to be.  To experience the full circle we all have to experience the middle somewhere along the journey.

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Find Review here: https://blog.matrixlms.com/the-7-principles-of-fierce-conversations-every-leader-should-know/

Author Susan Scott sums up most fierce conversations this way:
“We must answer the big questions in our organizations. What are the questions that need posing? Philosophers, theologians, scientists, and great teachers have debated this for ages:

What is real?

What is honest?

What is quality?

What has value?

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A Book Review on "Necessary Endings," by Dr. Henry Cloud

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A Book Review on "Necessary Endings," by Dr. Henry Cloud

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https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/book-reviews/view/20786/necessary-endings

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"Great is the art of the beginning, but greater is the art of ending," Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once observed. There is a time and a season for everything and this must be acknowledged by all people. Businesses are constantly letting go of old product lines or restructuring divisions within large corporations. In relationships of marriage and friendship, people do occasionally need to say goodbye and move on to other pursuits. But often we are stuck for a long time, unable to muster the strength or the courage to let go of our attachments.

In this accessible and well-done book, Henry Cloud, a psychologist and leadership consultant, explores the benefits that accrue to those who have the sense and the courage to end something they have invested time and energy in for a long time. There are five internal maps that put a hold on endings: having a high pain threshold, covering for others, believing that coming to the end of something means failure, misunderstood loyalty, and codependent mapping. Cloud puts a positive spin on things when he writes:

"Endings are a part of every aspect of life. When done well, the seasons of life are negotiated, and the proper endings lead to the end of pain, greater growth, personal and business goals reached, and better lives. Endings bring hope."

Using the example of the pruning, Cloud shows that although it seems to be destructive, it is actually a way to keep the plant healthy by throwing away dead branches and giving the best buds a break by taking away others. In chapters on identifying people you can trust, creating urgency, tackling internal and external barriers, having the conversation and embracing the grief; the author show how "endings are a natural part of the universe, and your life and business must face them, stagnate, or die." Necessary Endings by Henry Cloud is a practical and stimulating assessment of this fact in our professional and personal lives.

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Necessary Endings by Henry Cloud | Review | Spirituality & Practice

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"Great is the art of the beginning, but greater is the art of ending," Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once observed. There is a time and a season for everything and this must be acknowledged by all people. Businesses are constantly letting go of old product lines or restructuring divisions within large corporations.

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When we deny our stories, they define us. When we own our stories, we get to write a brave new ending. I know this is true. I may have learned it as a researcher but I live this truth as a daughter, a partner, a leader, a sister, a mother, and a friend. When we push down hurt or pretend that struggl…

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Discover what Westlife Church is all about.

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Q&A with Dr. Beth Allison Barr: how ‘biblical womanhood’ is a recent phenomenon

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The history of Christianity shows different and evolving interpretations on how Christian women should live. Medieval Christians for example prized joining a convent and devoting one’s life to God more than becoming a wife. This history is the subject of a new book by Dr. Beth Allison Barr, a profes

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A blog about simple city living, adoption, good food, and missional community.

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Brené Brown: Hi, everyone. I'm Brené Brown, and this is Dare to Lead. Ugh, man, welcome to the most incredible conversation. I am talking to America Ferrera, actor, director, producer, activist, leader extraordinaire. She... she just kind of defies categories, which is both beautiful, and I would say intentional after talking to her. I learned so much in this conversation, I'm still thinking about it. I've wanted to talk to her for so long, and once we got started, I didn't want it to end. So we're making this into a two-part episode, really about, not just about leading, but about power and integration and wholeness, and kind of the source of where... The source of our conviction about who we are. I'm so grateful that you're here to be a part of this. We're going to dig in and at the end of part two, I'll talk to you a little bit about how I see her embodying so many of the concepts I've written about, especially this concept of integration for many years, but you just don't see it. You don't see it living and breathing all the time like you do in this interview, so again, so glad y'all are here.

[music]

BB: So before we get started, let me tell you a little bit about America. She is an award-winning actor, director and producer, she's known for her breakthrough role as Betty Suarez on ABC's hit comedy, Ugly Betty. She won several awards for this, including an Emmy, a Screen Actors Guild award, a Golden Globe, an Alma Award. She has produced and directed episodes of Netflix's hit Latinx dramedy, Gentefied, which if you haven't seen Gentefied, let me tell you, you know something's good when in a millisecond of television or film, you can feel both despair and unbound hope. It's just... Gentefied is such a great show. She has also executive produced, directed episodes of and starred in NBC's beloved workplace comedy, Superstore. So good. And she'll be making her film directorial debut with, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter. We'll talk about that a little bit. That's going to be out in Netflix, I think in 2022 or 2023. I'm just, again, so glad you're here, do not want to keep you another nano-second from this conversation, let's jump in with America Ferrera.

[music]

BB: So I have about seven hours worth of podcast questions for you. Welcome to Dare to Lead.

[laughter]

America Ferrera: Thank you. Oh, I'm so happy to be on. I'm such a fan of yours and this show in particular.

BB: I just... I think so many of us know you, and I'm so curious about your experiences as a leader, because you are running a lot of things these days.

[laughter]

AF: Yeah, I got a couple of things going on that wasn't as a conscious decision as it might appear. I feel like I was just following the threads of the things that I cared about and my passions, and then I looked up and saw, "Oh my goodness, how did all of this happen? How did I build all of this?" But it's happening and it's a really incredibly exciting time for me, and honestly, in a place in my life and in my leadership that is all about stepping further into my power. And like I said, such a fan of this podcast because I feel like there's so much support from the amazing people you speak to. I've cried, I've laughed, I've Amened, I've done it all from the inside of my Toyota Highlander, because it's so important to hear the challenges of leading in any situation, be reflected back at you because it is a challenge constantly. Even if all you're leading is yourself, even if all you're leading is your own path, your own journey, your own vision and coming up against your own fears, it's like leading an army of one, even if it's just you.

BB: No, I mean, it's true. And watching you has been like... I guess watching you started, it felt like an army of one, but then now I look at you and you're leading groups of people, you're leading teams, you're leading big efforts. So I want to start where we always start, which is, tell me your story. Take me back to the very beginning, little you.

AF: Yeah, well, I was born in Los Angeles, California. My parents are immigrants from Honduras. I'm the youngest of six children, and I was the only one born in Los Angeles. I waited until I was in my hometown to come out, but yeah, I'm the sixth of six children. My mother raised us virtually single, alone. My father went back to Honduras when I was almost nine years old, and so she was a single mother with six children between the ages of 9 and 13, 8 and 13. So that's a big part of the story. Being raised by a single mother, immigrant, doing everything and anything to survive, to provide and to thrive. She came to this country so that we could have every opportunity, and I think any child of immigrants understands the vital piece of their story that that sacrifice plays. You carry that with you into everything, it's never just you, it's never just your dreams and hopes in the classroom or on the field or whatever you're doing, you know that you're really playing your part in the longer story of legacy and sacrifice that came before you, so that I could have the opportunities that I've had, and so that's a really big part of it for me.

AF: I was raised in the San Fernando Valley, the neighborhood's called Canoga Park and Woodland Hills. 818, anyone out there listening, 818 knows. And I from a very, very young age, identified myself as a performer, I was in kindergarten, so what, five years old. My oldest sister was in fifth grade and I remember watching the fifth grade production of the Wizard of Oz and the overwhelming sensation in my body was rage that nobody had asked me to be in the Wizard of Oz. [laughter] And that was the first time I just, I saw my sister up there playing a flying monkey or whatever it was, very begrudgingly, and I sat in my seat just knowing that I belonged on that stage. And so I was super young. I'm five years old when I said I'm going to be an actress, and also I'm going to be a human rights lawyer. Which is insane, I don't even know how a five year old knows what a human rights lawyer is. I'm sure I just heard someone say the words and I was like, "That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to fight for good, but also, I'm going to be an actress." And that five year old girl, she spoke it out loud, and here I am. She knew what she wanted.

BB: Wow. Talking about prophetic. I mean, I'm going to be an actor and I'm going to be an activist. And how would you define yourself today?

AF: Yeah. You know, it's such a loaded question because, sure I think I could fall under any of those categories. But I feel like my journey has been one of trying to escape those categories, trying to escape any of those labels. Because what it feels like is fracturing myself, fracturing my being into, "This is the part of me that's an actress and a performer and a storyteller, and this is the part of me that is an activist and fights and cares about the world." And that is not, that's just false. It's such a... It's so the wrong image for what it feels like to be me and what it feels like to be in my body, which is that, to me, storytelling is saving the world. To me, saving the world is about telling good stories, and I feel like I had to go on my journey that felt really lonely for a long time to figure that out and realize that it didn't have to make sense to other people and I didn't have to take one hat off to put the other one on and vice versa.

AF: And it was sort of the tension that haunted me, taunted me for so long. And it really isn't until much more recently, I would say in the last five years, that I stopped fighting myself. That I stopped seeing these things as contradictions, because other people saw them as contradictions, because other people saw my work as a storyteller, my work as someone outspoken about the issues I care about as being in separate lanes. So I just had accepted that for too long, knowing in my bones that that was not my experience. My experience was that I am a human being, first and foremost, who is passionate about the world and what is the world if not the stories we tell, the stories we believe about ourselves, about each other that dictate how we are in the world and who we are to one another.

BB: So I want to pause for a second and I want to really, really dig in to what you're talking about, and I want to play back some of it and see if I'm on target and see if I'm not. Because whether I'm talking to you about that five year old who said I'm going to do all these things and then hearing about your journey from five until now, about the journey of refusing to compartmentalize the parts of you. What I hear you talking about is something I, when I work with leaders, and it doesn't matter whether they're creatives or they're CEOs of Fortune 50 companies, there's always a struggle around integration and this idea that we are one person. And I just have not heard it captured as clearly and beautifully as you just captured it. I think inherent in every transformational leader that I've ever worked with is a fight and ultimately a refusal to compartmentalize who they are.

AF: Yes. And I would even say for me, my experience, is that I can't be the leader I'm meant to be without all of the parts of who I am. That my, the unique intersection of who I am the actor, the performer, the storyteller, the person with 20 years experience in media in front of and behind the camera, mixed with the passion and the education I have sought out around the issues I care about is what gives me my power, is what gives me my leadership. It tells me where I belong, it tells me what I have to offer. And if I'm not occupying the space of all of the things I am, I'm not being the unique leader that I can be.

BB: God bless. Keep going.

AF: Yeah. And I was going to say, and that came to light for me in such an incredible way, I feel so grateful these moments in my... It's like we walk around thinking, "Things circle around and you don't always know what you're building, but you just sort of follow your passions and keep your head down and do your work and it's not for you to understand right now, you'll understand it later." But when you actually get those moments in life, the aha moments of, "That's what was happening. That's why I had to go on that journey. That's why I had to... That's why I wasn't allowed to give up. That's why I had to shoot an independent film in Arizona and a pilot in Austin and finish my degree and a term paper on the floor of the Phoenix Airport, and wanted to do nothing but cry into my lap." That's what that was about. That was about me, like you said, refusing to give up parts of me that felt so vital to who I am and I was 18, 19, 20 years old when I was in college, wanting to be in college, studying international relations, learning about the world in a way that was painful. I think, for a lot of us, education is painful because you realize how little you know, you realize how little you've been taught, how little you've been exposed to.

AF: And I think there are a lot of complex feelings around that. I was a straight A student, I did everything that was expected of me, I was top of my class. I had all the markers of being smart and capable and I checked all the boxes. But when I got into college and had to think and learn in a different way, I felt betrayed. I felt like no one had taught me how to really think for myself, no one had taught me how to learn. They taught me how to take tests and pass tests and get As and be top of my class, but that's not the same thing as thinking. That's not the same thing as having ideas and having opportunities to implement those ideas and see what happens next and learn from mistakes. And so, my college education was super painful. And so much so that in my freshman year of college, I thought I had to give up acting because I was so ashamed of how little I knew about the world. I was a senior in high school on 9/11, so you know, 17 years old about to enter college, obviously very, very impacted by what was happening in the world and feeling so ashamed of how little I knew and how little I understood and how little context I had been given for the world that I lived in.

AF: And I studied international relations and I was learning so much and it was overwhelming and it was... The world can be a very depressing, overwhelming place when taken all at once in that way. And I remember just thinking, how. How could I possibly give my life and my time to acting, to making movies, when the world is so ill and needs so much healing. That seems selfish and not useful and not the right thing to be doing, although my passion was in storytelling and acting and I so shockingly had found opportunities so much earlier than I ever imagined. I got my first job, my first paying job as an actress when I was 17, a junior in high school. And I was 17 when I did my first film that probably anyone ever saw me in, which was Real Women Have Curves.

BB: Oh God. Let me just stop and say, that's where I met you, that's where I fell in love with you, that's where I was changed by you. You were different. God, you were beautiful. That movie. So you were 17...

AF: Yeah, I was 17 and nobody in my life thought that I was ever going to have the career and the opportunities that I've had, that I wanted and that I dreamed of for myself. And not because they were malicious, but because they lived in the real world. Because my mother was an immigrant, single mother struggling to keep the lights on and she didn't come to this country for me to be a starving poor actress. She wanted me to get an education and go to a good college and get a good job. And so I don't the people in my family and my teachers and my friends and the people who just... There was very little encouragement, and there was enough. There was enough encouragement from a few people that kept me going, but I had to hold that for myself because no one else saw it for me, and I never imagined that it would happen so soon and I was 17 years old, in the right place at the right time.

AF: Yes, I worked hard, and I did whatever it took to seize any opportunity that came my way, but I happened to be in the right place at the right time when Real Women Have Curves was finally being turned into a movie by HBO and the writer of that movie, Josefina López, had written that for herself when she was 18. It had taken her 11 years to get that movie made, and I always think about that because I was six years old when she first started trying to tell that story. And the fortune of being a 17 year old girl in the right place at the right time when someone said "Yes." When someone said, "Okay, we'll make this movie, we'll tell this story." It's a miracle for me that I got to be the one to step into that opportunity. And heartbreaking on other levels. Because why shouldn't she have gotten to tell her story and be the one to tell it and be the one to be in that role? But I got the opportunity, and it changed the direction of my life. I remember up, until that point, all I wanted to do was act, and all the culture told me was that acting meant being famous and having a lot of people like you and talk about you and see you. And this is what success looks like. And I loved acting, I knew I loved it in my bones, but the only marker for success I had was like, "Well, when I'm famous, I'll be successful, right? People will know me. I'll know I made it."

AF: But the fact that that was the first experience I ever had gave my career and life a direction and meaning that it didn't have for me before. And we told the story, Real Women Have Curves, we traveled the world with that film. I met men, women, young and old, black and white, gay and straight and everything in between, all around the world who saw themselves in this 17-year-old chubby, brown girl in East LA. And it taught me something so important, which was that, our stories matter. My story mattered, and that people not only wanted to see it, they needed to see it. And not because they were curious about me, but because they were curious about themselves. They were curious to see themselves reflected back at them in the culture.

AF: So, for my first experience as a 17-year-old kid straight out the gate, to get to tell a story that meant so much to so many people, showed me the function of storytelling. That what it can be, what it can do. And it can change people's lives. Obviously, it changed my life. But for my whole career, I've had a front row seat to so many people telling me what it means to them to see their lived experiences reflected back at them, and so that became a driving force for me in my work as an actress, wanting to not just be an actress and be famous and make money at all costs, but to tell stories that really had the power to help shift culture and to help people be seen. And I have a very specific story, this was a real flash point for me.

BB: Wait, before you start there, I want to back you up because I want to help you, help us build the bridge between when you were 17, you did Real Women Have Curves and you traveled the world. Were you a senior in high school?

AF: I was a senior in high school when we filmed it, and then I was a freshman in college when it came out into the world.

BB: You went to USC, right?

AF: Mm-hmm.

BB: Was there any question for you like, "God, I'm really great at this acting thing, I've already filmed my first movie, I'm not going to school."

AF: No. For a couple of reasons, one was that was not an option given to me in my household.

[laughter]

AF: College was not an option, it was mandatory.

BB: Okay.

AF: And that was so deeply ingrained in me from such a young age, that education was everything. I couldn't ever conceive of not furthering my education, but there was the world in which I went to college to study acting, but because my career as an actress in film and TV had begun, I really wanted to do something else. I wanted to continue to explore the other things that I love.

BB: Got it, okay.

AF: And because I was a senior in high school on 9/11, I felt even a deeper urgency to understand more. And it wasn't because I thought I was ever going to do anything with that degree, it was just because I cared about it and because it meant something to me, and because I was raised to believe in the value of education and learning, even if the quality of that education I had received wasn't amazing. I just genuinely believed in seizing the opportunity to have the education. So, when I started university, I was just studying international relations, and at the same time, my career as an actress was beginning. So, all I did was like go to class, sleep, audition. Go to class, sleep, audition.

AF: And then when I got jobs, I would go do them and continue my school work virtually. This was in a time before that was super common, but I had professors who were really understanding and were great about me being able to continue my career. And listen, it wasn't an option for me to stop acting, at least I didn't see it as an option because like I said, opportunities for someone like me don't just come around every day, like this was my opportunity, I had to seize it. And I couldn't just say, "Oh, I'll just stop for four years and go to college and come back out and see what's there for me." The train was moving and I had to just keep going. So, yeah.

[music]

BB: Okay. So, take us through your flash point.

AF: So, I was a freshman in college and I was taking an advanced IR class, I was learning about all kinds of genocides no one had told me about, plastic companies destroying animals and habitats and our planet. I was being exposed to so many harsh realities and like I said, feeling like, how could I possibly give my life to performance and acting and passion, and fulfilling my own desires versus trying to contribute and do something meaningful in the world?

AF: So, I had basically come to the decision that I would have to stop acting and go to law school or get a real degree and do something that mattered in the world, and I was depressed about the decision, but I was pretty fixed on it, and I went to one of my teachers at the time. He's passed since, Professor Andrus. I went to his office hours. I'd never been to any office hours before, but I was so desperate for counsel. I went down to his dusty office and sat there and I just burst into tears. And I was one of at least 100 kids in the class, I didn't think he knew my name, I didn't think he knew who I was at all. And I said to him, "I'm an actress, and I think I have to give it up, and I think I need to do good."

AF: And he stopped me and he said to me, "You know, I mentored this Latina girl in a local high school," and I was like, "Oh great, I found the one professor who is looking for another pet Latina," and he said, "Yeah, I've mentored her for a number of years now, and I've been trying to help her get into college. But she has never really trusted me and didn't really ever open up to me until one day she came to me and said, "Do you really want to understand what my life is like? You want to know what I'm up against?" And he said, "Yeah." And she said, "Well, then come watch this movie with me, it's called Real Women Have Curves."

BB: Oh, my God.

AF: I know. And he told me that he took his mentee and a couple of her friends to go to this movie theatre and watch this movie, and then afterwards they went to a diner and he bought them pie and they laughed and cried and talked about how the movie mirrored their lives. And if you remember, Ana, the girl I play, she wants to go to college, but her parents don't know how to support her in that dream, and they oppose it and they don't want her to move away from home. And this is what she said to him, like, "You sit and you talk to me about what I have to do to get into college. You don't understand what's happening in my house. You don't understand that my parents need me to work to support, to help." And he said he bought the DVD when it came out, he went to her parents, said, "Can we watch this movie? Can we talk about this movie?"

AF: And then ultimately, her parents watched the movie, talked about it, and then changed their minds and supported her dream to go to college and helped her get into college and... I'm going to cry telling it right now. But you know, I was sitting in his office crying, I'm an easy crier, and he said, "Your movie changed her life, and I'm sure it did for so many other people." So, he did a lot of things. He, in that moment, taught me that storytelling changes lives, that it changes the world and that we need it, and that it teaches and shifts people's perspectives like it did his, and also that I had the permission to do what I love, that I had the permission to stay committed to my passion, my path, it didn't have to look like something else to be meaningful, to be powerful, to be impactful.

AF: And so that was huge for me, because I got to stay on my path and see the value of my path and understand that I got to decide how my storytelling was going to be used as a tool for telling stories that matter. And so that was huge, that one teacher really changed my life and was one of the first steps towards that integration. It was a much longer... It was a much longer journey that I'm still in, but that was one of the first moments that I realized, "Okay, it doesn't necessarily have to be one or the other." And I feel like I've been on that path ever since of really trying to integrate all of the things I love and care about into my life's work.

BB: Well, first of all, I don't know if you believe in God or a higher power, but what a moment to be... What a moment to... "Do you want to know more about my life, come watch this film with me." Come on. Jeez. One of the things that strikes me, as you're talking, is that this idea about stepping into our power as leaders, like you said in our own lives and leading teams, you have many initiatives from a directorial debut, activism, community learning and teaching.

BB: I can see... Maybe I'm connecting dots that shouldn't be connected, but I can see how you described the education that, your early, probably high school education, and the grief that came when you got to a university that taught you not what to think, but how to think. I think about Paulo Freire and banking education, like we're going to deposit and then when we withdraw, you give it to us on the test and you pass, versus critical thinking. I can definitely see how much of... Is it fair to say your power relies on keeping sacred your integrated, like one America, many parts.

AF: Absolutely, absolutely. And I feel like so excited about when I look at my work, when I look at, "Okay, here's the docket. What's on the docket?" Whether it's my work at Harness, my work with Poderistas, my work as a producer, my work as a director, my work as an actress, my work as a speaker. It's the same thread and I feel such joy around that. It gives me energy instead of sucking the energy out of being like, "Oh, now I have to go put on this hat and play this role." I don't have to do any of those things. I can just be exactly who I am, and in all of these spaces, and it's the totality of all the things I am that gives me value in those spaces, the honoring it. And here's the thing, this is a lesson that I had to learn. So some of us have leadership thrust upon us.

AF: And I do feel like... I'm an Aries. I'm a fire brand for sure. I'm definitely one to choose leadership, but there are times too, where I've felt like I didn't have a choice. And that started for me when I started my career as a 17-year-old girl stepping into these characters, into these roles who are so often created by, written by, directed by, edited by, produced by people who have no idea what it's like to be me or this character. So, I had to become my character's number one advocate, I had to advocate for dignity, I had to advocate for complexity, for humanity inside of these characters. Because if I didn't, no one else would have asked the question, no one else would have known that anything was missing.

AF: And so for me, if I didn't speak up in those moments, find a way to have a conversation that was maybe a little uncomfortable, find a way to have a conversation where I had to humble myself and let it be someone else's idea, whatever gets the better idea on screen in the story, whatever gives my character and therefore everyone my character represents more dignity, more humanity in this moment. That's the conversation I have to learn to have. And sometimes that was an easy conversation, sometimes it was a hard one, sometimes it was an incredibly combative one. And I had to make choices all the time at a very young age about which pot I was willing to stir. And luckily, I have a high tolerance for conflict, and I have a high tolerance for stirring the pot, but I was also in positions where I did have the power to speak up and to be heard.

AF: I didn't always win, they didn't always listen to me, it was sometimes very limited power. But I realized early on that if I did speak up, they had to listen to some degree. And so I had to learn what was my power in this situation and how do I have the conversation that needs to happen in this room with the people who are in this room right now, to get the better idea to win. And I feel like in that way, from the very beginning of my career, I was being trained to have to speak up and to have to lead in moments where I didn't want to have to do that, but I had to. Or just accept what was being handed to me.

BB: It's just another powerful example of integration, if you don't strip yourself of everything, but I'm just here to act, but I'm also here to protect the humanity of this character and what that means and what that represents for everyone watching it. Oh my God, I love this conversation. Y'all, I want to keep it going. I really want to talk more about this idea of integration, we'll stop here, we'll pick up in part two. I hope that's okay. Okay? More on episode two. Thanks, America.

AF: This was so wonderful. Thank you.

[music]

BB: I'm telling you, what a bad period ass period, bad ass. I'm just saying, that I'm like, I'm just crushing hard on her, I'm telling you, she's... She's got it. You can watch Gentefied on Netflix. We'll put all the links on the Dare to Lead episode page, y'all know we have Dare to Lead and Unlocking Us episode pages on brenebrown.com. We'll also put links to where you can find her on Twitter and Instagram, she's America Ferrera.

BB: Again, let's just talk about this idea of integration and that our power comes from our wholeness. Integration, the Latin root word "integrare," to make whole, rather than orphaning these parts of ourselves that we're like, either think don't belong in a certain moment or won't get us to where we're going. I think back... Barrett, do you remember that slide I used to have that said, Brené's home for wayward girls and women?

Barrett Guillen: Oh, yes, I loved that slide.

BB: I used to have this slide when I would do decks and talk about integration, where I had this old rickety house, it was a photograph, and I called it Brené's home for wayward girls and women. And I would talk about calling back all of the parts of myself. And I had pictures of me in my Flock of Seagull haircut. And I had pictures with a cigarette hanging out of my mouth and Doc Martins, and I had pictures of me in the delivery room with my kids, and I had pictures of me during some troublesome wild days and how this calling back of all these parts of me, some beautiful...

BB: No, you know what, fuck it, all beautiful. Some troubled, but all beautiful. And I called them back and I became this whole person, and they all are part of me, and I don't regret any of them. And I refused to orphan them anymore, I refuse to say, I have to kill you. You 20-year-old wild ass, out of control, quasi, self-destructive person, because you don't fit with my mom image. Well, you know what, you taught me a lot and you make me a better person, a better mom, a better leader. I know all the lyrics to freaking all the '80 songs, so come on back. I just, I love how we dig deep into this.

BB: In the next episode, we'll talk a little bit more, we'll also, our rapid fire questions turned into a slow fire deep discussion. And she had one of my favorite answers to one of my questions that I ask all the time. She is not playing. America is not playing. All right, thank you all for being here. Stay awkward, brave and kind. I'll see you for part two, America Ferrera, this is Dare to Lead. And y'all invite back all the beautiful disenfranchised orphan parts of yourselves, and I'll meet you where all the whole people hang out.

[music]

BB: The Dare to Lead podcast is a Spotify original from Parcast. It's hosted by me, Brené Brown, produced by Max Cutler, Kristen Acevedo, Carleigh Madden, and Tristan McNeil, and by Weird Lucy productions. Sound design by Tristan McNeil and the music is by The Suffers.

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© 2021 Brené Brown Education and Research Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Brown, B. (Host). (2021, December 6). Brené with America Ferrera on Identity and Integrated Leadership, Part 1 of 2. [Audio podcast episode]. In Dare to Lead with Brené Brown. Parcast Network. https://brenebrown.com/podcast/identity-and-integrated-leadership-part-1-of-2/

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Brené with America Ferrera on Identity and Integrated Leadership, Part 1 of 2

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A conversation with America Ferrera-actor, director, producer, and activist-about leading with your whole self.

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Top Ten Lessons, Navigating Change, Leon Johnston

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The importance of human connectivity and developing our conversational skills.

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Susan Scott - What to be Mindful of  and How "Fierce Conversations" Helps your Business

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Jim Hemerling explores how to help organizations navigate change in a climate of constant change.  It is a model based on one key commitment: put people first.
Hemerling explores 5 imperatives to help put people first:
1.  Inspire Through Purpose
2.  Go All In
3.  Enable People with the Capabilities
4.  Instill a Culture of Continuous Learning
5.  Inclusive Leadership

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5 ways to lead in an era of constant change | Jim Hemerling

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The Hard Side of Change Management - HBR article

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The Hard Side of Change Management - HBR article

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DICE is an acronym used to discuss indicators of organizational change success.
D - Duration (perhaps not indicative the way you think)
I - Integrity
C - Commitment
E - Effort

A deep dive look and the provision of some resources that help not only initiating change, but anchoring change for long term success.

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Companies must pay as much attention to the hard side of change management as they do to the soft aspects. By rigorously focusing on four critical elements, they can stack the odds in favor of success.

Everyone agrees that managing change is tough, but few can agree on how to do it. Most experts are obsessed with "soft" issues, such as culture and motivation, but, say the authors, focusing on these issues alone won't bring about change. Companies also need to consider the hard factors-like the time it takes to complete a change initiative, the number of people required to execute it, and so forth.

When the authors studied change initiatives at 225 companies, they found a consistent correlation between the outcomes of change programs (success versus failure) and four hard factors, which they called DICE: project duration, particularly the time between project reviews; integrity of performance, or the capabilities of project teams; the level of commitment of senior executives and staff; and the additional effort required of employees directly affected by the change. The DICE framework is a simple formula for calculating how well a company is implementing, or will be able to implement, its change initiatives. The framework comprises a set of simple questions that help executives score their projects on each of the four factors; the lower the score, the more likely the project will succeed. Companies can use DICE assessments to force conversations about projects, to gauge whether projects are on track or in trouble, and to manage project portfolios.

The authors have used these four factors to predict the outcomes and guide the execution of more than 1,000 change management programs worldwide. Not only has the correlation held, but no other factors (or combination of factors) have predicted outcomes as successfully.

The Idea in Brief

Two out of every three transformation programs fail. Why? Companies overemphasize the soft side of change: leadership style, corporate culture, employee motivation. Though these elements are critical for success, change projects can't get off the ground unless companies address harder elements first.

The essential hard elements? Think of them as DICE:

Duration: time between milestone reviews-the shorter, the better

Integrity: project teams' skill

Commitment: senior executives' and line managers' dedication to the program

Effort: the extra work employees must do to adopt new processes-the less, the better

By assessing each DICE element before you launch a major change initiative, you can identify potential problem areas and make the necessary adjustments (such as reconfiguring a project team's composition or reallocating resources) to ensure the program's success. You can also use DICE after launching a project-to make midcourse corrections if the initiative veers off track.

DICE helps companies lay the foundation for successful change. Using the DICE assessment technique, one global beverage company executed a multiproject organization-wide change program that generated hundreds of millions of dollars, breathed new life into its once-stagnant brands, and cracked open new markets.

The Idea in Practice

Conducting a DICE Assessment

Your project has the greatest chance of success if the following hard elements are in place:

Duration

A long project reviewed frequently stands a far better chance of succeeding than a short project reviewed infrequently. Problems can be identified at the first sign of trouble, allowing for prompt corrective actions. Review complex projects every two weeks; more straightforward initiatives, every six to eight weeks.

Integrity

A change program's success hinges on a high-integrity, high-quality project team. To identify team candidates with the right portfolio of skills, solicit names from key colleagues, including top performers in functions other than your own. Recruit people who have problem-solving skills, are results oriented, and are methodical but tolerate ambiguity. Look also for organizational savvy, willingness to accept responsibility for decisions, and a disdain for the limelight.

Commitment

If employees don't see company leaders supporting a change initiative, they won't change. Visibly endorse the initiative-no amount of public support is too much. When you feel you're "talking up" a change effort at least three times more than you need to, you've hit it right.

Also continually communicate why the change is needed and what it means for employees. Ensure that all messages about the change are consistent and clear. Reach out to managers and employees through one-on-one conversations to win them over.

Effort

If adopting a change burdens employees with too much additional effort, they'll resist. Calculate how much work employees will have to do beyond their existing responsibilities to implement the change. Ensure that no one's workload increases more than 10%. If necessary, remove nonessential regular work from employees with key roles in the transformation project. Use temporary workers or outsource some processes to accommodate additional workload.

Using the DICE Framework

Conducting a DICE assessment fosters successful change by sparking valuable senior leadership debate about project strategy It also improves change effectiveness by enabling companies to manage large portfolios of projects. Example:

A manufacturing company planned 40 projects as part of a profitability-improvement program. After conducting a DICE assessment for each project, leaders and project owners identified the five most important projects and asked, "How can we ensure these projects' success?" They moved people around on teams, reconfigured some projects, and identified initiatives senior managers should pay more attention to-setting up their most crucial projects for resounding success.

When French novelist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose," he could have been penning an epigram about change management. For over three decades, academics, managers, and consultants, realizing that transforming organizations is difficult, have dissected the subject. They've sung the praises of leaders who communicate vision and walk the talk in order to make change efforts succeed. They've sanctified the importance of changing organizational culture and employees' attitudes. They've teased out the tensions between top-down transformation efforts and participatory approaches to change. And they've exhorted companies to launch campaigns that appeal to people's hearts and minds. Still, studies show that in most organizations, two out of three transformation initiatives fail. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

A version of this article appeared in the October 2005 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Read more on Change management or related topicsProject management,Process management,Strategy execution,Leadership,Fabrication and manufacturing,Telecom,Professional services,Healthcare sector,Food and beverage sector,Financial service sector,North America andAustralia and Oceania

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Change may be the only constant in today's organizations. Here's how to lead through it.

Read more on Change management or related topicsProject management,Process management,Strategy execution,Leadership,Fabrication and manufacturing,Telecom,Professional services,Healthcare sector,Food and beverage sector,Financial service sector,North America andAustralia and Oceania

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Everyone agrees that managing change is tough, but few can agree on how to do it. Most experts are obsessed with "soft" issues, such as culture and motivation, but, say the authors, focusing on these issues alone won't bring about change.

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Connecting to purpose is part of the work of becoming a transformational leader.

Listen in to Robert E. Quinn as he shares the power of purpose in this Ted Talk.

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Untapped Exchange: Robert Quinn at TEDxUofM

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A Song about the Challenge of Personal Change: 

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A Song about the Challenge of Personal Change: 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbikUG_go7M

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Sara Groves - Painting Pictures of Egypt (Official Live Performance)

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https://www.therapyideas.net/the-process-of-change-the-movie-moneyball/

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What a teriffic movie about the two men who changed baseball. Ever since West Wing (the tv show) I've loved the depth & smarts Aaron Sorkin brings to every script he writes. The movie offers a lot of clarity about all the resistance to change that Billy Beane & Peter Gordon encounter in the true story of their efforts.

Change is at the heart of my work & I find it comforting to see the difficulties portrayed on the screen. I change the furniture in my office as a nudge to people, to remind them about change. It's amazing how much resistance there is to a simple furniture shift.

Everyone sabotages their attempts to change how baseball players are scouted. Billy is treated disdainfully and as if he is a lunatic because they want to use math & statistics. The trashing of their new ideas is what everyone encounters in the process of change.

Change is a messy business. It takes a lot of courage for Billy to resist his own doubts & stay the course.

They fail abysmally in the first several months. Billy challenges people to remember: "This is a process, it's a process." People want immediate success when they take a big risk. "This is hard & scary so I want to be rewarded & know this will all be worth it, as soon as possible."

It's one of my favorite parts of the movie, seeing all the games where it's not worth it & it's not working. That's exactly how it is in life, there are no guarantees or immediate gratifications. Doubt & mistakes are a part of every new beginning. The point is to find the courage to weather the process when implementing change.

If you dip your toe in the water & even if you break your toe that doesn't mean you give up. Self esteem & confidence builds on the ability to stay with the process even though you are discouraged. Even when no one else agrees with you, finding the inner strength to continue because it's important.

Long term thinking is something Billy is good at.....he doesn't want short-term success. He wants to change baseball, so it offers more honest chances to players. His own failure in the major leagues taught him that there has to be a better way than relying a scouts' intuitions.

You gotta love a guy who turns down giant bucks to be near his daughter & continue to fight for his belief in the financially poor team he's started this new process with.

Change is rugged, just ask any alcoholic in recovery.

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The Process of Change & the movie Moneyball

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What a teriffic movie about the two men who changed baseball. Ever since West Wing (the tv show) I've loved the depth & smarts Aaron Sorkin brings to every script he writes. The movie offers a lot of clarity about all the resistance to change that Billy Beane & Peter Gordon encounter in the true [...]

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Podcast with Patrick Lencioni discussing Bridges work. The practical side of getting people through the messy middle.

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Skip to main content

By Patrick Lencioni - February 2021

Listen to the Episode

Step Backward Play Audio Play Audio Step Forward

81. Navigating the Neutral Zone

At the Table with Patrick Lencioni

Episode Summary

We don't hate change, we just struggle with the transition. This week, Pat, Cody, and Tracy discuss the real reason why people are afraid of change.
Show Notes

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Navigating the Neutral Zone | The Table Group

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Skip to main content By Patrick Lencioni - February 2021 Step Backward Play Audio Play Audio Step Forward 81. Navigating the Neutral Zone At the Table with Patrick Lencioni We don't hate change, we just struggle with the transition. This week, Pat, Cody, and Tracy discuss the real reason why people are afraid of change.

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Podcast with Patrick Lencioni discussing Bridge's work on change.

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The search engine that helps you find exactly what you're looking for. Find the most relevant information, video, images, and answers from all across the Web.

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An assessment tool to understand our relationship to/with change.

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13 Little Known Facts About Change Too Many Leaders Miss

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13 Little Known Facts About Change Too Many Leaders Miss

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An article that includes much of what we have been learning through the assigned reading, simply using different language/rhetoric.  I particularly like the 12th little known fact in the way it is expressed "12. Transformation happens when the change in question becomes part of the culture."

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13 Little Known Facts About Change Too Many Leaders Miss

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Here’s what I believe about change. Change has dynamics; and the dynamics can be learned.

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10 Change Management Models in 10 minutes

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10 Change Management Models in 10 minutes

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A brief YouTube demonstration of models, both process and people focussed.  Models include:
1. Kotter’s 8-step Change Model 01:36
2. Lewin’s Change Model aka Unfreeze, Change, Refreeze 02:24
3. The PDCA Cycle aka Deming Cycle 03:04
4. McKinsey 7S Framework 04:00
5. ADKAR Model of Change 05:33
6. Nudge Theory 06:15
7. Satir Change Model 07:10
8. Bridges Transition Model 08:04
9. The Change Curve 08:48
10. Maurer 3 Levels of Resistance 09:11

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10 Change Management Models Explained in 10 Minutes

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"Churches Grapple with the Future of their Online Services," by Diana Kruzman (as published in The Banner Magazine, Feb. 18, 2022)

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"Churches Grapple with the Future of their Online Services," by Diana Kruzman (as published in The Banner Magazine, Feb. 18, 2022)

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https://www.thebanner.org/news/2022/02/churches-grapple-with-the-future-of-their-online-services

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The Banner has a subscription to republish articles from Religion News Service. This article by Diana Kruzman was produced as part of the RNS/IFYC Religious Journalism Fellowship Program and was published on religionnews.com. It has been edited for length.

Before the pandemic, The Potter's House of Denver had plenty of use for its 3,500-seat sanctuary in the southeast corner of the Colorado capital. But in early January, the megachurch announced it was selling its building and continuing to host services online, as it had been doing for almost two years. Pastor Touré Roberts said the building needed "significant repairs" and COVID-19 shutdowns had made maintaining it impractical, although some in-person activities such as the church's food bank would continue.

As the pandemic enters its third year, more houses of worship are having to weigh the costs and benefits of online versus in-person worship. While most will not choose to go the way of Potter's House and become fully virtual, the dramatic shifts brought on by COVID-19 restrictions are forcing existential questions about the nature of worship and the purpose of community.

"COVID-19 forced every church in America to rethink how to best serve their parishioners and the broader community," Roberts told The Denver Post. "We decided that the best way forward would be to sell the property, continue our online offering that had proven a successful alternative, and maintain our hands-on community outreach operations."

For some, shrinking congregations and dwindling donations have forced closures; more than 4,000 churches shut their doors in the U.S. in 2020, according to research from Barna Group, a religion polling firm. Others have experienced a broader reach as new viewers have tuned in from afar-and as sometimes-alienated groups such as the elderly, disabled , and LGBTQ have found virtual church homes. What will these churches do with this new online audience? What was once a temporary measure has begun to feel like a necessity for many churches.

Many of them "spent a lot of time and resources to get online" in the pandemic and don't want that to go to waste, said Heidi Campbell, a researcher studying digital religion at Texas A&M University. But in doing so, they're having to figure out what it means to worship online in meaningful ways.

Related: Our Shared Ministry: Using Technology to Support Worship Leaders (Sept. 2, 2020); Partner Churches in Michigan and Honduras Worship Together Online (April 16, 2021)

"Over the holidays, a lot of them saw that not as many people have come back face to face," Campbell said. "And so churches are trying to make this decision about ... how might this be not just a season of change, but a long-term change for churches, and how people see church integrating into their lives?"

The idea of virtual worship has been around since long before the pandemic, said Scott Thumma, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford International University. As long as the internet has been around, groups from neopagans to gay evangelicals that felt shut out of physical spaces have taken their religious practice online. In recent years, some churches have hired dedicated " online pastors," and are making inroads on social media platforms such as TikTok.

And the pandemic spurred some people to start online-only ministries from the start, seeing an opportunity to attract diverse congregations while freeing themselves from the financial burden of physical buildings. Many religious traditions see the online space as a "new mission field" to reach people who otherwise wouldn't be drawn to worship, Thumma said.

Life.Church, a pioneer in the digital space and creator of the YouVersion Bible app, has been holding online church services since 2006 "as a way to reach people who might not otherwise come to church," one of its pastors, Bobby Gruenewald, said in an email. Life.Church also has created an online streaming platform it offers to other churches free of charge, Gruenewald said, and has seen an explosion of demand during the pandemic. The platform helps churches go "beyond one-way video streaming" and offers chat translation, a donation function and ways to connect congregants with service opportunities and small-group meetings.

But providing a fully online platform for worship poses unique challenges. Thumma said that virtual worshipers can very easily become spectators, watching a service without fully participating and being present in the religious service. In January, a column by Trish Harrison Warren in The New York Times drew heated debate by calling for a return to in-person worship, arguing people "need physical touch and interaction," but Thumma said community can be formed online-it's just a matter of putting in the effort to make it happen.

"How do you move from just watching to actually being involved, actually engaging with people, actually getting committed enough to give money and to do service and volunteer and things?" Thumma said. "And I think that's going to be a challenge for clergy."

There are also theological considerations particular to each religious tradition when it comes to worshiping online. While many Catholic churches streamed Sunday Mass during the strictest of the pandemic shutdowns, sacraments such as Holy Communion cannot be taken virtually. Pope Francis has said "spiritual communion" that can be done without physically eating bread and drinking wine should not be considered a replacement.

Related: Churches Differ on Celebrating Communion Online (May 29, 2020)

For most houses of worship, online services will continue to be a supplementary measure, if they exist at all, Campbell said. Pew research from August 2020 found just 2% of people who regularly attend religious services say they'll watch more of them remotely and attend fewer in person than before the pandemic. Though more than a year of pandemic measures might have swayed some minds since then, Campbell said online-only churches will continue to be the exception rather than the rule.

© 2022 Religion News Service

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Churches Grapple With the Future of Their Online Services

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The Banner has a subscription to republish articles from Religion News Service. This article by Diana Kruzman was produced as part of the RNS/IFYC Religious Journalism Fellowship Program and was published on religionnews.com . It has been edited for length.

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"Stephen Poloz on Economic Dangers Agead, Staying Positive and Lessons from Star Trek," by Marie-Danielle Smith (Feb. 2, 2022)

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"Stephen Poloz on Economic Dangers Agead, Staying Positive and Lessons from Star Trek," by Marie-Danielle Smith (Feb. 2, 2022)

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https://www.macleans.ca/longforms/stephen-poloz-interview-2022/

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Like so many conversations in this era, my talk with former Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz happened on a Zoom call. Mostly, we discussed his upcoming book, The Next Age of Uncertainty, a primer on the economic volatility ahead. But we also talked about lessons from the pandemic, the political discourse on inflation, the reasons for his optimism and how two TV characters informed his leadership style. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Tell me about how your pandemic has been going.

A: It coincided with when I stepped down from work. You visualize yourself doing all kinds of travelling, going to places you always wanted to spend two weeks at instead of a few days. None of that has happened. I worked a lot, and it's amazing how productive you can be just by hardly moving from your chair.

Q: You earned the nickname "Sunny Steve" as bank governor. That's him talking, isn't it?

A: Yes, that's looking on the bright side. Of course it's been dreadful for many people and it's been hard family-wise. I had two grandchildren come along during that period of time. I've seen them only a little. It makes me wonder what we have to get used to, long term.

READ: Kathleen Wynne on her political downfall and the private advice she gave Doug Ford

Q: You've written about what uncertainty is going to look like in the future. What was the genesis of this idea?

A: As governor, it was very apparent that people had a very short-term horizon when thinking about what's going to happen in the economy. I was invited to speak at Spruce Meadows by Nancy Southern [the CEO of Atco]. It was a real corporate crowd, and they're exactly the culprits I'm talking about-they think one quarter ahead. That's where I first broached the idea that longer-term trends could interact and cause unpredictable outcomes.

Q: You don't see a lot of macroeconomics books targeting a household audience, a government audience and a business audience all at once. You're trying to do a lot with it.

A: I started to think about how I could help people. Especially decision-makers, whether they're households deciding their mortgage or companies deciding their plan. What are the big issues they're thinking about that could affect those decisions over a five- or 10-year horizon? Which we hardly ever think about, but it matters.

Q: You point to a number of "tectonic forces"-population aging, technological progress, growing inequality and climate change-and argue they will cause greater uncertainty and volatility overall.

A: With businesses, there's such a complex planning environment. [They] will claim to their board that they're looking at the long term, and if the world turns out really badly, this is what it's going to look like. Or if the world turns out really good. But I think they spend less time than they should exploring what they will do when those good or bad things happen, because they're more likely now.

Q: You explain this as if a bell curve is becoming more of a straight line.

A: What you think of as your main scenario has lower probability associated with it, and there are many more possibilities spread out there. So you need to be more prepared for those possibilities.

Q: The pandemic was a rare scenario. What did we learn from how the economy handled it?

A: This episode taught us some new things. First of all, the starting point matters a great deal. Canada was in the best shape it'd been in for 40 years. Inflation was exactly on target for the first time in a long time. Unemployment was at a 40-year low. It's like when the Ferrari of athletes gets a cold. It lasts two days because they're in such great condition. You can see the differences around the world. Economies that weren't in that situation suffered more. The second important lesson was fiscal policy [like CERB] can do a really good job of stabilizing the economy. A third one is collaborating with the banks. They played a really important stabilizing role.

Q: What are your thoughts on the inflation debate that is happening in Canadian politics right now?

A: It runs the gamut from plain wrong to just unthoughtful. What I like to do is measure inflation based on February 2020, before the pandemic. You'll find that, sure enough, overall the price level is up by 4.9 per cent over 21 months. Well, that's quite a lot. But if you translate that into what would be the equivalent 12-month average rate, it's about 2.8 per cent. And we know underneath that it's all about oil. If you take food and energy out, which economists often do, it's 2.1 per cent.

Could it still be picking up? Yes, I'd say that's a risk. But people aren't doing a very careful job of understanding what prices have done. Supply chain issues will also get worked out-there's too much money at stake for companies to not figure those things out. And the big counterargument, which I want to remind people of, is that the fourth industrial revolution [driven by artificial intelligence and biotech] will cause a lot of prices to fall.

READ: Inflation is about to get way worse in 2022

Q: But it's politically advantageous, especially with food and gas prices on the rise, for politicians to lean on messaging about what or who is causing inflation.

A: Politics is rarely clarifying. But I do think that with something as important to people as the prices they face every day, all parliamentarians have a job to do, which is help people understand what they're seeing, rather than just pointing fingers.

Q: In the book you also criticize the political debate around globalization for ignoring the benefits of trade liberalization.

I've been in the policy-maker game for, like, 40 years. And I feel like, almost every week, I need to explain yet again what you're talking about. If I say trade deglobalization is going to raise the prices of all these things you buy from Costco or Walmart or Canadian Tire, you're going to pay more for them and you're going to have less money in your pocket. You're going to try to conserve-like when the price of gasoline goes up, you try to drive less. And since you're spending less money, there's going to be fewer jobs in the rest of the economy, because there's less money being spent. I don't know how it can be any more obvious.

Q: People have a hard time applying that logic when their domestic industries are losing out.

A: Maybe we just have to go through a phase of deglobalization to prove it. I sincerely hope not. Especially since trade-dependent economies like Canada stand to lose the most from that trend.

READ: 23 charts to watch on inflation and the economy in 2022

Q: You extol the potential virtues of big policy shifts that are sometimes considered "politically impossible," like introducing a guaranteed basic income.

A: When governments had the ability to take a longer-term view, such as the Mulroney government, they said, "Well, we're going to do tax reform because that was in the Macdonald Commission, and free trade." These kinds of things that were only going to have long-term payoffs, but very fundamental ones.

Efforts today to draw a similar consensus often founder on the debates-if not genuine economic debates. I'm a little pessimistic about the ability for politics to deliver. This world is going to be riskier and governments won't be capable of buttressing us.

Q: One outcome you've floated is that companies will start taking on more of the heavy lifting even when it comes to social policy, whether that is childcare or housing co-ownership or mortgages.

A: The number one driver is the demographic shift [with baby boomers leaving the labour force]. From a workforce point of view, the next five years are quite critical. The fourth industrial revolution will be having its peak effect. That will be a window in which we have a growing shortage of workers with the skills we need at the same time that we're disrupting a lot of other people through the development of technology.

One outlet would be a renaissance of labour unions. People could invest more in organizing themselves in order to defend or protect themselves. Most companies would say, "What can we do to avoid this?" You begin to accommodate the workers more in advance. The stresses are likely to lead to more and more solutions coming from companies.

Q: When it comes to climate change, you also seem more optimistic that investors will lead the way, rather than governments.

A: Probably only 30 or 40 per cent of emissions come from companies that are traded on the stock exchange, so the investor enforcement mechanism can't cover everybody. But it's very likely to through the competition effect. People are expecting it not just as investors, but as consumers.

Governments will have sporadic mandates-like you can only have this many emissions, or you can only have this many internal combustion engines-without actually optimizing what could be the most efficient and least costly route to net zero. What is more likely is that the investors will figure it out.

Q: In the book, you touch on the future geopolitics of fresh water. I would guess that that's not top of mind for Canadian policy-makers right now, but should it be?

A: That's a big, hard-to-put-your-arms-around risk. There's no question that this issue will become more existential than energy. Who's got water? You look that up and right away you come up with some key players that have a lot of water, and we're one. A little bit of arithmetic really puts it in perspective. If you can satisfy the entire world's daily needs from this one outflow [out of the St. Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean], that is an incredible endowment. That is something that, if you think strategically about it, Canada could make use of.

Poloz's picks

His favourite books are those he fell in love with in 1967, the summer before eighth grade, when he found the sci-fi shelf at an Oshawa public library. (Click through this gallery. Interview continues below.)

Q: Speaking again about your optimism: you had a near-death experience in 2004. While on a golf course, you collapsed due to a congenital heart defect and needed to undergo major surgery. How did that change your thinking?

A: The phrase "life is short" becomes even less trite when something like that happens. I was 48 years old. I had not had a balanced life. I was very driven. Hard-working. Too hard-working. That experience definitely gave me a more balanced sense of life and it made me feel profoundly optimistic about how the world will turn out.

Your outlook should never be long-term gloomy, because, look at history. How could you be gloomy about the next 30 years when you look at the past 30 years? You could be concerned about volatility and that's what I want people to understand better. But that's not the same as being sad about the future. It's just about being prepared and capitalizing on the good things.

Q: What about those first few chaotic months of 2020, before your term as Bank of Canada governor ended in June? It must have been incredibly stressful in your position, the stakes being as high as they were.

A: It was. They were. Day and night for those couple of months, there was no respite. The international meetings were at all hours of the day. I was living in our basement because I'd been going downtown to Parliament Hill and didn't want to run the risk of exposing my spouse. It was just around-the-clock stuff.

READ: Mark Messier on leadership, trust and magic mushrooms

Q: You write about taking leadership lessons from fictional characters-Jed Bartlet, the president in The West Wing, and Jean-Luc Picard, from Star Trek. What do you admire about them?

A: Writers have been quite judicious in their development of those characters, demonstrating not just how they excel but also their failings. You can watch them and think, "Oh, man, that's a real human moment. Oh my gosh, that's probably what I would do."

Then you see how the team is down in the trench with the boss. Whether the world is going to end or the black hole is going to swallow the Enterprise, somebody on the team says: "Wait a minute. What if...?" And there's Picard saying "Make it so," relying on the team, making sure they're in it with him all the way. They share the glory. They realize that the key is you wear your values on your sleeve.

When I did leadership work with my executive team, I asked them all to watch the first season of The West Wing and I gave them a copy of the book Make It So: Leadership Lessons From Star Trek: The Next Generation, by Wess Roberts and Bill Ross.

Q: You decided very early that you wanted to be governor of the Bank of Canada someday. What would you tell a young economist who has the same ambition today?

A: What I think helped get me here was I was always preoccupied with the real economy-people, whether they're employees or employers, making decisions every day. That is what makes the economy what it is. So my advice to a young person would be, of course, you need to learn as much economics as you can. But you also need to save time every day just to read the news. You have this sense of constant applied economics. And it grounds you in what's real.

This interview appears in print in the March 2022 issue of Maclean's magazine. Subscribe to the monthly print magazine here.

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Stephen Poloz on economic dangers ahead, staying positive and lessons from Jean-Luc Picard

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Like so many conversations in this era, my talk with former Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz happened on a Zoom call. Mostly, we discussed his upcoming book, The Next Age of Uncertainty, a primer on the economic volatility ahead.

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"Mark Messier on Leadership, Trust and Magic Mushrooms," by Marie-Danielle Smith (Oct. 21, 2021)

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"Mark Messier on Leadership, Trust and Magic Mushrooms," by Marie-Danielle Smith (Oct. 21, 2021)

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https://www.macleans.ca/longforms/mark-messier-on-leadership-trust-and-magic-mushrooms/

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He's a six-time Stanley Cup winner, the second most prolific playoff-points scorer ever, a two-time most valuable player in the NHL, a 15-time all-star and the only person ever to captain two different teams to Stanley Cup championships-the Edmonton Oilers, even after the departure of his great friend Wayne Gretzky, and the New York Rangers.

First he was "the Moose," then he was "the Messiah," according to New Yorkers-that's a play on his last name-for ending a 54-year Stanley Cup drought in 1994. He's an officer of the Order of Canada. And he's now the author of a memoir he hopes will convey the lessons he learned along the way.

Mark Messier chatted with me ahead of the release of No One Wins Alone, authored with writer Jimmy Roberts. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Your book is a meditation on leadership as much as it is a memoir. What's the biggest lesson you're hoping people will draw from it?

A: One of the questions I get all the time is: what's the single most important lesson of leadership? I'm not sure there's an answer because it's so multidimensional. I do know that earning trust is just massive and earning the right to lead the people is critical. You know, Abe Lincoln said no man can govern another without his consent. You can't expect to lead people unless you've earned that right.

Q: How do you earn it?

A: It always starts with trust. One of the most important things I did with the players I played with was getting to know them on a more personal level. Taking the time to understand where they came from. Understanding who they are as people and spending as much time as possible with them away from the rink so you develop a relationship that is deeper than a professional relationship.

John Wooden, a great basketball coach, said great coaching is being able to give correction without resentment. When you've got to be honest with a player and he might not like it but he doesn't hold it against you or think you have something against him as a person. As a leader you've got to be able to go home at night and put your head on the pillow and know it's up to him to resolve the issue.

READ: Jody Wilson-Raybould on Ottawa's power problem

Q: You talk about the importance of connection between teammates. Your relationship with Wayne Gretzky shines through as a critical one.

A: It's not very often that you can look at someone eight days younger than you and look at them as a role model. Normally you get that from folks who are much older than you, who have been around with much more experience. But our best example was the same age as us. We're all grateful that the stars collided and that we all came together at the same time.

Q: How important is it to see your teammates as friends?

A: When we talk about being brothers, I don't think we reference each other like that lightly. Maybe you don't need to have that in order to win, I don't know-I didn't have that experience on the teams I was fortunate enough to win with. Maybe you can win without that real tight level of friendship.

Q: How important is it to believe you're going to win, and to be able to say that out loud?

A: I don't think you can be afraid to fail. I think you really need to be forthright in your objective. For us in hockey at a professional level, you have a very defined goal of what success is. You can have smaller goals along the way and celebrate those goals, but ultimately you're there for one reason and that's to win a Stanley Cup. It might take some time to build a team and get some experience and put the pieces in place to do that. But you always have to have in the back of your mind on a day-to-day basis: are we closer to winning a Stanley Cup or are we further away?

And making sure that everybody in the organization, whether they're on the ice as a player, or with a trainer or a doctor, physicians, therapists, equipment managers, managers, coaches, everybody is there with the same goal in mind, believing in the philosophy and the vision of the team and the culture the team created. Then you just start chopping wood and carrying water toward that goal.

Q: You probably get this question all the time, but is there a moment you would pick out as your ultimate career highlight?

A: To come to New York and win a championship that hadn't been won in 54 years was incredible. And it's pretty remarkable what happened in Edmonton, coming from an expansion team to winning the Stanley Cup, and going on to win five cups in seven years. I just can't compartmentalize one moment in a career over 26 years. There's too many special moments and they're all different in their own rights.

Q: The game has changed a lot since you started playing, especially in the physicality. What do you think of how hockey has evolved?

A: I'm happy the game has evolved in so many ways. They've made changes to the game to get the speed and the finesse and the artistry back into the game, instead of hooking and clutching and holding and grabbing. They opened up the game to more excitement for the fans. It's a better product when the game is played like that. There's still plenty of physicality.

The equipment has changed. Technology has entered into hockey like every other sport, not only with the equipment but with the training. The players are making incredible use of science now to train all year round. So many things have advanced in the sport, but ultimately in the end the game is still won on the ice between the boards. It always gets down to a test of will, and that's what makes hockey so great.

READ: Murray Sinclair on reconciliation, anger, unmarked graves-and a headline for this story

Q: There's a scene in the book where your son is looking at old videos and he says something like, "You'd be in jail for some of those hits if they happened now." How do you talk to your kids, and young people, about how things used to be and how much has changed?

A: I think we all recognize that as the game evolved and concussions started to enter into sports, if things didn't change, the game wouldn't last. So the game had to evolve and I'm glad both the NHLPA and the NHL took a collaborative effort to do that, and the players took the responsibility to change the way the game was played.

I don't think anybody's proud of some of the things that happened back in the day, but it was a different landscape back then. Intimidation was a huge part of hockey. [The game] evolved into something that is acceptable with all the social media applications and video reviews. You can't get away with anything.

Some of our games back when I first started playing professional hockey weren't even televised. There wasn't even a camera in the rink. And we've brought the fans closer to the game. The fans are more knowledgeable about what's going on, not only on the ice but also behind the scenes. The culture of professional sports is more exposed than ever.

Q: There seems to be no room for error with social media. What do you think about what young players are dealing with today?

A: There's a different kind of pressure on the players now that we were never exposed to, socially, politically, and the choices they make and the way they represent not only the team but also the league and the community.

What it really boils down to is character becomes high-stakes, or of very high importance. To be able to handle it all. We don't expect anybody not to make mistakes, mistakes are part of life, it's how you learn, it's how you grow, it's how you evolve. So I think there's some forgiveness for a mistake but there's not forgiveness for a history of certain actions that aren't acceptable anymore.

Q: Are you worried that forgiveness isn't always extended to people who might deserve it? The online mob kind of picks its targets.

A: If you go down the rabbit hole of getting acceptance from people online, that's a dangerous place to be. I don't think it's a good idea for anybody to be looking there for self-worth or validation, acceptance, because as we know there are people who just don't have anything better to do who will be hurtful. It's not a good place to be looking for that kind of information.

Q: Younger athletes are applauded today for talking about the pressure they're under, and prioritizing their mental health even if it means taking time away from competing. Do you think that's a good thing?

A: Everybody needs help no matter what position you're in, no matter where you are in your own life. The biggest thing that has come out of all of this is that there's no shame in admitting any problem, and seeking help has been very productive and helpful for a lot of folks.

Q: You talk in the book about conquering negative self-talk and learning to think positively about yourself. Were there times when that was hard for you?

A: I didn't think about it much as a young player, to be honest with you. I had a lot of confidence. But everybody struggles. Even at the peak of my career I would struggle at times. I was fortunate enough that we had sports psychology seminars at a very early age, basically the first year of my career when I was 18 years old. I kept it with me my whole career.

Self-confidence is huge and a big part of that is self-talk-when things aren't going well, not to be negative. You have to figure out what went wrong so you're able to move on from any failure.

Q: You describe taking magic mushrooms at 19 as a transformative experience. Tell me more about how your perspective expanded.

A: Well that's what it did for me. I had no idea the mind was that powerful. And how could eating a natural mushroom that was organically grown create that kind of stimulus? Obviously it turned out to be an amazing experience, but more important was the question afterwards: wow, how can I use my mind to empower myself to be a better player, to be a better person, to have more energy, to create a better aura?

So then I became interested in Eastern philosophy, meditation, Buddhism, the spirituality of Indigenous peoples. The power of the mind.

Q: Is spirituality still a big part of your life?

A: It's always been a big part of my life. I grew up Catholic but was interested in a lot of Eastern philosophy. So I think spirituality became more important to me than the so-called religion I grew up with.

Q: You obviously took leadership lessons from these philosophies. You even end the book with a quote from a Hindu text.

A: There are so many powerful lessons to be learned about the goodness that lives in everybody's heart. And creating a culture that is just so rich with humility and passion and creativity and all the things that make it fun to come to the rink, or to come to work. It's the essence of a team that can go all the way. A unique environment with the diversity of the players, of where they come from, and their ideas. And really acknowledging that and letting people shine in their own ways.

Q: You talk about the importance of diversity and making people feel comfortable, but people of colour haven't always felt comfortable in the NHL. What are your thoughts on that?

A: I know a huge mandate-from the NHL, the NHLPA and everybody involved with the league-is to grow the game. Diversify the game. Give more kids-more girls, more boys-access, opportunity. And it just makes sense. The Kingsbridge [Armory] project I was doing in the Bronx, that's what it was for, to grow the game and its diversity by creating access and opportunity that are just not there right now. The NHL has immersed themselves in communities and they've taught boys and girls the game of hockey who've become fans and who are going to continue to get more people of colour involved in the game.

RELATED: Black hockey players on loving a sport that doesn't love them back

Q: Do you think that in the past there were failures of leadership on this?

A: I can't speak to that myself. I don't know enough to say yes or no. I think creating access and opportunity is a huge first step.

Q: Would you be tempted to get involved in the NHL again as a coach or a manager?

A: I think I've always felt I could help an organization in many ways. But it's important to be with people who believe you can help. If it happens, great. If it doesn't happen, that's okay as well. If the occasion ever came where someone thought I could help them, I would be more than happy to have that conversation.

Q: If the New York Rangers called, would you go for it?

A: I don't work in hypotheticals. If the right person thought I could help their team, I'd be more than willing to listen.

This article appears in print in the November 2021 issue of Maclean's magazine. Subscribe to the monthly print magazine here.

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Mark Messier on leadership, trust and magic mushrooms

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He's a six-time Stanley Cup winner, the second most prolific playoff-points scorer ever, a two-time most valuable player in the NHL, a 15-time all-star and the only person ever to captain two different teams to Stanley Cup championships-the Edmonton Oilers, even after the departure of his great friend Wayne Gretzky, and the New York Rangers.

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Book Review of Tod Bolsinger's, "Canoeing the Mountains" (Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2015).

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Book Review of Tod Bolsinger's, "Canoeing the Mountains" (Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2015).

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https://www.richardblackaby.com/book-review-canoeing-the-mountains/

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Tod Bolsinger, Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory. (aff.) Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2015. 269 pages.
Near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a good friend recommended I read this book. It was published in 2015, but I had somehow missed it. I found it extremely helpful, insightful, and relevant to leadership issues today, especially in the Church.

The author, Tod Bolsinger, was on staff at First Presbyterian Church Hollywood for ten years. He then served as senior pastor at San Clemente Presbyterian Church for seventeen years. He is currently a vice president at Fuller Seminary.

This book follows the epic journey Meriwether Lewis and William Clark took from May 14, 1804 to September 23, 1806. Bolsinger bases much of his writing on the bestselling book Undaunted Courage (aff) by Stephen E. Ambrose, which I have also read (and highly recommend!).

Bolsinger's fundamental point is that Meriwether and Lewis and their party set out on a mission to discover the best route to the Pacific Ocean. Europeans had been searching for a western route to the Orient for centuries to no avail. The explorers assumed they could canoe all the way to the Pacific Ocean. As a result, their preparations and equipment were focused to that end. For the first fifteen months of their journey, everything went according to plan. Then they ran smack dab into the Rocky Mountains! They were nothing like the familiar Appalachian Mountains. Lewis and Clark discovered "that three hundred years of experts had been completely, utterly wrong" (26).

At that point, Lewis and Clark had to make a decision. They could admit failure and go home. They could futilely attempt to continue using the methods that had given them success thus far. Or they could adapt. This book is about adaptive leadership. It is for when what got us to where we are now won't get us any further.

Bolsinger particularly applies this principle to church and Christian nonprofit leadership, though it also applies to leading companies. He notes that many pastors today complain that "seminary didn't prepare me for this" (12). He suggests that approximately 1500 pastors leave the ministry every month. He concludes, "In this changing world we need to add a new set of leadership tools" (13). He adds, "All that we have assumed about leading Christian organizations. All that we have been trained for, is out of date" (28). "We are in uncharted terrain trying to lead dying churches into a post-Christian culture that now considers the church an optional, out-of-touch and irrelevant relic of the past" (31). He suggests, "The answer is not to try harder but to start a new adventure" (33).

I found this book's thesis particularly compelling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Church ministers had been trained to prepare sermons during the week and deliver them in person each weekend from their pulpit. Suddenly, the government forbid churches from meeting in person. Many churches had no live-stream capability. Many pastors were novices at using social media or their iPhone to broadcast messages to their parishioners. Some ministers merely complained about the government's overreach and longed for a return to normalcy. Others adapted to the unexpected circumstances and discovered new ministry opportunities they had previously missed.

Ironically, Bolsinger suggests problems churches are facing today ". . . are very often the result of yesterday's solutions" (19). If certain methods have brought us success for many years, it is extremely difficult and unsettling to let them go.

Bolsinger's book is summed up in five key lessons:

1. Understanding uncharted territory: the world in front of you is nothing like the world behind you.

2. The on-the-map skill set: no one is going to follow you off the map unless they trust you on the map.

3. Leading off the map: in uncharted territory, adaption is everything.

4. Relationships and resistance: you can't go alone, but you haven't succeeded until you've survived sabotage.

5. Transformation: everybody will be changed (especially the leader) (14-16).

Bolsinger makes heavy use of the work by Ronald Heifetz throughout his book. Years ago, I read Heifetz's book Leadership Without Easy Answers (aff) and found it to be very thought-provoking. Heifetz teaches adaptive leadership. Bolsinger notes that "If someone is not functioning as a leader, the system will always default to the status quo" (21). He quotes Ed Friedman who said, "The leader in the system is the one who is not blaming anyone" (21).

Heifetz suggests that adaptive challenges "cannot be solved with one's existing knowledge and skills, requiring people to make a shift in their values, expectations, attitudes, or habits of behavior" (42). Of course, this adjustment requires a high level of leadership. Some challenges leaders face are technical. Leaders can deal with them by honing their current skills in preaching or modernizing a worship service. These problems merely require improving what a leader is already doing. But adaptive challenges require a radical adjustment that depends on great leadership.

Bolsinger defines leadership this way: "Leadership is energizing a community of people toward their own transformation in order to accomplish a shared mission in the face of a changing world" (42). Bolsinger suggests there are three key components to such leadership: adaptive capacity, technical competence, and relational congruence (43).

Bolsinger makes many good points in this discussion. He notes that if you have not demonstrated competence in your past leadership, there is no reason for people to trust you as you lead them into uncharted territory (51). He also mentions that most leaders, especially in the church, are not trained to lead organizations (58). Organizations have cultures and a DNA. Most leaders are unfamiliar with what is required to transform organizations that have become old and stale, which is why roughly 70% of churches in America today are plateaued or in decline.

Ron Heifetz states, "Adaptive processes don't require leadership with answers. It requires leadership that creates structures that hold people together through the very conflictive, passionate, and sometimes awful process of addressing questions for which there aren't easy answers" (65). To lead an organization to adapt, leaders must begin with themselves. Bolsinger confesses, "Most of my experience was invalid, and most of my so-called expertise was irrelevant. Indeed, my past experience, especially my past 'success' could end up leading to my downfall" (109).

Bolsinger discusses his attempt to address a problem in his church. At a certain point, attendance at worship services began to decline. People immediately offered solutions and knee-jerk reactions. Bolsinger notes that "Because of the gap between cause and effect, it is difficult to diagnose the true underlying causes of most problems" (116). Ultimately, he discovered that what they thought was the problem was actually a symptom. Turning things around required more significant change than people had initially assumed.

Interestingly, Heifetz defines leadership as ". . . disappointing your own people at a rate they can absorb" (172). In adaptive leadership, searching for a win-win can be elusive (139). People, even your friends, may have to lose in order for the organization to accomplish its mission. Bolsinger notes that "mission trumps" (123). "In a healthy Christian ministry, the mission wins every argument" (125). What I have seen is that people in declining churches often confuse the methods with the mission. They get upset if the pastor removes the pews or changes the songs, but the furniture and music are only methods. Churches do not exist to have pews. Their purpose is not to sing hymns. It is to make disciples of all nations. Yet people become more enamored with and attached to the methods than they are to the mission.

Bolsinger encourages organizations to develop a robust mission statement. He suggests it only be eight words or less (130). He notes, "There is perhaps no greater responsibility and no greater gift leadership can give a group of people on a mission than to have the clearest, most defined mission possible" (129) Interestingly, Bolsinger also states, "A big mistake that many leaders make is to assume that all friends are allies" (158). Finally, Bolsinger writes of the Lewis and Clark expedition, "It took European civilization almost three centuries to grasp fully that what it had found-North America-might be more important than what it was looking for" (207).

I found this book to be very helpful, particularly for our current situation. I have long believed that organizations get stuck because its leaders cannot think outside the box. The methods that got an organization into a problem are the same ones they are trying to use to get out of it. Part of the issue is the leadership training people are receiving. Church pastors are trained in seminaries. Most of the professors are not leaders themselves, which greatly compounds the problem. A preaching professor assumes the key to healthy churches is solid, biblical preaching. A theology professor assumes a church with solid theology will automatically grow from the blessing of God. But few teachers help people know what to do when their training and previous experience is inadequate to solve their current problems.

Too often leaders assume the situation is impossible when, in fact, they are merely using an inadequate approach.

I enjoyed this book. I am not always a fan of books that draw lessons from historic events. They often seem forced. At times the analogy got a bit weary, but, overall, I found the Lewis and Clark expedition provides a powerful picture of today's leadership. Rather than longing for the good old days, leaders ought to roll up their sleeves and do the hard work of adaptive leadership. It won't be easy, and it might cost them some friends. But, ultimately, their organization will thank them when they continue to thrive into the future.
Rating: 4

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Tod Bolsinger, Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory. (aff.) Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2015. 269 pages. Near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a good friend recommended I read this book. It was published in 2015, but I had somehow missed it.

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Review of Scott Cormode's book, "The Innovative Church" (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020).

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Review of Scott Cormode's book, "The Innovative Church" (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020).

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https://www.ryanpanzer.com/post/book-review-the-innovative-church-by-scott-cormode

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Ryan Panzer

We need innovation in the church. Everyone knows it. Increasingly, everyone says it.

But what does "innovation" actually mean in the church? Is it just solving old problems with new methods? Is it solving new problems with processes from the worlds of business and technology? Or might it be something else?

Scott Cormode addresses these questions in more his highly practical, accessible guide to innovation, "The Innovative Church: How Leaders and their Congregations Can Adapt in an Ever-Changing World."

Check out the video review from our YouTube channel, or read below for more on this book!

"Christian innovation cannot be exactly like secular innovation, yet Christians can learn from secular innovators."

I would describe Cormode's work as a must-read for churches who know they need to change. It features practical models that align with innovation best practices of the corporate world, yet are skillfully adapted for church contexts. For example, Cormode pays specific attention to "Human-Centered Design," a process similar to Design Thinking. In his descriptions of the process, Cormode instructs the church leader on how to brainstorm, prune, prototype, and test with an emphasis on the Spirit's work in a context.

I was particularly drawn to the book's emphasis on practices and narrative. The objective of Christian innovation is not the pursuit of relevance, nor is it an attempt to attract young people. In order to reach "the smartphone generation," we don't need to invent something from scratch. With innovation, we're not trying to create new things, launch new programs, or start a new marketing campaign.

Instead, we're trying to reintroduce a timeless identity, to reshare an ancient narrative. With innovation, we reimagine the traditions of the faith for a contemporary context. Christian innovation is fundamentally connected to the historical practices of the faith: prayer, lament, hospitality, generosity, and others. For Cormode, the Christian innovator skilfully initiates the processes of discernment and human-centered design in the context of traditional practices. The result of this process is a set of new approaches to ancient practices that "make spiritual sense" of the "longings and losses" in our world.

Cormode's work is theologically grounded in the action of God. It is ultimately God who acts, God who creates. As innovators, we are here to water, to nurture, to give thanks for the ways in which God is always speaking a renewing word of life into this world. As leaders, it is not our task to come up with brilliant ideas. It is our calling to discern what God is up to, to listen to the longings and losses of our community, and to empathize. Joined together with the ceaseless creative work of the triune God, our innovative work may yet resonate with an ailing and divided world.

--

@ryanpanzer is the author of "Grace and Gigabytes"

We need innovation in the church. Everyone knows it. Increasingly, everyone says it.

But what does "innovation" actually mean in the church? Is it just solving old problems with new methods? Is it solving new problems with processes from the worlds of business and technology? Or might it be something else?

Scott Cormode addresses these questions in more his highly practical, accessible guide to innovation, "The Innovative Church: How Leaders and their Congregations Can Adapt in an Ever-Changing World."

Check out the video review from our YouTube channel, or read below for more on this book!

"Christian innovation cannot be exactly like secular innovation, yet Christians can learn from secular innovators."

I would describe Cormode's work as a must-read for churches who know they need to change. It features practical models that align with innovation best practices of the corporate world, yet are skillfully adapted for church contexts. For example, Cormode pays specific attention to "Human-Centered Design," a process similar to Design Thinking. In his descriptions of the process, Cormode instructs the church leader on how to brainstorm, prune, prototype, and test with an emphasis on the Spirit's work in a context.

I was particularly drawn to the book's emphasis on practices and narrative. The objective of Christian innovation is not the pursuit of relevance, nor is it an attempt to attract young people. In order to reach "the smartphone generation," we don't need to invent something from scratch. With innovation, we're not trying to create new things, launch new programs, or start a new marketing campaign.

Instead, we're trying to reintroduce a timeless identity, to reshare an ancient narrative. With innovation, we reimagine the traditions of the faith for a contemporary context. Christian innovation is fundamentally connected to the historical practices of the faith: prayer, lament, hospitality, generosity, and others. For Cormode, the Christian innovator skilfully initiates the processes of discernment and human-centered design in the context of traditional practices. The result of this process is a set of new approaches to ancient practices that "make spiritual sense" of the "longings and losses" in our world.

Cormode's work is theologically grounded in the action of God. It is ultimately God who acts, God who creates. As innovators, we are here to water, to nurture, to give thanks for the ways in which God is always speaking a renewing word of life into this world. As leaders, it is not our task to come up with brilliant ideas. It is our calling to discern what God is up to, to listen to the longings and losses of our community, and to empathize. Joined together with the ceaseless creative work of the triune God, our innovative work may yet resonate with an ailing and divided world.

--

@ryanpanzer is the author of "Grace and Gigabytes"

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Book Review: "The Innovative Church" by Scott Cormode

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We need innovation in the church. Everyone knows it. Increasingly, everyone says it. But what does "innovation" actually mean in the church? Is it just solving old problems with new methods? Is it solving new problems with processes from the worlds of business and technology? Or might it be something else?

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'I'm busy,' signals you don't have room for friends; be specific or cut back your calendar

I recently asked a friend I haven't seen in months if she wanted to get together and catch up. I envisioned us gabbing over cocktails at the new Vietnamese restaurant in our neighborhood. Or maybe I could fix her dinner.

Her reply: "Sure. Why don't you stop by for 45 minutes to an hour on Monday night around 8:30."

Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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'I'm busy' signals you don't want to make room for friends or family. Be specific about what's really taking up your time or cut back your calendar.

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In a culture where being social and outgoing are prized above all else, it can be difficult, even shameful, to be an introvert. But, as Susan Cain argues in this passionate talk, introverts bring extraordinary talents and abilities to the world, and should be encouraged and celebrated.

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Will Half of All Colleges Really Close in the Next Decade?

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Will Half of All Colleges Really Close in the Next Decade?

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25-50% of all colleges and universities in the U.S. are predicted to close in the next decade due to mushrooming costs, shrinking enrollments, and a shift to online learning.

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Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen consistently turns heads in higher education by predicting that 50% of colleges and universities will close or go bankrupt in the next decade. Christensen and I made a more measured prediction with more nuance in 2013: "a host of struggling colleges and universities-the bottom 25 percent of every tier, we predict-will disappear or merge in the next 10 to 15 years."

But the truth of the matter is that disruptive innovation is only part of why Christensen originally made his prediction.
The prediction arose out of an observation that the business model of traditional colleges and universities was broken.
Many colleges and universities are increasingly unable to bring in enough revenue to cover their costs. Indeed, the average tuition discount rate was a whopping 49.9% for first-time, full-time freshmen in 2017-18, according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers. That means that students are paying roughly only half of what colleges and universities say they charge. A tuition discount rate above 35% puts a college in a danger zone, particularly when it is heavily dependent on tuition. Many institutions have discount rates far above that now.

What makes this even worse is that the natural pressure in higher education is for costs to increase-thanks to the lack of economies of scale and the complexity of higher education operations .

According to Moody's , at least 25% of private colleges are now running deficits. At public colleges, even in a good economy, expenses have outpaced revenue the past three years. And Moody's examines only the stronger players in higher education-the 500 or so that issue debt through the public markets.

On top of that, demographics are beginning to work against traditional colleges and universities. The pool of 18-year-olds is starting to decline- with precipitous declines in certain regions forecast to begin in 2026 . That's a recipe for disaster for two reasons.
Against this turbulent backdrop ripe for colleges to fail, Christensen observed that the emergence of the first disruptive innovation in education since the printing press -online learning-could wreak even more havoc as students enroll in online learning experiences.
The impact would likely happen slowly. Many disruptive innovations take a generation for their full effect to be realized. It's likely higher education would be particularly slow because of the loyalty of alumni and the dual conservatism of employers that hire from colleges and parents who often help foot the tuition bill.
So what will happen?

To me the issue is not, 'will colleges be forced to close?' but rather how many will close and over what time period. Will it be 500? 2000? Will it largely happen in the next five years, or 10 years or more? I am not certain about the details, but the broad contours of the forthcoming changes seem pretty clear."

Translation? Our predictions may be off, but they are directionally correct.

To that I emphasize one more piece of nuance. Ultimately we are really predicting a failure rate , made up of a combination of closures, mergers or acquisitions, and bankruptcies in which a college or university has the opportunity to restructure itself. Not all universities that "fail" will disappear.

So let's dive deeper into the prediction. The first question is how many colleges and universities are there? The answer reads like an annoying M.B.A. student's answer: it depends.

There are many ways to slice the denominator of the total number of colleges and universities in the country. Do you count the roughly 7,000 Title IV eligible institutions? The 4,600 degree-granting accredited colleges and universities? Or perhaps a subset-the roughly 2,300 four-year, not-for-profit private and public colleges?

Ultimately you can take your pick. The failure rate is growing in all segments.

Although some have said that our prediction is incorrect because for-profit universities are closing at the fastest rate, we never said that for-profit universities were inherently disruptive or likely to succeed. Western Governors University and Southern New Hampshire University, both nonprofits, have long been two of our favorite examples of disruptive innovators. And as we wrote in 2013, although several for-profit universities were first to embrace online learning, "federal financial aid seems to have gummed up the disruption: the easy revenue has encouraged some schools to indiscriminately enroll, often at the expense of quality, and has discouraged cost reduction."

There has been a big retrenchment in the for-profit landscape. Many for-profit, accredited colleges and universities are closing. According to Education Dive , more than 100 for-profit and career colleges closed between 2016-17 and 2017-18 alone. In just the last week, there has been more news of closures (see and for another 100-plus campuses closing). Expect more for-profits to close in the years ahead, as well as more mergers.

Not only that, but the rate of college closures is also accelerating in every segment.

From 2004-2014, "Closures among four-year public and private not-for-profit colleges averaged five per year from 2004-14, while mergers averaged two to three," according to Moody's . Moody's predicted in 2015 that that closure rate-out of 2,300 institutions-would triple by 2017, and the merger rate would double. Assuming that were true, and say that the rate held steady for 15 years, that would take out roughly 13% of existing higher education institutions right there.

And public universities will not be immune, as 20 closed in the same time period. The University of Georgia system has been consolidating campuses for several years now. The University of Wisconsin System is consolidating 13 two-year colleges into seven four-year colleges. Other consolidations are occurring in Alabama, and there have been consolidation conversations in Connecticut, Louisiana and Pennsylvania. According to Education Dive, of the 40 mergers that took place between 2010 and 2017, just under half involved at least one public college. And 36 public colleges have closed or consolidated since 2016.

Indeed, the total number of mergers and acquisitions from just 2010-2017 has doubled the activity that occurred in the prior decade, which further suggests that the Moody's projections may be conservative.

Ultimately, the biggest vulnerability in higher education is likely in the vast number of small institutions, particularly those located in rural areas in the Northeast and Midwest where the biggest declines of students are slated to occur. 40% of colleges and universities have fewer than 1,000 students. According to a 2016 report by Parthenon-EY titled "Strength in numbers," 77% of colleges and universities-or 738 institutions-with fewer than 1,000 students exhibited at least three risk factors, such as a high discount rate, being dependent on tuition for more than 85 percent of revenue, or having an endowment that covers less than a third of expenses, that placed its survival in question. If all 738 somehow failed, then the 25 percent failure prediction that Christensen and I made would be surpassed-by nearly 200 institutions.

According to Jeff Selingo , since 2010, these institutions have shed the most students-a decline of 5 percent-compared to colleges and universities with more than 10,000 students, which have grown slightly, on average. As Selingo points out, there is little to no margin for error in these colleges. Losing just a few students wreaks havoc on the budget and, over time, has significant repercussions. Indeed, 19 liberal arts colleges have closed or consolidated since 2016.

What's more, Selingo points out that the Northeast and Midwest-where steeper declines in the numbers of students await-have a greater number of colleges than other parts of the country.

All to say that it's not that hard to paint a picture of how 25% of existing institutions-be it 550 nonprofit and public four-year institutions or 1,100 degree-granting institutions-close, merge or declare bankruptcy in the years ahead. Yes, the 200 most selective schools in the country are likely to be unaffected by these failures. Many institutions will find ways to innovate in the years ahead -although some of that innovation will likely be through clever mergers. Many will close individual programs (such as full-time MBA programs and law schools ) and campus locations , while the institution remains open. Many colleges will likely even grow at the expense of those that fail. And yes, there will be some disruptors that grow significantly.

And, we ultimately hope, many students will attend institutions better positioned to help them graduate and be successful.

... Read More

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Will Half Of All Colleges Really Close In The Next Decade?

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Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen consistently turns heads in higher education by predicting that 50% of colleges and universities will close or go bankrupt in the next decade. The prediction is directionally correct, as the failure rate is growing across all types of colleges.

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Review of Chris Lowney's Everyone Leads: How to Revitalize the Catholic Church

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Review of Chris Lowney's Everyone Leads: How to Revitalize the Catholic Church

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Explore millions of resources from scholarly journals, books, newspapers, videos and more, on the ProQuest Platform.

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How I'm Working for Change Inside My Church

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How I'm Working for Change Inside My Church

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Shields recounts her ongoing efforts to effect change in the Mormon church.

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Chelsea Shields: How I'm working for change inside my church

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How do we respect someone's religious beliefs, while also holding religion accountable for the damage those beliefs may cause? Chelsea Shields has a bold answer to this question. She was raised in the orthodox Mormon tradition, and she spent the early part of her life watching women be excluded from positions of importance within the LDS Church.

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The changing face of liberal arts education

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The changing face of liberal arts education

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As universities face budget cuts and direction from government leaders dictate a shift in mission toward workforce training, programs like philosophy and history are on the chopping block.

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Wisconsin built a public higher-education system that was admired around the world. But it may not withstand a tech-hungry economy.

For many years, Wisconsin had one of the finest public-university systems in the country. It was built on an idea: that the university's influence should not end at the campus's borders, that professors-and the students they taught-should " search for truth" to help state legislators write laws, aid the community with technical skills, and generally improve the quality of life across the state.

Many people attribute the Wisconsin Idea, as it is known, to Charles Van Hise, the president of the University of Wisconsin from 1903 to 1918. "I shall never be content until the beneficent influence of the University reaches every family of the state," Hise said in an address in 1905. "If our beloved institution reaches this ideal it will be the first perfect state university." His idea was written into the mission of the state's university system, and over time that system became a model for what public higher education could be.

But the backbone of the idea almost went away in 2015, when Governor Scott Walker released his administration's budget proposal, which included a change to the university's mission. The Wisconsin Idea would be tweaked. The "search for truth" would be cut in favor of a charge to "meet the state's workforce needs."
"I shall never be content until the beneficent influence of the University reaches every family of the state."
To those outside Wisconsin, the proposed change might have seemed small. After all, what's so bad about an educational system that propels people into a high-tech economy? But to many Wisconsinites, the change struck at the heart of the state's identity. They argued that the idea-with its core tenets of truth, public service, and "improving the human condition"-is what makes Wisconsin, Wisconsin.

Walker ultimately scrapped his attempt to alter the Wisconsin Idea, claiming that his administration hadn't meant to change it, that it was just a "drafting error." And so the Wisconsin Idea was preserved-at least in an official sense. But though the words survived intact, many Wisconsinites believe that in the years since, the change Walker had proposed has taken place nevertheless. And one of the state's institutions, the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, is the epicenter of that change.

In mid-November, the university announced its plans to stop offering six liberal-arts majors, including geography, geology, French, German, two- and three-dimensional art, and history. The plan stunned observers, many of whom argued that at a time when Nazism is resurgent, society needs for people to know history, even if the economy might not. But the university said it just was not possible: After decades of budget cuts, the most extreme of which came under Walker, Stevens Point no longer had the resources to sustain these six majors.
Read: How education factored into the gubernatorial election in Wisconsin
The state's recent gubernatorial election showed that millions of Wisconsinites want to preserve the values the university system has long embodied. The governor-elect, Tony Evers, won his race in part because he campaigned on reclaiming Wisconsin's status as a standard-bearer for higher education. But Evers has a fight ahead of him: The state's Republican-controlled legislature has made it abundantly clear that they are not about to cooperate with Evers's agenda. Despite Evers's election, the Wisconsin Idea may not live for much longer. How Wisconsin got here-and whether it will get out-is a story that reveals the tensions of a state that feels it must choose between the needs of a tech-hungry economy and those of a uninformed civil society, and is going to somehow try and satisfy both.

In November 2017, Lee Willis wasn't terribly concerned. The chairs of each department at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point were assessing their programs ahead of a biweekly meeting with the dean; Willis, the chair of the history department, may not have been feeling great, but he was at least upbeat. "I felt like the department had really diversified its curriculum in a way to shore us up," he told me. The department offered a history major, and much of the coursework for an interdisciplinary major in international relations and a social-science major for those pursuing a teaching certificate.

The college, alongside the rest of the UW system, was facing major budget cuts. The state was spending nearly 23 percent fewer inflation-adjusted dollars per student than it had a decade earlier, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). On top of that, a tuition freeze was in place-which was good for students, but tough for an institution that somehow needed to fund its programs.

Colleges in this situation have little choice but to start cutting, Michael Mitchell, a policy analyst at CBPP, told me. Many institutions have to consolidate programs, restrict course offerings, stop hiring, furlough staff, transition some faculty from tenure track to adjunct positions, and reduce campus services that students rely on, such as mental-health services or library hours, Mitchell said. Flagship campuses, such as the University of Wisconsin at Madison, are usually safe, but not the Stevens Points of the world.

That's the position the university found itself in during the 2017 chairs' meeting. By that point, administrators had already broken down the number of students enrolled as majors in each department-at least those aside from the STEM fields, Willis said. Sure, there may have been signs of trouble for his program before, Willis said, that should have raised his concern, but that meeting was when he thought, for sure: "They've got us marked."

In March 2018, the school's administration offered a proposal to deal with the deficit. Cuts were necessary, the administration said. Liberal-arts staples such as English, philosophy, political science, and history would have to be eliminated. All told, the university planned to get rid of 13 majors. Not enough students were enrolled in them to make them worth the cost, the university argued. "We're facing some changing enrollment behaviors," Greg Summers, the provost and vice chancellor at Stevens Point, told me. "And students are far more cost-conscious than they used to be."
To Willis, this isn't just an educational loss, but a societal one as well.
Instead, administrators wanted to focus the school's limited resources on the academic areas that students were flocking to and that the state's economy could use straightaway-though they maintained that the liberal arts more generally would remain central to the curriculum, even if these specific majors were gone. "We remain committed to ensuring every student who graduates from UW-Stevens Point is thoroughly grounded in the liberal arts, as well as prepared for a successful career path," Bernie Patterson, the institution's chancellor, said in a message to the campus. The changes would reflect "a national move among students towards career pathways," administrators argued. The proposal planned to add majors in chemical engineering, computer-information systems, conservation-law enforcement, finance, fire science, graphic design, management, and marketing. By focusing more on fields that led directly to careers, the school could better provide what businesses wanted-and students, in theory, would have an easier time finding jobs and career success.

Faculty members had been expecting cuts, but nothing nearly that severe. "I was personally surprised about the radicalness of the change," Ed Miller, a political-science professor at the university, told Wisconsin Public Radio. "We do live in a democracy, and universities are supposed to be preparing people to participate in a democracy, besides participate in the workforce, although that's certainly important."
Read: The decline of the Midwest's public universities threatens to wreck its most vibrant economies.
But beyond that, Thomas O'Guinn, a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, told me, the changes flew smack in the face of the Wisconsin Idea. "The idea that we would just forsake everything for [career-focused schools] is not a Wisconsin Idea thing at all," he said.

Fierce backlash to the proposal from students, faculty, and alumni pushed the administration to reconsider its original plan. By the time the final proposal was released in mid-November 2018, it was less expansive, though still forceful. Six programs would be cut, including the history major. The university seemed to be eyeing degree programs with low numbers of graduates, and nationally, the number of graduates from bachelor's programs in history has had the steepest decline of any major in recent years, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

If the proposal, which is now in the middle of a public-comment period, is finalized, history classes will still be offered, but Willis said that cutting the major may ultimately lead to a reduction of staff and upper-level courses, such as the spring seminar on the Holocaust and its major's emphasis on race and ethnicity. To Willis, this isn't just an educational loss, but a societal one as well. "You never know when a historical metaphor is going to arise," he quipped, pointing to the recent incident in Baraboo, Wisconsin, where high-school students gestured the Nazi salute in a photo.

The words of the Wisconsin Idea haven't changed, but the administration is gutting it in favor of career education, Willis said. " I feel like the liberal arts are sort of being asked to line up behind job preparation," he told me, "rather than studying the liberal arts for the liberal arts' sake as a public good."

Greg Summers is an environmental historian by trade. He received his doctorate at Madison, and he has worked at Stevens Point his entire career, starting in 2001. But it wasn't his own department-the history department-that led him to the university.

Instead, Stevens Point's renowned College of Natural Resources drew him in. The college produces many of the state's foresters, wildlife managers, and environmental engineers. "I came here wanting to make sure that every one of those folks that we trained in the College of Natural Resources were going to go out with an understanding that history mattered," Summers said, "and that it was relevant to their professional work." Many colleges, he argues, fail to give their STEM grads that broader understanding, due in large part to the general-education curriculum.
Essentially, Summers said, selecting a major in the hopes of getting a job shouldn't prevent a student from receiving a basic liberal-arts education.
"We hear a lot from employers that they don't want to choose between graduates who have some technical ability versus a graduate who has a liberal-arts major," Summers said. "They really want both of those things." He said he's working to position Stevens Point to provide that balance. "We're trying to search for ways to better integrate the liberal-arts education that we have always provided into all of our majors," he said, so that students don't have to choose between a major in the liberal arts and "a major that doesn't really engage them meaningfully." Essentially, he said, selecting a major in the hopes of getting a job shouldn't prevent a student from receiving a basic liberal-arts education.

But he's had a hard time getting faculty on board with the administration's way of achieving that goal. Late last month, more than 100 current and former faculty and staff at the university called for the removal of Summers as well as Chancellor Bernie Patterson. "While Provost Summers was hiring more faculty than he now thinks we can afford, UWSP undertook a lengthy strategic planning process." they wrote. "But excellent adjectives, no matter how elegantly arrayed, do not constitute a strategic plan. Instead of being guided by a consistent vision, UWSP's leadership has instead been erratic, misguided, and in some cases even incompetent."

Summers, however, argues that the strategy isn't reactive-or inconsistent, for that matter. Instead, he said, the university is trying to think "10 years down the road," to what the students and the state will need. The demand, Summers said, "is coming from working adults on college campuses who cannot come to campus on Tuesday morning at 10 to attend a three-credit class, and who may not be looking for a full-fledged baccalaureate degree." Rather, "they might be in need of knowledge and learning and professional advancement," he told me. Besides, he argued, "too often when people have these conversations, they tend to conflate the value of the major with the value of the discipline." This isn't an attack on the liberal arts, he said, but a push to open up liberal-arts courses to more students in significant ways.
Read: The unexpected value of the liberal arts.
Summers, too, lays claim to the Wisconsin Idea, and has proposed an "Institute for the Wisconsin Idea" that will serve as the hub that generates a revamped general-education curriculum. "We want to really give [the institute] first priority at defining the curriculum in the most meaningful way we can for our students and making sure it's integrated with their chosen professional pathway," he said.

"We need to make sure that knowledge is relevant, and it's applied," he said. The university's competitiveness in the future higher-education market depends on it.

Both Willis and Summers agree on one critical point: What happens in Wisconsin could become a model for higher education across the country. What divides them is whether that would be a good thing.

One thing is sure, however: Financial realities such as those facing Stevens Point are not far off for many regional institutions. "The reality is that we just can't be everything to everyone, regardless of the public-good value of some of the coursework," Summers said. "Those constraints are very real." There are few encouraging signs-if any-that states will once again pump dollars into state colleges to get them back to 2008 levels and, as Mitchell of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities notes, those levels still were not enough to make college affordable for most students.
"The reality is that we just can't be everything to everyone, regardless of the public-good value of some of the coursework."
But as much as this is a tale of a resource-strapped institution, it's also a tale of something else-something that has nothing to do with the school's budget and everything to do with the state of higher education in the 21st century. And that's because even if the state were to miraculously open the coffers for state institutions, Summers said he would likely still eliminate the history major and others in favor of more focus on STEM fields bolstered by a broader general-education curriculum.

"If we suddenly received more dollars," he told me, "we'd have to ask some pretty hard questions about where we'd want to invest those dollars-and again, I'd point to enrollment figures." If the demand is for the fields with clearly prescribed career pathways, that's where the resources should flow, he said. "We are obligated to make sure that we're serving those students in the best way possible, and for that money, we need to focus on the liberal-arts core curriculum of the university," he told me.

To Willis, this sounds like the manifestation of Scott Walker's 2015 plan, shirking the "search for truth" in favor of meeting economic needs. "I think that's what our administration is thinking about," he said, "that our role here in central Wisconsin is to anticipate what jobs are going to be needed and to develop programs accordingly." The problem, he fears, is that that alone will never be enough.

The national conversation around higher education is shifting, raising doubts about whether the liberal arts-as we have come to know them-are built to survive a tech-hungry economy.
Read: The humanities are in crisis.

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president of the university of wisconsin

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The Liberal Arts May Not Survive the 21st Century

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Wisconsin built a public higher-education system that was admired around the world. But it may not withstand a tech-hungry economy. For many years, Wisconsin had one of the finest public-university systems in the country.

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An Analysis of a Storytelling Model to Help Communicate Vision

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An Analysis of a Storytelling Model to Help Communicate Vision

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A PDF of the first three chapters to an amazing book which teaches others how to clarify their vision/message using a 7 point storytelling model.

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An in depth overview of the importance of efficient meetings.

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Why is it that any single meeting may be a waste of time, an irritant, or a barrier to the achievement of an organization's objectives? The answer lies in the fact, as the author says, that "all sorts of human crosscurrents can sweep the discussion off course, and errors of psychology and technique on the chairman's part can defeat its purposes." This article offers guidelines on how to right things that go wrong in meetings. The discussion covers the functions of a meeting, the distinctions in size and type of meetings, ways to define the objectives, the preparations, the chairman's role, and ways to conduct a meeting that will achieve its objectives.

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Why is it that any single meeting may be a waste of time, an irritant, or a barrier to the achievement of an organization's objectives? The answer lies in the fact, as the author says, that "all sorts of human crosscurrents can sweep the discussion off course, and errors of psychology and technique on the chairman's part can defeat its purposes."

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A fun video that emphasizes the importance of small wins along the way to achieving large goals. Work smarter, not harder.

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How to Build a Better To-Do List - Charles Duhigg

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A Liturgy on Adapting to Change and Processing Information

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A Liturgy on Adapting to Change and Processing Information

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A beautiful piece about one's desperation in clinging to Christ in the midst of crisis and unpredictable change.

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The Christian Response to the Coronavirus: Stay Home

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The Christian Response to the Coronavirus: Stay Home

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How the church's physical absence rather than physical presence can be a blessing in this season.

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My daughter came to my office nearly in tears today because the piano concert that she had been preparing for the entire year had been canceled. To comfort her, I told her that her small sacrifice and many others like it might save the lives of people she will never meet. Through our diligence we could provide elderly couples with more years to enjoy together. It could mean more Christmases and Thanksgivings in which children get to know their grandparents and hear stories of what their parents were like when they were young. Our adjustments now will allow younger people with chronic illness a chance for a full life. If we believe that all life is sacred, from conception to death, the entirety of our lives - even the last years - is of tremendous value.

Regardless of our beliefs, the one experience common to all humanity is that we die. In that we share a kinship. But Christians can, through their actions and faith, lodge their protest against this great enemy, not as a shaking of one's fist at the wind, but as testimony to the greater hope of the eventual defeat of death itself. The thing we must always struggle to discern is the proper shape of that testimony.

When I was younger, I had an aunt stay with us for a few days who was afflicted with H.I.V. I was only a child and the information was hazy and jumbled in my developing mind. I do remember vividly sitting at our dinner table eating fries with a little too much ketchup. She came and sat next to me and asked if she could have some. I was afraid. What if she had a cut on her lip and bled into the fries and I wouldn't be able to tell? Could it be spread through saliva? I was terrified, but I loved my aunt more than I feared her disease. So we ate fries together and I swallowed my terror. That hasty communion is my lasting memory of her.

During the AIDS epidemic, many churches showed their solidarity by sharing the bread and the wine with the infected to show that there was nothing to fear. Today, it may be that we show our solidarity by not sharing.

The Gospel of John recounts Jesus' words to his disciples in the upper room before his death. During this final discourse, he tells them that it is better that he goes away so that the comforter (the Holy Spirit) would come. The point is that the loss of his physical presence through his death, resurrection and ascension would lead to an even deeper communion with God. It is possible that, strangely enough, the absence of the church will be a great testimony to the presence of God in our care for our neighbors.

Esau McCaulley (@esaumccaulley) is an assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and a priest in the Anglican Church in North America, where he serves as the director of the Next Generation Leadership Initiative.
The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We'd like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some . And here's our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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Opinion | The Christian Response to the Coronavirus: Stay Home

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My daughter came to my office nearly in tears today because the piano concert that she had been preparing for the entire year had been canceled. To comfort her, I told her that her small sacrifice and many others like it might save the lives of people she will never meet.

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"Leaders need to take a new approach to change- one that deploys evidence, analytics, and emerging technology"

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"The context in which the organizations operate today is fundamentally shifting, and so is the way in which we should think about change"

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Traditional change management as we know it is obsolete. Even the very notion that change can be managed feels absurd given the reality and pace of business today. The intent of business executives-to deliver results more sustainably and more quickly-remains the same, but the context in which organizations operate today is fundamentally shifting, and so is the way in which we should think about change.

Three critical shifts are fundamentally reshaping corporate change:
1. From point-in-time to all-the-time
Change is no longer a project with a defined start and end. It is continuous, and accelerating. On average, employees now experience three major changes each year, compared with fewer than two in 2012, and nearly three-quarters of organizations expect more change initiatives to come in the next few years. As one executive I recently spoke to put it, "As soon as I'm done with one transformation, the next one begins!"

While it is often said that change is the "new normal," that nonetheless comes with profound implications. Being able to lead through change is no longer an optional skill. A recent study looked at boards that had initiated a CEO rotation and found the No. 1 reason was the need for someone with the ability to successfully manage change.

We must rethink how we lead, how we engage teams and how we inspire individuals. How do we build greater sponsorship, influence, desire and commitment to change, as well as greater resilience, within our organization? The ability to successfully change-both as leaders and as organizations-is quickly becoming a source of competitive advantage.
2. From analog to digital
Advances in technology are reshaping both the challenges and possibilities change offers.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the nature of jobs and is shifting work that humans once did to machines. It necessitates a broader rethinking of the future of work. Yes, many jobs will go away, but many will be created, too, requiring smart management through this period of immense dislocation. Amazon in 2016 increased the number of robots it used by 50%, from 30,000 to 45,000 robots, securing a reduction in its costs and delivery times. Over the same period, it increased its human workforce by 50% to focus it on tasks requiring soft capabilities that would help better serve customers.

This requires that companies cultivate an ability to retrain their workforce in new skills on an ongoing basis. The need for talent with advanced technical skills is far outstripping supply. In a 2018 study from IBM, 63% of respondents cited a lack of technical skills as a barrier to AI implementation. In response, an increasing number of forward-looking companies are now building cultures of continuous learning. They focus on developing both advanced technical skills and the human skills that go along with them. I see this in my own firm in spades. Our assets go up and down the elevator each day. If we don't provide tools and advanced training for employees to stay relevant in the AI-enabled organization of the future, we are dead.

In a world in which an increasing number of business decisions are made by machine, research has found only 10% of people trust AI to perform complex and high risk tasks. We need to find a new way to build trust not only between people but also between people and machines. Professional applications, for example, can be viewed with skepticism by human practitioners, who accept their results as confirmation, but balk when human and machine come to different conclusions.

Yet increases in data and processing power are also unlocking our ability to approach old challenges in valuable new ways. Organizations can, in real time, collect and respond to data on operations, employees and customers. One example: Rather than taking a snapshot of employee sentiment in annual surveys, companies like Intel, IBM and Twitter have started using sentiment analysis to understand how their employees feel about their jobs in real time. A similar change is transforming customer management, as 70% of executives increase their investment in real-time customer analytics in order to make more effective decisions.
3. From fixed to flexible
The very nature of the workforce is changing. Millennials already account for nearly 50% of the US workforce, and they are reshaping expectations. Over 90% expect to stay in a job for less than 3 years, far lower than historical average of 4.4. At the same time, the so-called gig economy is contributing to a labor market characterized by nontraditional, independent and short-term working relationships. One-third of all US workers have some type of gig work arrangement in place. Organizations' boundaries are becoming more porous. Increasingly it is not just the internal but also the external ecosystem-comprising new kinds of talent, flexible working arrangements, and external contractors and advisors-that defines an organization.

In this much more flexible environment one thing has not changed: human nature and our desire for stability, predictability and purpose. In a world of increased uncertainty, company culture and mission are becoming new sources of stability and purpose. We see a swell of organizations pivoting from shareholder value as their sole raison d'être to a focus on a broader purpose. A survey of 12,000 white-collar employees conducted by The Energy Project and the Harvard Business Review found that employees who derive meaning and significance from their work were more than three times as likely to stay with their organizations, the highest impact of any variable examined in the survey. These employees also reported almost twice the job satisfaction and were significantly more engaged at work as well.

The scope of these three shifts is massive. It requires that we adjust to a future in which change cannot and should not be "managed." A new normal, no longer defined by risk, fear and avoidance but rather by possibility, agility and opportunity, mandates that we not just manage change, but rather embrace it.

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Change Is Changing: Coping With The Death Of Traditional Change Management

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Traditional change management as we know it is obsolete. Even the very notion that change can be managed feels absurd given the reality and pace of business today. The intent of business executives-to deliver results more sustainably and more quickly-remains the same, but the context in which organizations operate today is fundamentally shifting, and so is the way in which we should think about change.

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Leading KidMin: How to Drive Real Change in Children's Ministry

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Leading KidMin: How to Drive Real Change in Children's Ministry

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Leading change from the inside out, starting from the leadership and also not reacting to the newest trends but to align with the church vision.

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Want to see your church's kids transformed for Jesus? Struggling to get the whole church on board? Know what you want to see happen, but not how to make it happen?

Leading KidMin is about what it takes to achieve big-time change. Moving past the "why" and getting straight to the "how," Leading Kidmin provides tools and strategies for actually leading, influencing, and implementing change on a local church level - all from the vantage point of the children's ministry director.

The mission of Leading KidMin is to create a movement of change-agents who don't just know that change is needed, but are equipped to make it happen, leading their churches in becoming more aligned, effective, and geared for growth.

Pat Cimo and Matt Markins, veterans of KidMin, are prepared to make you the change-agent you want to be - and that your church needs you to be. Are you ready?

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leading kidmin: how to drive real change in children's ministry

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Leading KidMin: How to Drive Real Change in Children's Ministry

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Want to see your church's kids transformed for Jesus? Struggling to get the whole church on board? Know what you want to see happen, but not how to make it happen?Leading KidMin is about what it takes to achieve big-time change.

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"Change is the silent killer in the church," a pastor friend once said to me.

I've spent years consulting organizations on managing change and teaching on the subject, so I'm painfully aware that change can be hard. Restructuring small groups, starting new building projects, energizing volunteer efforts, motivating discipleship, updating governance structure-change is inevitable at every level of a church. Isaiah 43:19 tells us that our Creator is always doing new things, therefore how we do the work of the church, too, depends on change.

But why does change in the church disrupt the work of the church? Fixated on this question, I spent a great deal of time researching and interviewing pastors about the challenges their churches face and the problems that prevent them from growing. Some see hope when facing change. Others feel overwhelmed by the list of tasks required to serve their attendees, elders, staff, and volunteers.

Managing change effectively can provide time and resources to focus on the spiritual growth of your congregation and their response to the Great Commission. Here are seven things to keep in mind as your church jumps into a time of disruptive transition.

1. Know when to make a change.

While the right time to make a change will vary for each church and situation, generally it's time to change when the pain of staying in the current state outweighs the cost of changing. A sense of urgency drives action and risk-tolerance.

Poorly timed change can be distracting. While some churches hesitate to change, other churches are change-saturated, investing in large organizational transitions or uprooting from conventional ways of doing things.

It's time to change when the pain of staying in the current state outweighs the cost of changing.

When an organization is oversaturated with change, the likelihood of effective transformation diminishes. One pastor I spoke with joined an 89-year-old church battling 30 years of decline. For the majority of the first year, he introduced no change, despite the challenging circumstances. The church had experienced a painful leadership separation in the past, and he focused on learning the history, building trust, and building alliances within the congregation. He simply prayed that God would show him how to love the people of his congregation.

It wasn't until the pastor had earned the trust and respect of the congregation that he began to introduce significant, disruptive changes that challenged conventional ways of church operations. Since the congregation was actively engaged in the decision-making process, the pastor created accountability and early buy-in with the people.

2. Prepare for change.

Plunging into a transformative effort requires thoughtful preparation. Organizations that intentionally map out the desired outcome, along with how the change will impact the culture, benefit from greater success.

To effectively plan for the change, prepare to answer questions such as these:

What is the change?

Why are we changing?

Who will the change impact?

What are the benefits of the change?

What will the change cost us?

What happens if nothing changes?

What obstacles might we encounter?

What key messages do we need to communicate?

In what ways can we engage the congregation?

Who needs to receive training?

How will we collect and respond to feedback?

Casting the vision for the change is a good place to start so you can emphasize that vision throughout the completion of the effort.

Remember, individuals experiencing transition will go through an emotional process, from loss and grief, to acceptance and commitment. These are normal responses, and leaders who acknowledge them permit their staff and congregation to cope with the loss of the past in order to see beyond the horizon. Pastors and church leaders can prepare their staff, attendees, and volunteers to survive, and perhaps even thrive, during a time of change by leaning on the strengths of the culture and refining its weaker components.

3. Get people involved (without letting them take over).

Most people don't like when change happens to them. Instead, they want an active role in effecting change. This presents problems.

In most churches, the pastors, elders, or trustees make important decisions on behalf of the congregation. People may feel like they deserve a say in decisions because of tithing or contributions they've made to the church. To address this dilemma, consider ways to engage the congregation without completely giving away decision-making authority, while still empowering people to voice their point of view. One pastor I spoke with encourages people in his age-diverse congregation to "discuss what they're most afraid of and find common ground for healing, vulnerable cooperation, and adventurous risk-taking."

The most vocal resisters to change can become the most outspoken advocates for your cause.

One powerful tool to engage people is through your church's primary influencers-the "change champions." This group can share the message and enthusiasm for the change with their peers. Yes, peer pressure works on adults! When managed intentionally, it can be a powerful force to help your congregation move through change.

A successful change champion program includes regular touch points, progress reports, talking points, and two-way feedback. The most vocal resisters to change can become the most outspoken advocates for your cause, if engaged early and with a specific purpose. Build a coalition of supporters to address potential resistance and rally others for the change.

One mid-size church I spoke with leveraged the power of change champions as they went through a transformational turnaround. They organized a small group of people, diverse in backgrounds, who met every other week to discuss the transition progress, develop ideas, and report back to the church council. As a result, the congregation members felt represented in the effort and embraced the multi-year change effort.

You can also engage your congregation through intentional surveys, geared towards providing your church leadership with information required for communication, resistance management, and training. For example, if your church wants to increase its number of volunteers, consider probing what is hindering people from currently volunteering. Is it other commitments, lack of training and support, or lack appreciation? Armed with the facts, you can mitigate resistance by removing obstacles.

4. Lead through the change.

The greatest contributor to successful change is alignment at the leadership level. The "why" of the change has to be birthed within the church, deeply rooted in the church's mission and values. With strong support from other leaders, pastors can share a compelling story and prioritize actions to propel the work forward.

Be trustworthy.

"I have found that when people have great trust in church leadership, it makes change much easier," a pastor of a multi-campus church in the Midwest told me.

People follow leaders they trust. Churches that have weathered the storm of failed pastoral leadership are understandably challenged to put their trust in someone else. It's inevitable that we as leaders will, at some point, fail people in one way or another. We all make mistakes. Admit to them and ask for forgiveness.

How strong is your connection with your church attendees and staff? If it is less than satisfactory, prioritize that connection above all changes. Lasting change cannot be effective with a less-than-trustworthy leader.

Be visible and communicative.

Transformational initiatives fail when leaders are not visible throughout the entire process, consistently empowering people to embrace the change.

Most leaders deal with changes before their congregation even becomes aware of the shift. Combat stagnation by effectively communicating the reason for change, how the change will impact the congregation, and how people can become informed of the progress associated with the transformational work.

Initiatives that lack urgency often fail to accelerate.

Your staff and church attendees must know your vision and enthusiasm for the transformation. When fears from the past creep up, and the whispers of "We tried that already," or "We've survived just fine, haven't we?" hum through the congregation, communicate the urgency and pain that your church is currently experiencing. Peel away the underlying fear or anxiety associated with the change. What are the unmet needs that would benefit from the change? Who will be impacted if change never happens? Paint a grim picture of the future without change, and connect emotionally with the unmistakable reality of your present situation.

While your own visibility is important, ensure that you include communications from other leaders in the church. This will assure your congregation that you aren't the only one who thinks this initiative is important, but that others in the church believe it is a worthwhile endeavor.

Initiatives that lack urgency often fail to accelerate. While removing roadblocks and potential obstacles, insert a message of hope. What will success look like in the future? Is it a new ministry opportunity? A renewed vision through strategic alignment? A new building or additional regional campuses? Our connection with the church begins with our faith in Jesus and his ability to do miracles with what we offer up to him.

Be patient.

Past change efforts that fall short can leave a lasting negative impression and make people unwilling to try new ideas. Unfortunately, there is no fast way to bypass this part of the process. Permit people to express their concerns early on, so they feel heard and understood. Pray for healing, forgiveness, and restoration.

Be open.

Allow staff to express their concerns and questions without negative consequences. Create the space for people to speak into how the change will play out. Engage them in collaborative creative thinking. Allow people to participate in discussions, workshops, meetings, focus groups, and other formal and informal communication efforts to understand and mitigate resistance.

Be humble.

Your initial plan may evolve throughout the transformation process, and that too is normal. By being inclusive, you can learn what aspects of the transformation will work well in the culture of your church. You can receive input from your congregation and consider what is at stake as it relates to your staff. Adjust your plans accordingly to reflect on the feedback and collaborative thought from your team.

5. Manage resistance.

During any large transformation, leaders will encounter early adopters, laggards, and everyone in between. Resistance is a normal part of the process, and leaders should prepare for it.

One multicultural church I spoke with struggled with generational tension that widened the gap between first-generation and second-generation immigrants who attended their church. A point of disagreement included worship preferences to align with the change in attendee demographic. The leaders observed significant emotional resistance that required patience and open dialogue.

Resistance can surface in many different forms. Some is passive, such as silence or denial. Other resistance is aggressive. Understanding the "why" behind resistance is instrumental in managing it. We can categorize resistance in three areas:

Intellectual: I don't understand it.

This can be overcome by asking questions, answering the "what's in it for me," listening, and communicating clearly and often.

Emotional: I don't like it.

Overcome emotional resistance by recognizing concerns, engaging in dialogue, reiterating the positive, and-as with intellectual resistance-listening.

Personal: I don't like you.

How can you address personal resistance? Acknowledge your past mistakes, restore trust, leverage other influencers in the group, allow yourself to be influenced, and-you guessed it-listen.

6. Make time for affirmation and encouragement.

Significant transformation takes time. If your initiative is going to last one, two, three, or more years, build in milestone celebrations along the way and communicate incremental wins to energize your team. These small anchors will move people through the change process and give them hope that their work is recognized and appreciated.

7. Remain steadfast during change.

"Maintaining my spiritual health as a leader is significantly more important than perfect change theory," said a pastor of a church undergoing a major transformation. "Theory is great, but without a well-grounded soul and without healthy relationship with those you are trying to serve and lead, great theory amounts to nothing." I couldn't agree more.

Even the most thoughtfully planned change efforts fall short when church leaders experience spiritual slumps. Prayer, personal reflection, Scripture meditation, and solitude are instrumental in the life of pastors and church leaders, and even more so during times of transition.

Change is hard. It is messy. It is uncomfortable, unsettling, and often unpopular. Cultivate a church culture so your congregation is ready for change. Apply change management techniques through a structured process, external consultants, and change management resources.

With a comprehensive approach, carefully crafted messages, and a prayerful heart, change can be a life-giving experience that rejuvenates your congregation and grows the church.
Pam Marmon is a change management expert, consultant, teacher, writer, and the founder of Threefold Tribe. She and her husband are raising three young sons in the suburbs of Chicago.

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"Change is the silent killer in the church," a pastor friend once said to me. I've spent years consulting organizations on managing change and teaching on the subject, so I'm painfully aware that change can be hard. Restructuring small groups, starting new building projects, energizing volunteer efforts, motivating discipleship, updating governance structure-change is inevitable at every level of a church.

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The Gospel in a time of Social Distancing

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The Gospel in a time of Social Distancing

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An article about what it means to be the church amidst a time of change

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Many years ago, there was a debate at my rural church about whether the pastor needed a cellular telephone for his ministry. They were expensive, so, of course, the argument was partly about whether paying for one was a responsible use of parish funds. I can't remember all the details, but the "car phone" was finally purchased, and for many years longer than was technologically reasonable, our pastor had it plugged into his vehicle so that he could be reached whenever he was on the road. The slippery slope, much invoked by opponents of this purchase, turned out to be basically flat: it was another decade before the church got a Web site. But after that came an e-mail list for prayer needs, which lets us know when someone is in the hospital or someone else has lost a family member, and, more recently, the monthly newsletter started circulating online to save on postage costs.

This is the little Lutheran church where I was baptized and confirmed, where I preached my first sermon, and where, someday, I will be buried in the cemetery. My mother taught Sunday school here, and my father ran the church council (and led the opposition to the cell phone); my two sisters and I all read bits of the Nativity story during Christmas Eve pageants and parts of the lectionary during Sunday services, carried the cross into worship as crucifers and lit candles as acolytes, helped make lunches for the elderly and the indigent in the kitchen, and attended 4-H Club meetings in the fellowship hall. We celebrated graduations and homecomings in the sanctuary, attended weddings and funerals there as well, and prayed for those serving abroad or suffering at home. This is all to say that our country church was never just a building but a space where we shared joys and sorrows, where our family grew to many more than five, and where, every week, we felt our congregation joined with others across time and around the world.

Worship has always been a time when I felt myself turned outward to others. There are many definitions of sin and as many preachers willing to expound on them, but I've always liked the one that Martin Luther borrowed from St. Augustine: incurvatus in se. If to sin is to be turned in on one's self-a thoroughly modern and anthropologically astute idea-then worship is one obvious antidote. I've certainly experienced it that way. Church is where I go to be reminded that the world is full of other people, and that their needs and desires are every bit as urgent and real as mine, and not just of those gathered in the sanctuary but of those around the world.

It's no wonder, then, that so many Christian denominations over all the centuries have emphasized what happens when followers of Christ gather together in person, and why they worry when we don't. Worship is more than a mere social gathering, when we move beyond the individual, atomistic experience of the holy that we might have alone in our morning meditation or evening prayers. It is the ritual enactment of what Christ taught us in the Gospel of Matthew: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." And so, as often as I can, at home or while travelling, I try to find my way into Compline or Evensong, Sabbath services or morning prayers. I have felt over and over again how restorative those gatherings can be, drawing me out of my solipsism, turning my heart toward those in need, not just in tithes of money but of presence and witness, too.

But there will be no gathering like that for some time, which is as it should be. The Pope has even cancelled Easter-not the resurrection, of course, only the public Mass commemorating it. It was, as far as I know, the largest of all the church services called off so far because of the coronavirus epidemic, since tens of thousands of people typically fill St. Peter's Square for papal audiences like the one that would have taken place on Easter Sunday. Instead, both the square and the church will be all but empty, thanks to social distancing, which is keeping us all six feet apart and at home as much as we can. Such is the gospel in the age of COVID-19.

My own local church has cancelled its services, too. Word of the cancellation came via e-mail from the council president (no longer my father, but now my godmother and onetime babysitter) with the lessons and prayers for the next two weeks attached, along with the pastor's sermons. A few days later, the pastor himself wrote to say that he would be conducting Bible studies and worship services on Zoom; it's no descending dove or tongue of fire, but the Holy Spirit can still surprise us. Like college lectures and book launches, apparently religious worship across many faiths has largely migrated to this online platform, although the National Cathedral, in Washington, D.C., seems to prefer Facebook Live, and Riverside Church, in New York, opted for YouTube. As with any change in praxis, this one has occasioned some weeping and gnashing of teeth, with religious leaders and the laity all wondering anew about what it means for an incarnate faith to go digital.

Of course, many churches were online before the coronavirus outbreak, with so-called Internet campuses and live streams and prayer Web forums, and there were already apps for everything from confession to meditation. Even before those clickable rituals, televangelists like T. D. Jakes, Billy Graham, and Bishop Fulton Sheen were offering salvation on television, and long before that Aimee Semple McPherson was broadcasting her sermons from Angelus Temple to millions of people over the radio. In the beginning might have been the Word, but ever since then the message of Jesus Christ has been adapted to whatever medium was available, from the scroll to the codex and eventually the podcast.

I admire those pastors, and religious leaders of all denominations, who, for the sake of their congregants, have been cautious, and clear about why we must find new ways to worship. I worry some about how much more easily ignored the Zoom alarm is or how effortlessly I can be distracted from one YouTube video by another, the sound of an incoming e-mail, or even just how strangely wired my brain has become to the sight of the laptop and its associations with writing and work, but I have been reassured by the example of how Christians across the centuries and across the globe who could not worship together, either because of illness or distress or suppression by the state, have found ways to be the Church without being physically together.

When I was younger, my grandmother, one of those gloriously churchless Christians, or what the novelist and poet Reynolds Price used to call an "outlaw Christian," would get cassette tapes in the mail of an evangelical preacher whose ministry she found moving and whose messages appealed to her. She was often a few months behind their services, but she'd play them in the car, and to my mainline ears it was like the Great Awakening had plugged in the guitar. She was a fine example of someone who rarely set foot in a worship service but whose faith was stronger than mine ever would be, and who lived the Gospel of Christ more fully than I ever will, with constant love for others and patience with herself and generosity that exceeded the widow's mite. She has often been on my mind when I think about how it will be fine to worship from home for a while. Already before the church cancellations, many Christians were fasting for Lent and taking on new devotions in preparation for Easter, so what is this if not another opportunity to remember the time when Christ was facing temptation and Satan himself, in the desert, away from his own spiritual home?

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The Gospel in a Time of Social Distancing

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Many years ago, there was a debate at my rural church about whether the pastor needed a cellular telephone for his ministry. They were expensive, so, of course, the argument was partly about whether paying for one was a responsible use of parish funds.

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A brief article I think my Pastor could benefit from, as well as all of us.

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We know that two-thirds of large scale transformation efforts fail. But that's not a terribly helpful piece of information―unless we're looking for confirmation that this is hard, really hard. What is useful is to understand what leaders can do to substantially increase the odds that their companies won't be among the two-thirds of those that fail. From my research and work with companies around the world leading large-scale transformation initiatives, here are the four things I've found that virtually all successful change leaders do really well:

Recognize embedded tensions and paradoxes

Smart, capable, solid professionals most often perform well in their roles until they reach a level in their organizations at which they are confronted with a series of embedded tensions and paradoxes that make leading effectively much more complicated. The most common paradoxes leaders face when driving a transformation effort are:

1. Revitalization vs. Normalization. At the core of every change initiative is the desire to breathe new life into the organization―to revitalize ways of thinking, behaving and working. But one change initiative often morphs into many, and before long employees become "change weary." Thus, we find ourselves in the conflicted situation of needing revitalization but desiring normalization.

2. Globalization vs. Simplification. Doing business today means doing business globally, but the complexities brought on by globalization are often in conflict with the need for organizations to make it simple for customers to do business with them. Leaders struggle with creating organizational responses that address the need to master globalization while offering customers and employees optimal simplification.

3. Innovation vs. Regulation. Many organizations, particularly in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, are saddled with trying to do business, let along innovate, under increasingly crushing regulatory environments. This is a stifling tax on a company's capacity to find creative approaches to solving unmet customers' needs. As such we struggle with the tension between the desire to boost innovation and the need to operate under increasing regulation.

4. Optimization vs. Rationalization. Customers not only have more power today―in some industries, they seem to have all of the power. Organizations are struggling to provide solutions that are better, faster, cheaper and increasingly customized. Leaders are caught in a seemingly endless struggle to reconcile the tension between optimizing benefits to customers while rationalizing their costs of doing business.

5. Digitization vs. Humanization. Advanced technology is at the core of virtually every company's business model today. Entire value chains are being digitized. Yet, the onset of ubiquitous digitization is occurring at the same time that individuals are yearning for a sense of meaning in their organizations. Leaders are struggling with how to reconcile the increasing need for the digitization of their business models while trying to create organizational climates that have an authentic sense of humanization―creating an overarching sense of purpose and collective ambition.

Successful transformation leaders embrace these tensions even though they make the challenge more complex. There are no easy answers; however, the leader's bedrock commitment to helping to reconcile these tensions is paramount. That means above all committing to an on-going communications and listening campaign so people know what's going on and know how they might contribute to the transformation effort―and know that they are invited to do so. This process starts by the CEO and top team telling powerful and compelling stories of where the company has been, where it is now and where it needs to go―and why. But it doesn't end there. Senior leaders must be ready to open up the flood gates so managers and employees closest to the client interface can surface these tensions and discuss them openly. While this might not resolve the tensions and paradoxes, it enables people to at least acknowledge that they exist, have their concerns heard, and discuss proactive ways forward together.

Hold everyone accountable

The leadership of the change effort can't end with the top team, the top 100 managers, or the top 1,000 managers. It has to be an all-hands-on-deck engagement. The change leader must signal that enterprise-wide transformation will be a collective effort, with accountability distributed throughout the organization.

But it is far easier to say this than to do this, so change leaders must be ready to back up their statements with real world initiatives that will strengthen engagement. For example, when Hess Corporation launched its 2020 Change Initiative, CEO John Hess challenged his entire leadership team to come up with solutions that would make the company more agile, cost conscience, and faster at decision making. And to minimize change weariness brought on by needless duplication of effort, he created a champions team responsible for coordinating the variety of efforts underway.

Invest in new organizational capabilities

Change leaders must go beyond storytelling, motivation, and mobilization efforts―they need to provide resources so that the organization has what it needs to win in the new environment. This might include capital improvements, process improvements, and building new talent capabilities.

For example, for three decades leading up to 2010, HSBC had successfully pursued a growth strategy and organizational capability that was founded upon acquisitions. However, with acquisition upon acquisition, the leaders within HSBC failed to develop a one-company culture, which made it difficult to integrate its offerings to an increasingly demanding customer base. As such, Stephen Green, HSBC's Chairman at the time, set the company on a course that called for a dramatic slowdown of acquisitions, at least until the current portfolio of companies was integrated and a culture of what Green referred to as Collective Management was cemented. This meant nothing short of building new organizational capabilities based upon collaboration and client-first thinking, which not only meant developing new systems and processes but building a collective mindset that would make aspiring to being a one-company culture a reality.

Emphasize continuous learning

It's far easier to talk about revitalization and renewal than to actually do it. The companies that pull it off have transformation leaders that commit to a relentless learning process.

Perhaps the best example I know of a remarkably successful transformation leader is Alan Mulally, who not only led the transformation effort for Boeing Commercial Airlines, but also the stunning turnaround of Ford Motor Company. Mulally would be the first to insist that Ford's transformation was not his achievement but rather the collective achievement of thousands of stakeholders, including employees, suppliers, dealers, unions, financial institutions, Board members and others. Mulally believed deeply in his "leading together" philosophy from his Boeing experience, but this became even more critical at Ford, due to the multitude of stakeholders and a political infighting culture that had become toxic. Mulally would have none of that. He brought his top managers together weekly to assess problems and progress, through his implementation process called the Creating Value Roadmap. Met with heavy resistance at first due to fear of admitting problems, Mulally pursued this course and built trust that those who were brave enough to acknowledge that they needed help were actually showcased as exactly the kind of leader that Mulally was looking for in Ford's future. At every meeting, managers were asked: what have we learned by airing concerns, making course corrections, and especially, fixing problems together? By combining his relentless focus on implementation and making tough calls with an equally important focus on continuous learning, Mulally transformed Ford from a moribund company on the verge of bankruptcy to one of today's most successful automobile companies in the world.

Leveraging these four activities, while framing the transformation effort as a collective challenge to be embraced together, fuels positive change over the long haul-which is important since the transformation journey is a never-ending one for most companies today. Ultimately, these practices create a culture of agility and resiliency that will pay dividends out into the future, as large-scale change becomes an organizational capability and not a recipe for management failure.

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4 Things Successful Change Leaders Do Well

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We know that two-thirds of large scale transformation efforts fail. But that's not a terribly helpful piece of information―unless we're looking for confirmation that this is hard, really hard. What is useful is to understand what leaders can do to substantially increase the odds that their companies won't be among the two-thirds of those that fail.

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"Conscientious employees almost always put their work first, and invariably defer their personal development until they “find time” or “have a break.”Daily work and development need to be brought together in closer alignment—they are not competing activities" Just one good point he makes!

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How would you describe the culture of your organization? Some might say, "It's the smell of the place," or, "It's how things are done around here." Research done on culture and organizational performance by Kotter and Heskett defines culture as "...gained knowledge, explanations, values, beliefs, communication and behaviors of large group of people, at the same time and same place." They concluded that differences in culture explains why one company succeeds where another fails within an industry. Consider Apple versus Blackberry, or Target versus Kmart. It wasn't just the strategy that determined the success of the company, it was the culture. The ultimate summary statement on the topic may have been Peter Drucker's familiar saying, "Culture eats strategy for lunch."

However, culture can't remain stagnant. As the economy and each industry changes, company culture needs to be constantly adapting. Unfortunately, companies often wait too long to adjust their culture. Doing so may mean walking away from a current business model, which can be risky-or it may just be that enacting change is viewed as requiring more effort than it's worth.

In a survey of executives from 91 companies, with revenue greater than $1 billion, across more than 20 industries, Innosight asked: "What is your organization's biggest obstacle to transform your culture in response to market change and disruption?" Forty percent of survey respondents blamed "day-to-day decisions that essentially pay the bill, but undermine our stated strategy to change." It was by far the most prevalent response. The next most popular answer, at 24%, was "lack of a coherent vision for the future."

The consequence of failure to adapt is illustrated by the Fortune 500 list. When initiated in 1955, the average time on the Fortune 500 list was 75 years. Today it is 14.5. The S & P 500, with a century's worth of data, shows that in 1958 firms stayed on the list for an average of 61 years. By 1990 that plummeted to 20 years, and it is forecast to shrink to 14 years by 2026. If the current trajectory continues, half of the S & P firms will be replaced within 10 years.
What are the options for changing company culture?
Several possibilities exist to change your company culture: hire a new senior executive; embark on a focused campaign, such as increasing innovation; restructure the organization. Into that discussion Jack Welch offered one more possibility, "If you want to change the culture of an organization change the way it develops its leaders."

It is worth analyzing how changing leadership development could improve company culture. Our research at Zenger Folkman has shown the strong influence leaders have on every measurable business outcome: employee engagement, innovation, intention to stay, productivity, sales, performance, and customer satisfaction. If you use the metaphor of these leaders as the rudder of a large ship moving through the water, Welch's argument becomes clearer. Even though the leadership team is a relatively small part of an organization, they have enormous influence on its direction and in short, they shape the culture. Reshaping the rudder of the ship has a profound impact on how fast it turns and the stability of its direction.
Leadership development initiatives
It is not hard to find critics of company-sponsored leadership development. The cynic argues, "After all the time and money we spend on leadership development, why don't we have better leaders?" Some argue that leadership development is often detached from corporate strategy. Others say that the methods employed don't have the power to truly change behavior. Still others observe that there is insufficient follow-through and managerial involvement. Much of this criticism is justified! However, many organizations are working hard to eliminate these barriers to success.

Conversely, there are examples of success. Some organizations see elevated 360-degree feedback scores for their executives over time. Many firms have rising employee engagement scores. Business outcomes, such as customer satisfaction scores, are improving. Such outcomes can be directly tracked back to deliberate leadership development initiatives.
Three ways to improve leadership development
We strongly believe that leadership development can be significantly improved through the following methods:

* Increasing the involvement of managers in the entire development process.

* Improving the way development is delivered.

* Incorporating development into daily work.

* Ensuring that leadership development is reinforced and supported by all HR processes, including recruitment, onboarding, performance management, and compensation.

* Including a critical mass (one-third to one-half of the target population of leaders).

* Identifying specific outcomes being sought, such as innovation, customer focus, and/or profitability.

From the many possibilities, we'll highlight three.

1. Involve Managers in the development process. When analyzing data from a study of 61 leaders in the finance industry, we noticed a significant trend. The leaders were asked to describe their manager's level of support for their development plan, and were then placed into three groups: unsupportive managers, somewhat supportive managers, and very supportive managers. We then asked these leaders to describe the amount of progress they had made on their development plans, utilizing the question, "I feel that I have moved forward on improving the specific issues on my development plan." Those that answered "Agree" or "Strongly Agree" to the question were designated as "Improvers." We found that leaders with very supportive managers were more than twice as likely to feel they had improved than leaders with unsupportive managers.

2. Build development into work. Many assume that there is a major distinction-and to some degree a barrier-between daily work and development. Conscientious employees almost always put their work first, and invariably defer their personal development until they "find time" or "have a break." The result has been that development nearly always plays second fiddle to job performance.Jobs are a perfect classroom in which to practice and learn how to be a better leader. Daily work and development need to be brought together in closer alignment-they are not competing activities! Development enables us to be better members of the organization and to improve overall performance.

3. Build leadership development concepts, principles and nomenclature into all HR Systems. The competencies selected to be the bedrock for developing your leaders should not be confined to the classroom, or be seen as one-time events. They should be imbedded in the selection, on-boarding, performance management, and compensation of all employees.

Any student of physics knows that a body at rest requires an energetic force to get it moving. Culture is no different. Getting it to move requires a focused effort that must begin with the organization's leaders.

... Read More

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Change Your Leaders To Change Your Culture

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How would you describe the culture of your organization? Some might say, "It's the smell of the place," or, "It's how things are done around here." Research done on culture and organizational performance by Kotter and Heskett defines culture as "...gained knowledge, explanations, values, beliefs, communication and behaviors of large group of people, at the same time and same place."

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A Model for How Change Management Works in an Organization

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A Model for How Change Management Works in an Organization

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I could see my own evolution of perspective in this model, when I was introduced to a recent organizational change

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Some simple yet useful tips that I plan to incorporate.

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The one constant in life is change. That doesn't mean we ever get used to it or fully embrace it, though.

Here are 10 tips for coping with big changes in your life and coming out a better person for it.
1. Acknowledge that things are changing.
Sometimes we get so caught up in fighting change that we put off actually dealing with it. Denial is a powerful force, and it protects us in many ways. However, stepping outside of it and saying to yourself, "Things are changing, and it is okay" can be less stressful than putting it off.
2. Realize that even good change can cause stress.
Sometimes when people go through a positive life change, such as graduating or having a baby, they still feel a great deal of stress-or even dread. Keep in mind that positive change can create stress just like not-so-positive change. Stress is just your body's way of reacting to change. It's okay to feel stressed even when something good has happened-in fact, it's normal. (If you've just had a baby, talk to your doctor about whether you may be experiencing postpartum depression.)
3. Keep up your regular schedule as much as possible.
The more change that is happening, the more important it is to stick to your regular schedule-as much as possible. Having some things that stay the same, like walking the dog every morning at 8 am, gives us an anchor. An anchor is a reminder that some things are still the same, and it gives your brain a little bit of a rest. Sometimes when you are going through a lot of change it helps to write down your routine and check it off as you go. It's one less thing for your brain to have to hold inside.
4. Try to eat as healthily as possible.
When change happens, a lot of us tend to reach for carbs-bread, muffins, cake, etc. This may be because eating carbs boosts serotonin-a brain chemical that may be somewhat depleted when you undergo change (stress). It's okay to soothe yourself with comfort foods-in moderation. One way to track what you are eating is to write it down. You can either do this in a notebook or use an app. When you see what you are eating, it makes you take a step back and think about whether you want to eat that second muffin or not. (If you have a history of eating disorders, it is not recommended that you write down what you are eating.) Also notice if you are exepriencing an increased use of alcohol or other substances; your use can sneak up on you when you are under stress.
5. Exercise.
Keeping up regular exercise could be a part of the "keep up your regular schedule" tip. If exercise is not currently part of your routine, try adding it. Exercising two to three times a week has been found to significantly decrease symptoms of depression (Barclay, et al. 2014.) Even just walking around the block can help you feel better. (Check with your doctor before starting an exercise program.) Remember, you don't have to feel like getting some exercise; just get out there and move. You'll find that many times your motivation will kick in while you are active.
6. Seek support.
No one gets through life alone. It is okay to ask for help; that's a sign that you know yourself well enough to realize you need some assistance. Think of your trusted friends or family members. Chances are that they are happy to help if you need them to watch your kids while you run some errands, or if you just need some alone time. There may a neighbor who has asked you for help in the past-now maybe you can ask them for help. Apps like NextDoor have been helpful for connecting neighbors. If you are thinking about hurting yourself or killing yourself, please contact the Suicide Prevention Lifeline online or at 1-800-273-8255.
7. Write down the positives that have come from this change.
Maybe due to this change in your life you have met new people. Maybe you started practicing healthier habits. Maybe you became more politically active. Maybe you became more assertive. Maybe the change helped you prioritize what is most important in your life. Change presents us with the opportunity to grow, and it's important to acknowledge how things have become better as a result.
8. Get proactive.
Being proactive means taking charge and working preventatively. This means you figure out what steps you need to take before something happens. Being reactive means you wait until something has happened and then you take action. Being proactive means you make an appointment with your doctor for a physical because you know something stressful is coming up and you want to make sure you are in good health. It means becoming active with groups that help you realize that you can make a positive impact on the world.
9. Vent, but to a point.
Having a support group to whom you can vent can be helpful-to a point. If you and your support group are solely venting, that feeling of frustration can be contagious. Try gearing the conversation toward action: What can you do to make things better? When people brainstorm together, their creativity and hopefulness can be contagious as well.
10. Back away from social media.
When you go through change, you may gravitate toward social media-maybe posting to your friends on Facebook what is going on in your life. First, make sure you are in a calm state when you post-and keep in mind that whatever you post never really disappears. Also, if you are comparing your life to your friends' lives on social media, remember that most people post only the "highlight reel" of their lives, not the stressful moments. This can give you a skewed view that everyone else's lives are going just fine. Everyone has battles they are fighting; it's just different battles with different people. Step away from social media if you are starting to compare your life to others.

And finally, give yourself a break. In a time of change, you may feel a little out of control. You may feel like you are not living up to your expectations for yourself. Remember that you are allowed to do less than what is humanly possible. Nothing says you have to function at 100 percent all the time. People make mistakes-it's one of the great things about being human. It's learning from the mistakes that really counts. Think about it like this: There are no mistakes, only good stories for later. Make a point to incorporate more laughter and fun into your life. Laughing increases dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins-and that makes you feel good (Yim, 2016). Laughing also decreases cortisol-a stress-producing hormone (Yim, 2016.)
Copyright 2017 Sarkis Media. stephaniesarkis.com

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The one constant in life is change. That doesn't mean we ever get used to it or fully embrace it, though. Here are 10 tips for coping with big changes in your life and coming out a better person for it. 1. Acknowledge that things are changing.

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In Order to Change Your Life, You need to...Dr. Joe Dispenza

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In Order to Change Your Life, You need to...Dr. Joe Dispenza

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To the degree that it starts to border on New Age principles, I would disagree, but I chose to instead consider the arguments incorporating prayer, worship, and biblical truth.

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In Order to Change Your Life,  YOU NEED TO LEARN THIS FIRST! (Eye Opening Speech)

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Top 10 Leadership Conversations in the Bible

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Top 10 Leadership Conversations in the Bible

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Chapter 3: CHANGE (Samuel and the Elders of Israel)
“A primary change management skill is the ability to anticipate the unintended consequences of change accurately enough to ensure the problems you inherit are indeed preferable.”

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I just finished reading Steve Moore's new book, The Top 10 Leadership Conversations in the Bible. Steve has been a friend and mentor for years. His insights have deeply impacted my life, and his mentorship was the seed that birthed my latest book, Do Good Works.

After extensive personal research, Steve has identified 1,181 leaders named in the Bible (1,073 in the Old Testament and 108 in the New Testament). More than 13,000 additional leaders are referenced in the Bible but not named.

From his research, and using a detailed ranking process, Steve identified the top ten leadership conversations from the four eras of biblical leadership: The Patriarchal Era, National Era, Transitional Era, and Spiritual Era. What emerged is truly fascinating, inspiring, and deeply impacting.

Most leadership books share ideas, strategies, and insights, often extrapolated from the business community. I love business books and read plenty of them. Many Christian leadership books offer similar leadership insights, often borrowed directly from the latest business literature. Again, I believe there's a great deal of wisdom in these books, and leaders in all arenas should glean from them.

But Steve's book is different. He doesn't share a leadership principle, and then search for a Bible verse to support it. He starts with the Bible and lets it speak for itself. He challenges readers to "engage the Bible as a primary source for leadership insight." And he does a remarkable job. Steve is the most biblically grounded leader I know.

Steve uses "The Leadership Triangle" to draw out ten leadership conversations that involve a leader, followers, and a specific situation. The ten conversations he addresses deal with ten extremely practical leadership topics: Favor, perspective, change, failure, burden, worship, risk, humility, mobilization, and judgment.

I cannot go into detail on each of these topics...there's simply too much to cover. I will tell you that my copy of Steve's book is marked up more than most books that I read (and I always read with a pen in hand). So, let me take a different approach. I want to share two of my favorite quotes from each chapter.

Chapter 1: FAVOR (Pharaoh and Joseph)

"There is a difference between the favor of God, and the power of God. The power of God moves in or through us to impact others to advance God's kingdom. The favor of God moves in or through others to open doors for us to advance God's Kingdom."

"This is the favor principle: Giftedness and training are not enough; to be effective as leaders we need the favor of God."

Chapter 2: PERSPECTIVE (The Twelve Spies and the People of Israel)

"The difference between leaders and followers is perspective. The difference between leaders and effective leaders is better perspective." Bobby Clinton

"A simple definition of self-awareness includes two facets: first, being honest with yourself about yourself and second, being honest about yourself with others."

Chapter 3: CHANGE (Samuel and the Elders of Israel)

"A primary change management skill is the ability to anticipate the unintended consequences of change accurately enough to ensure the problems you inherit are indeed preferable."

"Trust is like air; when it's present we don't even think about it. When it's absent we can't think about anything else."

Chapter 4: FAILURE (Samuel and King Saul)

"I have found no biblical examples of leaders who were completely disqualified for competency-based failure. But this doesn't give us license for mediocre service. Rather it gives us hope for opportunities to learn from our mistakes."

"When leaders experience significant failure, they lose confidence. And when they lose confidence, their insecurity gains the upper hand. Their internal leadership identity seesaws...Insecurity in the life of a leader undermines loyalty in the life of a follower."

Chapter 5: BURDEN (The Prophet Ahijah and Jeroboam)

"If God has called you to lead a ministry, he has also called you to intercede for that ministry...The primary evidence of a burden in the heart of a leader is the ministry of intercession for followers. Followers most need the prayers of leaders in the moments leaders are most tempted to abandon them."

"Prayer for followers and for the mission increases the burden, which increases the need for prayer, turning the process into a positive feedback loop."

Chapter 6: WORSHIP (King Nebuchadnezzar and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego)

"I have come to believe the ultimate prize for Satan is not the satisfaction of damning a human spirit to eternal fire. It is robbing God of the worship he deserves from that human spirit, forever."

"The greatest gift leaders can offer their followers is a life lived in the overflow of intimacy with God."

Chapter 7: RISK (Queen Esther and Mordecai)

"Queen Esther's story is most often referenced for the importance of timing and opportunity, with the words of Mordecai, "for such a time as this." We can only make sense of these five words by remembering the five words of Esther, "If I perish, I perish."

"The opportunity for your greatest impact is likely to come at a point in your journey when you have the most to lose."

Chapter 8: HUMILITY (Jesus and the Disciples)

"Success brings recognition. Someone has to accept the reward. The danger is believing that because you get the reward you were solely responsible for the work."

"When a leader doesn't see fruit, a humble response would be to acknowledge, It might be because of me, and then seek every opportunity to improve. When a leader does see fruit, a humble response would be to acknowledge, It wasn't because of me alone. Give God glory and others praise."

Chapter 9: MOBILIZATION (Jesus and the Disciples)

"Mobilization is a leadership cocktail of vision, communication, and motivation. Leaders must get followers to buy in and act out."

"A biblical understanding of spiritual maturity is not based on knowledge but on the size of the gap between knowledge and obedience. A Jesus-follower with limited knowledge that is matched by obedience is more mature than a person with lots of knowledge but little obedience."

Chapter 10: JUDGMENT (James and the Apostles)

"The legacy of leaders, and the success of the organizations they lead, will be determined by the cumulative outcome of their most important judgment calls. The chapters in our leadership biography will be organized around the key judgments we make."

"Judgment swings on the values of a leader as much as it does the quality of the information available."

The book concludes with one final chapter, "Becoming a Bible-Centered Leader," a concept inspired by Bobby Clinton and his insights on Leadership Emergence Theory. Steve offers readers a practical strategy to mine leadership gold from the pages of Scripture, allowing the Bible to become a leader's primary source for leadership insight.

Plus, you can create a free account at Biblecenteredleadership.com to access a searchable database with much of Steve's research on the 1,090 leadership conversations documenting the leader, follower, and the situation for each interaction.

I highly recommend The Top 10 Leadership Conversations in the Bible. You can purchase it on Amazon, Kindle, and Audible. Steve has been a personal mentor, and his insights on biblical leadership are the best I have personally encountered. Get the book and access this valuable online platform. You won't be disappointed.

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The Top 10 Leadership Conversations in the Bible

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I just finished reading Steve Moore's new book, The Top 10 Leadership Conversations in the Bible . Steve has been a friend and mentor for years. His insights have deeply impacted my life, and his mentorship was the seed that birthed my latest book, Do Good Works .

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Lead Like Jesus Revisited by Ken Blanchard, Phil Hodges and Phyliss Hendry. Thomas Nelson. 272 pages. 2016
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In this revised and updated 10 th anniversary edition of Lead Like Jesus by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges, Phyliss Hodges, President and CEO of the Lead Like Jesus ministry joins the original book's authors. They write that "Leading like Jesus is essentially a matter of the heart. It is also the highest thought of the head, it is the principal work of the hands, and it is both expressed through and replenished by the habits." The authors teach to lead like Jesus whether you are leading at home, at church, or in an organization.

The authors state that self-promotion (pride) and self-protection (fear) dominate today's leadership style. Many leaders act as if the sheep are there only for the benefit of the shepherd. The Lead Like Jesus alternative approach to leadership is driven by four basic beliefs that have become central to the author's ministry:

1. Leadership happens anytime we influence the thinking, behavior, or development of another person.

2. Jesus is the greatest leadership role model of all time.

3. Servant leadership is the only approach to leadership that Jesus validates for His followers.

4. Effective leadership begins on the inside, with our hearts.

The authors tells us that Leading like Jesus is a transformational journey. They discuss the role of the Heart, Head and Hands in this alternative way of leading. They also discuss Habits, both Being and Doing. They state that the greatest barrier to leading like Jesus is Edging God Out of our lives (EGO).

This new edition features helpful "Pause and Reflect" sections throughout the book, a "Next Steps to Leading Like Jesus Checklist", resource list and a Discussion Guide, which is useful for individual study, but it is designed primarily for use in a group setting after everyone in the group has read the book.

I'm a strong believer in servant leadership. This would be an excellent book to read and discuss with others to learn how to Lead Like Jesus.

35 Quotes from Lead Like Jesus Revisited by Ken Blanchard, Phil Hodges and Phyllis Hendry

1. Self-promotion (pride) and self-protection (fear) dominate today's leadership style. Many leaders act as if the sheep are there only for the benefit of the shepherd.

2. This alternative approach to leadership is driven by four basic beliefs that have become central to our ministry: * Leadership happens anytime we influence the thinking, behavior, or development of another person. * Jesus is the greatest leadership role model of all time. * Servant leadership is the only approach to leadership that Jesus validates for His followers. * Effective leadership begins on the inside, with our hearts.

3. For followers of Jesus, servant leadership is not an option; servant leadership is a mandate.

4. Leading like Jesus is a transformational journey. This transformational journey begins with the willingness to do whatever Jesus commands, with a heart surrendered to doing His will, and with the commitment to lead the way He leads.

5. We believe that leaders who desire to lead like Jesus must first examine themselves by answering these two questions: Whose am I? and Who am I?

6. Leading like Jesus in an organization creates a new culture that affects all relationships and every result.

7. Wherever we live or work, whether we are influencing at home, at church, or in an organization, our paramount task as leaders is to create a culture that reflects Jesus' core value: love. and Work, Lead Like Jesus Revisited by Ken Blanchard, Phil Hodges, Phyllis Hendry

8. Leading like Jesus requires leaders to be shepherds and servants, who value each person as an integral part of the organization.

9. HEART. Leadership is first a spiritual matter of the heart. Simply put, the heart question is this: Are you a serving leader or a self-serving leader?

10. HEAD. The journey to leading like Jesus starts in the heart as you consider your motivation. This intent then travels to the internal domain of the head, where you examine your beliefs and theories about leading and motivating people.

11. HANDS. You show what is in your heart and head in what you do with your hands: your motivations and beliefs about leadership affect your actions.

12. HABITS. Your habits are those activities you do in order to stay on track with God and others.

13. As a leader committed to leading like Jesus, you must make time to replenish your energy and refocus your perspective. Jesus did this through His five Being Habits: solitude, prayer, study of God's Word, the application of Scripture to real life, and supportive relationships.

14. Jesus expressed obedience to His Father and shared the Father's love for His disciples through His Doing Habits of grace, forgiveness, encouragement, and community. As leaders desiring to lead like Jesus, we are encouraged to engage in both the Being Habits and the Doing Habits.

15. To lead like Jesus, we have found that leadership improves when there is first a change on the inside: leadership is primarily a heart issue. We believe that if we don't get our hearts right, we simply won't ever lead like Jesus.

16. Leading like Jesus-leading with love-is very difficult. It requires that you love those you influence so much that you help them move from who they are to who God wants them to be, and that process can be painful.

17. Leading like Jesus means that relationships and results are intertwined. It means being committed to both developing others and achieving results in a way that honors God and reflects your core beliefs about whose you are and who you are.

18. We continue to see that the most persistent barrier to leading like Jesus is a heart motivated by self-interest.

19. The greatest barrier to leading like Jesus is Edging God Out of our lives (EGO). We believe you can Edge God Out in three ways: you can replace Him as the object of your worship; as the source of your security, self-worth, and wisdom; and as the audience for and authority over your daily work and life story.

20. When leaders are filled with pride or fear, they react to things that happen to them. People who want to lead like Jesus, on the other hand, respond to things that happen to them.

21. One of the greatest challenges in seeking to lead like Jesus is the intimacy with Him that this approach requires. The biggest barrier to intimacy is a fear of vulnerability-the fear of having to admit you don't know all the answers, that you may need help, and that your abilities as a leader may be questioned..

22. One of the key distortions affecting leader effectiveness is an EGO-driven fixation on short-term results at the expense of long-term integrity.

23. Driven people think they own everything. Called people, on the other hand, believe everything they have is on loan to them from the Lord.

24. Leading like Jesus means leading with humility. Humility requires knowing whose you are and who you are. Humility is realizing and emphasizing the importance of other people. It is not putting yourself down; it is lifting others up.

25. God's love will change you and, by extension, change your leadership. You will see leadership differently: it becomes less about power and control and more about the stewardship of the people you touch and of the work God has given you to do. You will see people differently, too: rather than seeing them as a means to accomplish the results you want, you realize that God has the same love for them that He has for you. Work becomes an act of worship and your workplace an outpost of God's kingdom. You are no longer threatened by feedback; you no longer lead out of fear or cause others to be fearful of you.

26. When we want to lead like Jesus, prayer becomes our first response, not our last resort.

27. The two parts to the great leadership that Jesus exemplified: 1. The visionary role-setting the course and the destination-is the leadership aspect. 2. The implementation role-doing things the right way with a focus on serving-is the servant aspect.

28. As a Jesus-like leader or manager, you still maintain your power, but your effectiveness soars because you are responding to the needs of your people.

29. An effective Jesus-like leader acts as a performance coach. An essential duty of servant leaders is their ongoing investment in the lives of their followers.

30. Servant leaders aren't threatened by people around them who perform well, because their confidence is secure in the unconditional love of God. Being rooted in God's love permits servant leaders to see and respond to the success of others in a different way: they celebrate it rather than fear it.

31. If you seek to inspire and equip others to attain higher standards of performance and commitment, the best first step is modeling integrity in your own journey.

32. Love is a core value of leadership, especially for a Jesus-like leader.

33. As leaders, we are dispensers of grace in our families, churches, and organizations. We can extend the grace of believing that people are doing the best they can, given their level of awareness. It is up to us to make sure grace is extended; we lead in the way of grace.

34. One test of whether we have the heart attitude required to lead like Jesus is how we respond when those we lead fail to perform according to our expectations.

35. As leaders who desire to lead like Jesus, we are to be distributors of encouragement.

Categories: Faith and Work | Tags: Book Review, Christ and culture, Christianity and Culture, Coram Deo, Faith and Work, Ken Blanchard, Lead Like Jesus Revisited, Phil Hodges, Phyllis Hendry, quotes | Permalink.

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Book Review and Quotes from Lead Like Jesus Revisited

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Lead Like Jesus Revisited by Ken Blanchard, Phil Hodges and Phyliss Hendry. Thomas Nelson. 272 pages. 2016 **** In this revised and updated 10th anniversary edition of Lead Like Jesus by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges, Phyliss Hodges, President and CEO of the Lead Like Jesus ministry joins the original book's authors.

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“Change is an opportunity to do something amazing.”

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"Vision without execution is hallucination." ― Thomas A. Edison

For schools to be transformational, vision is only one part of the process. We must alter the way we do things as educators with one another, if we are going to see a difference in the classroom. Actions have more impact than words and our experience matters.

My belief is that we have to look at what "innovation" really means to schools. Many equate this to technology, but I believe that it is about a new way of thinking about teaching and learning. The biggest "game-changer" in education is not a thing; it is an open mindset to all of the learning opportunities that come our way.

I have created the following series to help define some thoughts on the work and research that I have done over the past years on some important aspects of leading organizations towards transformational practice. Each link below is to a more in-depth post sharing some ideas on each topic.

1. Learning First, Technology Second - Many organizations let technology drive the experience of learning, and although technology can be transformational in our practice, we must have a clear focus on what we want to do with learning before we move forward with technology. Schools can no longer let the "tail wag the dog".

2. A New Staff Experience - We spend a lot of time telling people how to change but not much time immersing them into new learning opportunities. To embrace the new shifts in learning that we are seeing, experience is everything.

3. Excellence Lies Within - Often leaders look for weaknesses in organizations instead of focusing on a "strengths-based" approach. By identifying and building upon strengths, even our weaknesses can be strongly developed. It is essential that through this approach we build and develop leadership within our own organizations.

4. Narrow Your Focus - What are the three initiatives that you are working on in your district as a whole this year? Can you answer this question? If you can't, maybe there are too many things that are happening in your school to do anything effectively. If you want to become innovative, doing less can actually make us better.

5. Embrace an Open Culture - A leader can become a better teacher by simply walking into teacher classrooms every day and seeing different strategies and opportunities for learning. This is an opportunity that every teacher should have and create by opening the doors to the learning that happens in their classroom through powerful reflection. Excellence should not be hidden.

The big question for me when I looked at this work is "how do we move from pockets of innovation to a culture of innovation? " By sharing these strategies, and focusing on them at an organizational level, you can really transform the learning for each student.

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"Vision without execution is hallucination." ― Thomas A. Edison For schools to be transformational, vision is only one part of the process. We must alter the way we do things as educators with one another, if we are going to see a difference in the classroom.

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"How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter."

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The author lists , and dives into 12 questions. Many of these questions are useful as we navigate leadership and change.

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Change Stories from Large Companies to Learn From

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Change Stories from Large Companies to Learn From

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New technology - Technology is constantly evolving and oftentimes your company must evolve with it - whether internally or externally. This can include implementing a new HR system, or innovating your product offerings.

Competition - Even if your company doesn't change with the times, you can bet that your competition will.

Changes in management - When new managers come on board, it can often result in changes of policy or direction.

Poor performance - If your company is not performing well, some organizational changes may be in order.

In this article, we'll look at three companies who have either successfully implemented organizational changes, or are currently in the process of doing so.

Microsoft

Microsoft is one of those companies that is continuously evolving - both internally and externally. One of their most notable recent changes came from a product innovation involving their Microsoft Office offerings. In 2016, Microsoft decided to reorganize its Office unit to combine everything into one application as opposed to selling individual products. The company combined PowerPoint, Word and Sway into one app, and Excel and Access in another.

The idea behind the move, according to Julie Larson-Green , Chief Experience Officer for Microsoft's Applications and Services group, was to "think more broadly and more deeply about the future of those technology areas and the future of that kind of content creation rather than focusing so much on the individual applications themselves."

Shell

Downstream-One was an IT initiative that implemented global standardized processes, affecting 80 Shell operating units. The goal was to put simpler, standard processes in place, which included everything from common invoicing to more centralized distribution networks.

A team of experts, including senior leaders and external change experts, were chosen to lead the change. The messaging behind Downstream-One was that what was best for Shell globally took precedence over local, individual needs, and that the only way for the company to move forward was to put forth these changes.

With Van Der Veer's determination, Downstream-One was a success and the company is currently in a healthier position than when the transformation first began.

Wal-Mart

While Wal-Mart is currently undergoing a major organizational change since acquiring Jet.com, it's certainly worth mentioning how their efforts are going thus far. In September 2016, the acquisition was completed and by the end of January 2017, hundreds of layoffs were made. Jet.com's founder, Marc Lore, has reportedly been studying the way Wal-Mart is run, both internally and externally, and from all appearances, some major changes are in the works.

Since Wal-Mart began as a traditional brick-and-mortar retailer, it makes sense that with their growing online presence, as well as the online presence of their competitors (e.g. Amazon), changes within the organization would be needed. One example is with their leadership teams. Many consumers now shop both online and in-store, resulting in integrating leaderships teams that once may have been separate operational divisions, to one.

As Wal-Mart dives further into the e-commerce world, changes to their organizational structure will only continue.

Implementing Organizational Changes

Managing change effectively requires a seamless transition of the organization from its current state to the desired future state. For both Microsoft and Shell, the changes we chronicled above seemed to transition smoothly, however, this is not always the case. Wal-Mart's layoffs and creation of new positions after their acquisition, for example, may not be as seamless - only time will tell. Implementing changes within any organization is without a doubt a difficult process, but there are some key things you can do to make the transition easier:

Define your goals. Make sure you understand where your company is currently and where you want to take it. According to , you should identify the problems your company is facing, assign a level of importance to each one, and assess what changes are needed to solve the problems.

Communicate your goals. Your team members are more likely to embrace changes when they are made aware of what is happening, and why. Be transparent and communicate your company's vision to ensure everyone is on the same page. According to a Robert Half study , 65 percent of managers said that communication was the most important aspect of leading a team through a transition.

Make sure the transition is managed effectively. You will likely need to draw up a plan, allocate resources, and assign a key person to lead the process.

Do:

Communicate early

Consider the volume of communication

Manage expectations

Bring in project professionals for specific expertise and to reduce the burden on your staff members

Communicate the benefits for your team

Recognize the implementation is only the start; the new process is th ebeginning of your company's future and requires ongoing communication and training for employees

Celebrate success and reward those involved

Don't:

Leave employees out of the loop and let rumors spread

Share limited information or, conversely, overwhelm people with irrelevant details

Sugarcoat issues or set unrealistic goals and timelines

Overload staff, expecting them to help with the transition in addition to maintaining peak performance with their core responsibilities

Forget the success of your business - and every initiative supporting it - is dependant on your employees

Stop communicating after the change is implemented

Fail to acknowledge staff contributions

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Organizational Change: Success Stories To Learn From

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New technology - Technology is constantly evolving and oftentimes your company must evolve with it - whether internally or externally. This can include implementing a new HR system, or innovating your product offerings. Competition - Even if your company doesn't change with the times, you can bet that your competition will.

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Change is essential to growth. The greater the growth, the greater the change required

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Change is essential to growth. The greater the growth, the greater the change required

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As leaders, it is our role to move our teams in the healthiest way possible from the old to the new.

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Change is essential to growth. The greater the growth, the greater the change required.

One of the most important roles of a leader is to lead followers through seasons of change. Embracing change on an individual level is truthfully a lifelong practice, but if you are tasked with leading a team, the process often accelerates. Your goal as a leader is to find that graceful pace through new changes, and avoid stagnation. It will threaten even the best teams. Consider this example:
Kristin led a large function within a rapidly growing organization. As a pioneer in the organization and an early leader of her function, she had built the structure, systems and processes to support the body of work. However, after over 20 years of leadership, Kristin had transformed the function and had selected, grown and developed a team that was ready for more responsibility. For Kristin's own growth, it was time for a change and she began to think about options that would provide the opportunity for her and others to grow.
For Kristin, the most difficult part of change was not deciding what she would do next, but in helping her team to discover what they could do in the next season with healthy change management.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, here are a few tips to successfully manage change within your team:

Prepare for Change. Don't wait for change to be needed before preparing others for the change. Continuously prepare for growth and change by honing skills of all the talent available to you. Create development plans and consider the future needs of the organization.

Be Clear. Explaining change with clarity is paramount for successful change management. Be sure all the decisions related to the change have been made and that there is a consistent and clear message to communicate the change to everyone impacted directly or indirectly.

Counsel Team Members Individually. Consider not only the work impact, but also the social impact to the change. It is respectful to be sure no one is surprised by changes that impact them most. Hearing about change for the first time in the presence of others is often difficult. Take the time to speak to impacted team members before sharing with the entire team.

Allow Team Members to Process Change. Everyone responds differently. Give each person time and space to process their thoughts, feelings and ideas. The greater the change, the more time that is needed. Some need to process alone and others will need to talk through what they have heard. Give space and be available.

Cast a Vision for the Next Season. Growth requires change and change fuels growth. As long as that cycle continues, there is limitless opportunity for the business and individuals. Be prepared to help others see a vision of where the change is taking the organization and what their opportunities are in the new season

Display Courage to Move On. While displaying patience for others to process change is vital to change management, it is also important to make the call when it is time to move forward. Allow for feelings of loss, grief, anxiety, challenge and excitement to run their course, but when it's time to move on, it's time. Lead the way for your team.

Make Your Decisions Right. One of my mentors often told me, "You won't always make the right decisions, so make your decisions right." When making change-related decisions, sometimes the leader gets it wrong. If you make a mistake, correct it. Don't get stuck in the wrong decision. Do what you need to do to make it right.

Socrates said, "The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new." As leaders, it is our role to move our teams in the healthiest way possible from the old to the new. In that process, we must preserve the core of the culture and usher people carefully and intentionally into a new vision of the best future.

Successful organizations develop and strengthen the muscle of this skill to grow their teams and create lasting impact.

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7 Crucial Steps to Lead Others Through Change - Global Leadership Network

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Change is essential to growth. The greater the growth, the greater the change required. One of the most important roles of a leader is to lead followers through seasons of change. Embracing change on an individual level is truthfully a lifelong practice, but if you are tasked with leading a team, the process often accelerates.

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Jim Hemerling: 5 ways to lead in an era of constant change

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Who says change needs to be hard? Organizational change expert Jim Hemerling thinks adapting your business in today's constantly-evolving world can be invigorating instead of exhausting. He outlines five imperatives, centered around putting people first, for turning company reorganization into an empowering, energizing task for all.

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SUMMARY: Any organizational change may have an unsettling impact on employees. For employees that are managing mental health issues, this can make symptoms even worse. You can help through thoughtful planning, effective communication, and engaging employees in exploring how changes can be handled in a psychologically safe way.

Consider the impact of change

Any change in an organization or to an employee's role has the potential to cause stress. The stress can be overwhelming when an employee is also dealing with mental health issues.

In some organizations, constant change is the norm, which could have a negative impact on the psychological health of some employees. Applying a psychological health and safety lens to change management is a worthwhile investment to support employee performance, loyalty, and buy-in for the changes.

While these approaches can benefit any employee, for those who have mental health issues, this can be the difference between an extremely difficult transition and one that involves a manageable level of adjustment.

Strategies to support all employees during change

Set the expectation of ongoing change with all employees. Let them know that continual improvement to the work environment, technology, equipment, processes, or their own skills and abilities should be expected. This should happen at orientation, during training, and as part of regular conversation between management and employees.

Celebrate or recognize the good work that was done under the old system. This step is often missed in change management. In an effort to "sell" the change, employers will sometimes dismiss or minimize any successes of the past. This may leave long-standing employees feeling unappreciated or demoralized. Recognizing how they were able to accomplish so much under the previous system is more likely to leave them open to engaging in change.

For every change, create an honest, positive, accessible and compelling vision of the intended outcome. Help employees see a picture of what the workplace and, if appropriate, the world, will look like when the change is completed. There is a different part of the brain used for words and images. Tapping into the part of the brain that uses images with a compelling vision can increase understanding and acceptance, as well as decrease the apprehension that comes from uncertainty.

Be specific about why and how the change will be implemented. Share as many details as possible about the intended timeline and steps of the change. State known challenges and concerns before the employees do to help show you understand their reality and are working to make it as positive as possible.

Openly discuss potential pros and cons of the proposed changes. When leaders understand the fears or concerns expressed by employees and take steps to address them or make resources available, employees are much more likely to feel heard and part of the change process. If possible, jointly look for solutions with the employees who will be affected. Do not pretend the challenges do not exist or try to minimize them.

Link the change to previous, similar, positive changes. Reminding employees with words like "You have done this before and you have been successful," can help reduce anxiety in times of change.

Break the change up into small, incremental steps. If possible, give time for each step to be completed and adjust as necessary.

Repeat, repeat, repeat. For changes such as new processes, technology, work functions, etc., it can be helpful to allow employees the opportunity to try out the change several times so that it becomes part of the day-to-day routine.

Adapted in part from the work of Dr. Carlos Davidovich of Optimum Talent.

Accommodation during times of change

For employees who either currently experience mental health challenges or have in the past, you may want to spend some extra time to ensure they have what they need to successfully continue their work throughout the changes that are planned.

Explain clearly what the employee's new or modified responsibilities will be. Ask the employee to share their understanding of your explanation to ensure that it has been communicated effectively.

Listen carefully to the employee's concerns about the change. Provide detailed responses to reassure the employee that you have heard their concerns, even if you are not able to address them completely.

Help the employee manage fear. Understand that some people do not like change, especially when it is not of their choosing. For people who may be experiencing a mental health issue, this can include severe worry or fear about their future. Discuss these fears and offer realistic reassurance to the employee. Consider approaches that could address these fears such as a temporary lowering of expectations or demands, or additional skills training.

Consider modifications to accommodation. Times of change may warrant a review of any existing accommodation plans. If no accommodation plan exists, this may also be the appropriate time to offer accommodation to employees with mental health issues, even if they had previously declined such help. See Accommodation Strategies for ideas.

Reinforce what the employee currently does well and has previously accomplished. Emphasize how these strengths will help in the adjustment to the new responsibilities. Let the employee know that they are valued by the organization.

Adjust or set new performance goals once you have addressed the employee's concerns. Ask the employee how they can help meet the goals of the new organizational structure or job requirements. This involvement can help employees feel that they are, to a certain extent, in control of their experience of the changes and their future at work.

Addressing job insecurity

Changes that provoke feelings of insecurity about work can be particularly stressful for employees who have mental health issues. In the following article, experts identified strategies that can be useful:

Employment insecurity, economic insecurity, layoffs and mental health in the workplace

See the article Labour market changes and job insecurity: a challenge for social welfare and health promotion for more information.

Termination

During times of change, there may also be some job losses, possibly due to restructuring, redundancies, or the need for new skills to support an organization's changing vision.

Termination of an employee, co-worker, and potentially a friend is never easy for anyone in the workplace and steps should be taken to protect the psychological safety of the employee, the manager, and co-workers.

Read more in Psychologically Safer Terminations

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SUMMARY: Any organizational change may have an unsettling impact on employees. For employees that are managing mental health issues, this can make symptoms even worse. You can help through thoughtful planning, effective communication, and engaging employees in exploring how changes can be handled in a psychologically safe way.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
SUMMARY: Any organizational change may have an unsettling impact on employees. For employees that are managing mental health issues, this can make symptoms even worse. You can help through thoughtful planning, effective communication, and engaging employees in exploring how changes can be handled in a psychologically safe way.

Consider the impact of change

Any change in an organization or to an employee's role has the potential to cause stress. The stress can be overwhelming when an employee is also dealing with mental health issues.

In some organizations, constant change is the norm, which could have a negative impact on the psychological health of some employees. Applying a psychological health and safety lens to change management is a worthwhile investment to support employee performance, loyalty, and buy-in for the changes.

While these approaches can benefit any employee, for those who have mental health issues, this can be the difference between an extremely difficult transition and one that involves a manageable level of adjustment.

Strategies to support all employees during change

Set the expectation of ongoing change with all employees. Let them know that continual improvement to the work environment, technology, equipment, processes, or their own skills and abilities should be expected. This should happen at orientation, during training, and as part of regular conversation between management and employees.

Celebrate or recognize the good work that was done under the old system. This step is often missed in change management. In an effort to "sell" the change, employers will sometimes dismiss or minimize any successes of the past. This may leave long-standing employees feeling unappreciated or demoralized. Recognizing how they were able to accomplish so much under the previous system is more likely to leave them open to engaging in change.

For every change, create an honest, positive, accessible and compelling vision of the intended outcome. Help employees see a picture of what the workplace and, if appropriate, the world, will look like when the change is completed. There is a different part of the brain used for words and images. Tapping into the part of the brain that uses images with a compelling vision can increase understanding and acceptance, as well as decrease the apprehension that comes from uncertainty.

Be specific about why and how the change will be implemented. Share as many details as possible about the intended timeline and steps of the change. State known challenges and concerns before the employees do to help show you understand their reality and are working to make it as positive as possible.

Openly discuss potential pros and cons of the proposed changes. When leaders understand the fears or concerns expressed by employees and take steps to address them or make resources available, employees are much more likely to feel heard and part of the change process. If possible, jointly look for solutions with the employees who will be affected. Do not pretend the challenges do not exist or try to minimize them.

Link the change to previous, similar, positive changes. Reminding employees with words like "You have done this before and you have been successful," can help reduce anxiety in times of change.

Break the change up into small, incremental steps. If possible, give time for each step to be completed and adjust as necessary.

Repeat, repeat, repeat. For changes such as new processes, technology, work functions, etc., it can be helpful to allow employees the opportunity to try out the change several times so that it becomes part of the day-to-day routine.

Adapted in part from the work of Dr. Carlos Davidovich of Optimum Talent.

Accommodation during times of change

For employees who either currently experience mental health challenges or have in the past, you may want to spend some extra time to ensure they have what they need to successfully continue their work throughout the changes that are planned.

Explain clearly what the employee's new or modified responsibilities will be. Ask the employee to share their understanding of your explanation to ensure that it has been communicated effectively.

Listen carefully to the employee's concerns about the change. Provide detailed responses to reassure the employee that you have heard their concerns, even if you are not able to address them completely.

Help the employee manage fear. Understand that some people do not like change, especially when it is not of their choosing. For people who may be experiencing a mental health issue, this can include severe worry or fear about their future. Discuss these fears and offer realistic reassurance to the employee. Consider approaches that could address these fears such as a temporary lowering of expectations or demands, or additional skills training.

Consider modifications to accommodation. Times of change may warrant a review of any existing accommodation plans. If no accommodation plan exists, this may also be the appropriate time to offer accommodation to employees with mental health issues, even if they had previously declined such help. See Accommodation Strategies for ideas.

Reinforce what the employee currently does well and has previously accomplished. Emphasize how these strengths will help in the adjustment to the new responsibilities. Let the employee know that they are valued by the organization.

Adjust or set new performance goals once you have addressed the employee's concerns. Ask the employee how they can help meet the goals of the new organizational structure or job requirements. This involvement can help employees feel that they are, to a certain extent, in control of their experience of the changes and their future at work.

Addressing job insecurity

Changes that provoke feelings of insecurity about work can be particularly stressful for employees who have mental health issues. In the following article, experts identified strategies that can be useful:

Employment insecurity, economic insecurity, layoffs and mental health in the workplace

See the article Labour market changes and job insecurity: a challenge for social welfare and health promotion for more information.

Termination

During times of change, there may also be some job losses, possibly due to restructuring, redundancies, or the need for new skills to support an organization's changing vision.

Termination of an employee, co-worker, and potentially a friend is never easy for anyone in the workplace and steps should be taken to protect the psychological safety of the employee, the manager, and co-workers.

Read more in Psychologically Safer Terminations

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SUMMARY: Any organizational change may have an unsettling impact on employees. For employees that are managing mental health issues, this can make symptoms even worse. You can help through thoughtful planning, effective communication, and engaging employees in exploring how changes can be handled in a psychologically safe way.

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Choosing your words carefully as you navigate change: physical distance vs social distance

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Choosing your words carefully as you navigate change: physical distance vs social distance

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In times of stress and illness, being deprived of social connection can create more stress and illness

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To fight the spread of coronavirus, government officials have asked Americans to swallow a hard pill: Stay away from each other.

In times of societal stress, such a demand runs counter to what evolution has hard-wired people to do: Seek out and support each other as families, friends and communities. We yearn to huddle together. The warmth of our breath and bodies, of holding hands and hugging, of talking and listening, is a primary source of soothing. These connections are pivotal for responding to and maximizing our survival in times of stress.

Priority number one is to follow the recommended social distancing guidelines to control the virus. The cure is definitely not worse than the disease - experts' projections of disease spread and mortality without strong intervention make this clear.

But as with any pill, there are side effects. As psychological scientists at the University of Washington's Center for the Science of Social Connection, our lab studies social connectedness, why it is important and how to maximize its benefits. Our clinical and research experiences help us understand the side effects of social distancing and suggest strategies for addressing them.
Human beings are social beings
In times of stress and illness, being deprived of social connection can create more stress and illness. People who are lonely have higher levels of the hormone cortisol, an indicator of stress; show weaker immune responses to pathogens; and are at increased risk for premature death. Isolation can lead to depression, suicidal thoughts and other clinical conditions.

For those who must be quarantined because they are infected with the virus, this research has one important implication: Depriving the sick of social connection and physical closeness unfortunately may make it harder for them to defeat infection. For example, lonely college students respond more weakly to influenza vaccinations than do non-lonely students.

There are other costs. Loneliness makes people feel more vulnerable and anxious in social interactions. An official mandate to socially distance and isolate may increase what psychologists call intergroup anxiety, the natural threat and distrust people feel when interacting with those who are different.

People may circle the wagons around themselves and those they perceive as like themselves - those with whom they share a common identity - while excluding everyone else. The recent travel restrictions play into these very human fears, and could exacerbate impulses to blame and stigmatize others as the source of this crisis. These fears fuel negative and inaccurate stereotypes of others, rather than cultivating connections to a larger human community that is suffering together.
Reach out and connect
While social distancing and isolation are in effect, there are things everyone can do to mitigate their downsides.

Now is the time to reach out to friends and family and connect with them however you can. Let people know how much you care about them. While live human connection is best, a phone call, with a real voice, is better than text, and a videochat is better than a phone call.

We believe such social technology-faciliated connections will aid all of us in staying as healthy as possible during this time. Although research on this is not comprehensive, we think it's valuable to use social technology to mitigate the effects of loneliness and isolation for those who are sick.

What you say when connecting also matters. If you are stressed and upset, talking about your feelings can help. You may or may not feel better, but you will feel less alone. If you're on the receiving end of this kind of sharing, resist the impulse to dismiss, debate or tell the other person not to worry. Your task is to listen and convey that you understand their feelings and accept them. This process - one person sharing something vulnerable, and the other responding with understanding and care - is the basic dance step of good, close relationships.

Human touch is also vital for well-being. If you are distancing with people who are close to you and healthy, don't forget the positive impact of a gentle hug, or holding someone's hand. Safe, mutually consenting physical touch leads to the release of oxytocin. Sometimes called the "love hormone," oxytocin helps regulate your fight or flight system and calms your body in times of stress.

For those who are untouchable because they're sick with COVID-19, affectionate therapy dogs may provide measurable benefit. (As of this writing, WHO guidelines suggest pets are safe.)
Things you can do
Other actions can help boost your and others' well-being as you're adapting to a world of social distancing.

1. Embrace others, figuratively. Be aware of your tendency to circle the wagons around your group. Importantly, even though it doesn't always feel this way, you're not born with a fixed group that you trust and fixed groups that you distrust. These feelings and associations are flexible and change with context. Imagine, for example, who feels safe and familiar to you when at work versus at a family dinner versus at a football game. Now is the time to expand how you define your group identities. This is a global pandemic. Human beings are in, the coronavirus is out.

2. Be generous. The practical side of this idea of expanding your identities is an encouragement to be generous, broadly speaking. Giving to others in times of need not only helps the recipient, it enhances the giver's well-being, too. If you feel compelled to go to the grocery store to stock up on toilet paper, consider checking in with people you know who are more vulnerable and see what they might need. Give them some of that toilet paper. Help others around you, including neighbors you may not know well, people with whom you don't usually feel a sense of kinship and people experiencing homelessness. Doing so combats the impulse to build walls. It puts you in touch with the better angels of your nature, and gives these angels voice and purpose.

3. Finally, remember to breathe. In this moment, with all the stress and anxiety, many people feel overwhelmed and disconnected. But you're still here and those around you are in this chaos with you, too. A few conscious, gentle breaths can restore that connection, slow your mind and give you clarity, at least for a moment or two.

This coronavirus crisis may not end soon. Things may get worse. As people hunker down, the negative side effects of social distancing and isolation will shift and evolve. What feels manageable today may not feel manageable tomorrow.

As psychologists, we are concerned that the lack of social connections, increased stress, disruptions and losses of livelihoods and routines will tip some people toward depression. We are concerned about increased family conflict as people are forced to navigate unusual amounts of time together, many in confined spaces.

Flexibility is adaptive. Building a foundation of healthy coping, maintaining awareness of the side effects of our necessary societal changes, and staying connected to our values and to each other, are imperative. Human beings have great capacity for empathy and caring in times of suffering. Maintaining social distance doesn't need to change that.

[ Insight, in your inbox each day. You can get it with The Conversation's email newsletter.]
Jonathan Kanter, Director of the Center for the Science of Social Connection, University of Washington Adam Kuczynski, PhD Student, Department of Psychology, University of Washington This article is being republished from The Conversation via a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here. Image: Reuters.

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Physical, Not Social Distancing: Staying Connected In The Coronavirus Age

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To fight the spread of coronavirus, government officials have asked Americans to swallow a hard pill: Stay away from each other. In times of societal stress, such a demand runs counter to what evolution has hard-wired people to do: Seek out and support each other as families, friends and communities.

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Dealing with sabotage and resistance to change

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Dealing with sabotage and resistance to change

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From "Canoeing the Mountains" by Tod Bolsinger

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Eh Tu, Church - Sabotage and Staying the Course

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Successful change leaders create the space for magic to happen and then shine a light on it

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Successful change leaders create the space for magic to happen and then shine a light on it

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There's a lot that can be written about leading change and aspects such as change resistance. It's a major part of my professional practice and I'll be writing more pieces on leading change in the coming weeks.

To start though, I want to share this story with you. I hope it makes you think about what is possible when you want to create change.

Our youngest son has hemiplegia and there's clearly an emotional connection for me with the amazing work being done by @Hemihelp and the inventive rehabilitation approaches brought by Breath Magic.

Right now though, I want to distil some key messages coming across in the video that I believe relate very strongly to change leadership.

Much of creating change is about allowing ourselves to imagine a different future. Often what holds us back though are the old stories that we tell ourselves, that limit our assumptions of what could be.

Right at the start of the video, young Tristan illustrates this perfectly saying... " They always say like why do you have a broken hand. They always say that... I don't have a broken hand do I. It's just the hemiplegia isn't it ".

What a great way to start a story about actually changing & developing the abilities of children with hemiplegia. Any previous view of what isn't possible (we're broken) is parked if not dispelled (that's just the hemiplegia) allowing those with doubts to see beyond to what could be.
Successful change leaders share a vision of the future that frees the assumptions of others to also see what could be.
2. Invest in Developing What You Need

The kids learn how to perform magic using both hands. That is their end goal. The change being brought about is to learn magic tricks, to use both hands and then to perform. Their investment in learning & development is 60 hours over 10 days.

Can you name a change programme that invested or asked for such focus on developing ability & readiness? The context is possibly quite different, but often the investment in the development of people in change programmes is rushed and focussed towards process rather than skills.

More than that, what I find fascinating and compelling in the video is how the kids are asked to use both hands for all tasks whilst on the programme. Not just for magic tricks. The modelling of new behaviours and attitudes needs to happen beyond the classroom or the "away day".

Many of the successful change programmes I've been involved in showed similar traits. We lived and breathed the change, repetitively even, whilst we transitioned. It took constant effort.
Successful change leaders invest in the meaningful development of others to help them start to live the change as soon as possible.
3. Use Smart Experts Smartly

The video shows how a range of experts were brought in to support the programme and also to learn about how they can best help improve the skills of the kids. Their focus was not just about delivering a standard framework of training. The experts wanted to find out what would work for that particular group or with individuals.

Too many times I've seen organisations approach change with a "sheep dip" approach using consultants. Everyone is expected to respond in the same way and behave as the paper plan says they will...

In my experience, the only times I've seen consultants work well with change programmes is where they took time to understand the needs of the majority so they could create smart approaches. Such consultants take time to learn both about you & from you. They draw on a broad range of knowledge, research & diagnostics to help find solutions that suits your organisation. They'll help you demonstrate the real change you've created.
Successful change leaders bring in experts who will learn about your organisation and work smartly to create change, rather than pursue out of the box "sheep-dip" approaches. 4. Support Wellbeing
The change the kids are bringing about is more complex than just learning skills or find ways to improve the ability of their affected limbs. Their emotional wellbeing & confidence is important especially as they have to learn how to perform their magic.

During times of change, organisations have tended not to pay attention to the emotional or for that matter the mental wellbeing of staff. Yet, often the change being brought about has the potential to impact both. More than that perhaps, the emotional & mental wellbeing of staff will directly impact the success of the change.

Put simply, when we are uncertain of our abilities or the changing environment, more often than not it creates stress and impacts our wellbeing. Successful change relies on the successful mitigation of these factors. A key message coming across from the video and also true of change in organisations is the value of practice and meaningful support.
Successful change leaders support the wellbeing of their staff during change as they practice and build their confidence.
The whole story in the video is magical and culminates in the successful performance of magic by the kids. So for me the magic is both the journey as well as the performance. The celebration of each is really important in recognising what has been achieved and also helping others see what is possible.

Change isn't an illusion but there are times when you need to sense a bit of magic. The magic won't come from the change leaders as such - they've just set the stage for the magic to happen. The magic comes from the performance of the organisation and there's huge value in celebrating and showing off the magic you've created.
Successful change leaders create the space for magic to happen and then shine a light on it - that's their measure of success.
So there you have 5 key aspects of Change Leadership that I think this powerful little video shows beautifully :

1. Show what could be

2. Invest in developing what you need

3. Use smart experts smartly

4. Support wellbeing

5. Show off your magic!

What else would you add? What more did you get from the video?

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There's a lot that can be written about leading change and aspects such as change resistance. It's a major part of my professional practice and I'll be writing more pieces on leading change in the coming weeks.To start though, I want to share this story with you.

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Stop Getting Mad at People Who Question Change

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Stop Getting Mad at People Who Question Change

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Most people don't like change. Most leaders want to challenge the status quo. Leadership is, in part, the process of helping people see the need for change, embrace the vision for change, and then implement the change.

Getting mad at people who question change does not help the process of change. Those who are truly malicious are typically small in number. When people have questions about change, it does not necessarily mean that they are questioning your leadership. It's likely they just have questions. In fact, the only leaders who go unquestioned are despots.

Particularly in the church, there is built-in institutional resistance to change. Almost every church has this inherent resistance, especially established churches. The body may spend decades building something-a program, a worship space, or a culture. Shifting direction on a decade's work is jarring, even if it's the right thing. The church is often the place people cling to the familiar. The world is changing rapidly, after all. At least the church offers some solace from what feels like a whirlwind of change.

When a church leader introduces bold change, a strong reaction should be expected. Some will complain it's too much too soon. Others will complain it's too little too late. Others won't care. And a few will champion the change.

Bold change almost always raises questions from people. Getting mad at people who raise the questions does nothing to help move them through the process of change. Yet a leader's visceral reaction to these questions is often anger. I'll admit I'm guilty! And it's wrong, a leadership flaw, arguably sinful in many cases.

So what can you do in the moment when questions fly your way? How can a church leader quell the knee-jerk anger to questions about change?

Listen. Seriously, just listen. Don't talk. Don't say anything. Don't explain yourself. Don't get defensive. Let people speak to you about the change. Many times people just need the opportunity to hear themselves speak and to know you heard them.

Learn. Your posture and your tone can speak more loudly than your actual words. When introducing bold change, take the posture of a learner. Let's assume you'll make a big announcement from the podium about a large change initiative. Make a resolution to be a learner the moment you walk off the stage. And the way you'll learn is by listening to questions about the change.

Smile. Remember school pictures? I never liked them. I often didn't smile, and the low quality of the pictures reflected the intensity of my scowl. The quality of your change initiative will be directly correlated to the amount of encouragement you give people. If you think more explanations, more spreadsheets, or more structure will get people moving, then think again. Forcing people through change without encouragement signals that the change is for your benefit, not their benefit. You've got to love the people who are affected by the change through the change. When questions come . . . smile. Encourage. Love.

You'll never please everyone. How many times have I heard that? How many times have I said that to others? You know upfront that change initiatives can be tough, that people will resist change. Getting mad at followers ensures only one thing: failure. I've never heard a leader mention how unjustified anger inspired people to embrace a change initiative. So listen. Learn. Smile. And perhaps the change initiative might just go a little more smoothly.

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Stop Getting Mad at People Who Question Change

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Most people don't like change. Most leaders want to challenge the status quo. Leadership is, in part, the process of helping people see the need for change, embrace the vision for change, and then implement the change. Getting mad at people who question change does not help the process of change.

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DON’T LET THE ANGRY TEN PERCENT CONTROL THE DIRECTION OF YOUR CHURCH

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DON’T LET THE ANGRY TEN PERCENT CONTROL THE DIRECTION OF YOUR CHURCH

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The issue addressed here could also be described as the late adopters.

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By Thom S. Rainer

In any organization of size, there are likely angry people.

They are unhappy with the organization. They don't like change. They don't like the leader.

But here's the catch: In most organizations, they are a distinct minority. I use the quantifier of ten percent more anecdotally than not, but I would conjecture most organizations, including churches, would have a number close to that.

In churches, I see pastors, again and again, yield to the pressures and criticisms of the ten percent. I get it. I've been there and done that. May I suggest some perspectives on this issue? Perspectives are not solutions, but they can help us persevere when the ten percent get really loud.

This overview is just one of many perspectives rather than solutions. If you feel like most people are against you in your church, you are likely wrong. It's probably the ten percent. But they do have the loudest voices in your congregation.

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Don't Let the Angry Ten Percent Control the Direction of Your Church - ThomRainer.com

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By Thom S. Rainer In any organization of size, there are likely angry people. They are unhappy with the organization. They don't like change. They don't like the leader. But here's the catch: In most organizations, they are a distinct minority.

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TEDx Perth – Jason Clarke – Embracing Change