The team I lead is in the early stages of somesignificant change, and I’m learning something interesting about myself along the way: Even though I am the one who has initiated this, Imay also be the one holding it back the most!
Here is my initial list of “why leaders who want to implement change sometimes struggle to do so”. Some of these I have seen in myself, and others came to mind while I was chewing on the subject. I would love to hear your additional thoughts.
- Very few people “bleed” the ministry like the leader does, so he/she usually has more history with the status quo and has probably invested the most into it. In short, it’s often very hard for the leader to actually make the changes he/she knows need to be made.
- If the changes don’t go well, everybody else gets to hide behind the leader and say, “It was his idea!”. The leader has no place to hide.
- The leader has to defend/sell/propose the changes to those higher up the food chain…which isn’t always an easy sell. Many leaders don’t have the political pull, the trust of sr. leadership, the “fight” etc. to go to bat on behalf of the changes they want to implement.
- Oftentimes, a leader will point to roadblocks (tradition, budget, resources, climate of the church etc.) as an excuse to not make the change. While all of these things must factor into change, they can easily become the reason changeis never implemented.
- Healthy change takes work! Many leaders love to cast vision and then move on to the next big idea without ever getting their hands dirty. But change takes more than simple proclamation, no matter how eloquent the leader can communicate the need (Think about President Obama…great example of change not happening automatically just because the vision is cast…).
There are certainly more…those are just my initial reflections. What would you add?
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Kurt Johnston leads the student ministries team at Saddleback Church in Southern California. His ministry of choice, however, is junior high, where he spends approximately 83.4% of his time. Kurt is also the founder of www.simplyjuniorhigh.com, and he writes, speaks and looks for opportunities to encourage other youth workers. He likes to surf, ride dirtbikes and hang out in coffee shops. He is married to Rachel, and they have two teenage children, Kayla and Cole
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Scott Rubin is the Director of Elevate, the junior high ministry of Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago. He's mostly a middle school pastor, but he also writes some, speaks some, and blogs some. He's the co-author of the book Middle School Ministry, and a few other titles too. He likes sports, summer, his wife Lynette, his 3 sons, and often wishes that Lake Michigan was actually an ocean.
Another one could be that you’ve been burned by an attempt at change in the past and are afraid to go down that path again.
My best intentions are always laced with self-interest. Chuck Swindoll is right, “I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.” Too often my reactions were more motivated by an undercurrent of fear rather than a foundation of faith. I have always been my worst enemy.
Good post and I can agree with all that was said. The thing that I have found when we do make changes is that we are taking risks. We have no idea if the it will succeed or fail, but ultimately I believe we have to take those risks and institute change where we believe it is needed. Mark DeVries in his book, Sustainable Youth Ministry says it great when he said, “Here’s the irony: Sustainable youth ministries fail all the time; they thrive in a culture of experimentation, innovation and creativity.”
I think when we take risks and experiment with change and allow some creativeness to happen, although it may not go well, we create a culture of “what could be” and often inspire ourselves and leaders more than defeat them.
http://www.notamegachurch.com
Your post made me think about easily we promote changing things we inherited but didn’t create, but how hard it is to change the things that originate somehow with us. Seems easy sometimes to exaggerate our successes and minimize our weaknesses. May God continue to give us the grace, discernment and perseverance to to become all he wants us to be. James 1:22-24
@Kurt: Word!