I know that creating change without chaos sounds like an oxymoron.
But it doesn’t have to be.
There are two things every leader needs to remember when considering when and how to make a significant organizational change, be it in focus, strategy, methods, or staffing that will help keep the chaos at bay.
Here they are:
(1) PROTECTING THE PAST IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS CREATING THE FUTURE.
Only one type of organization has no past to protect: A startup. A new church or company has only a future to create. But every existing organization has both a past to protect and a future to create.
Obviously, protecting the past at the expense of the future is a recipe for an eventual death spiral. But it’s just as dangerous to ignore the past while creating the future. Yet it’s a common leadership mistake.
Leaders who assume that those who currently attend, volunteer, and give will continue to do so when it’s no longer the same organization are in for a rude awakening. Those who like and love the ways things are now, will seldom passively go along with changes that take away the things they like and love.
The marketplace is filled with examples of this kind of erroneous thinking. A new CEO comes in to save a dying business, makes a ton of changes to reach new customers, believes that all the current customers will be good with it – only to discover that the old customers are leaving faster than the new customers are coming in – and leaving no one to pay the cost of already existing infrastructure, buildings, and staffing.
For an example, check out the JC Penney fiasco that took place from 2011 to 2013. When the old customers left faster than the new customers came in, the new superstar CEO brought in from Apple was fired. And it sounds like a lot of ministry turn-around attempts I’ve watched go up in smoke.
(2) YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE WHO YOU LOSE
No matter what a leader does, some people will leave. It’s inevitable. And it’s a fact that every leader needs to come to grips with before taking on the leadership role for an entire organization, a department, or even a team.
If you fail to make necessary changes, people will leave, (if they haven’t already left). If you go ahead and make the needed changes, other people will leave (especially those who like the way it was).
That’s why when it’s time to make a change, the question is not, “How can we keep everyone happy?” It can’t be done.
There will always be whitewater with change, even desperately needed change in a dying organization. When the destination sign on the front the bus changes, some people get off and some people get on. It happens every time.
That’s why the most important questions are: “Who are we willing to lose? And why?”
So the next time you have a change you need to make (big or small), I recommend that you first pause and ask yourself and your team these simple clarifying questions to help you choose who you lose.
- “Who am trying to reach with these changes?”
- “Who are the people who will most miss the old way of doing things?
- “Is there a possible both/and solution?
- “Who will I lose?”
- “Is it worth it?”
Remember that Jesus talked about the importance of counting the cost before becoming a disciple, building a building, or going to battle. When it comes to leading through change, a wise leader always follows Jesus’ advice.
For more on this subject, check out Larry’s workshop with North Coast Training Network, Creating Change Without Chaos; How Serial Innovators Live To Do it Again and Again