8 Healthy Steps to Initiate Change, Part 2

By Jon Nicol

Yesterday we started a conversation about what it takes for people to change, and we looked at three ways to begin initiating change. So let’s take a look at another five ways we can spur on the change process (without getting bucked off the horse).

4. Accentuate the pain of sticking to the status quo.

  If you remember the theory of change management from yesterday, you’ll know that the higher the pain of the status quo, the more likely someone will change. So look for ways to turn up the heat a little.

Let’s stick with the change-from-wedge-to-Aviom example we brought up yesterday:

Likely two of your biggest reasons for moving away from the wedge is the diminishment of stage volume and controllability of the monitor mix. Here are two ways to turn accentuate the pain of staying with stage monitors:

1) If the monitors are running to hot, your house mix will be muddy, at best. Use a decent mic to get an open air recording. (This will pick up the sludge from the stage better than a line running out of the board.) Play it back for your team. Because our monitors are rose-colored hearing aids, your team will likely be appalled at what they hear. And they just might be willing to do something about it.

2) If that doesn’t accentuate the problem for them, begin measuring the stage volume and requiring that the monitors run below a certain dB. Warning: this will cause discomfort and grouchiness among your team members.

5. Be honest about the costs of change.

Sometimes we as leaders will sell only the positives of a change. Then we wonder why our people are so resistant the moment we hit our first speed bump.

Be realistic with your people about the cost of change. If anything, prepare them for the worst—that way the don’t feel duped.

6. Don’t romanticize the vision.

Can I admit something? The sexy world of Apple is decidedly less sexy when you’re in the middle of PC to Mac switch-over. (Read part 1)

Our preferred future, our vision, our goals, never look like we imagined. And that’s OK. Remember, our imaginations are idealistic playgrounds and laboratories that don’t often account for human messiness and unforeseen left turns.

So don’t oversell the milk and honey. Joshua and Caleb didn’t hide the fact that there were bruisers in the Promised Land. But they knew they God would take care of it.

7. Ripping off the Band-Aid - all at once, or slowly?

There’s two prodominent different views on change: slowly, or all at once. I think the answer is yes.

You need to decide what’s the best for the ministry and your team. Some changes need to be executed swiftly. Other things should be a longer process.

We also need to be careful that we don’t confuse what’s good for us with what’s good for the team. In his book Predictably Irrational(affiliate link), researcher Dan Ariely talked about being treated as a burn victim. The nurses who cared for him would rip off his bandages fast, assuming that short duration of high pain was better than long durations of lower pain.

Dan tested this scientifically and returned to the nurses with a counter-conclusion - less pain over a longer duration is actually better for the patient. One of the nurses responded that his experiment didn’t take into consideration the pain the nurses endured when they had to hurt someone that badly. In other words, the shorter duration was better for them.
 
As leaders, you and I need to check ourselves - is our strategy for change best for us, or the team?

8. Egypt’s not an option.

Once through the Red Sea, many of the children of God wanted to go back to Egypt. Moses didn’t make than option.

In the same way, some of your team’s antagonism to change will pull you back into your old groove. One way to counter that gravity is to leave no option of returning. 

This can be a tough call for leaders.

Remember that whole generation of Israelites had to die in the desert before they could move forward. God knew that the Promised Land couldn’t be taken and held by people who were still slaves in their own hearts and minds.

You may have some good people who will need to be shown the door with grace and love. But reaching the vision requires a unified team moving towards it.

Post Image: Hollie Butler - Flickr

How have you initiated change within your team? Got some war stories, or here's what not to do? Tell us some successes, too...