Switch – How to Change Things When Change Is Hard Blog Entry – Chapters 5-7 by Rev. Craig Brown

I felt so exclusive.  In 2009 I attended the Willow Creek Leadership Summit where Chip & Dan Heath, authors of Switch, were leading one of the sessions.  With the completion of a simple coupon, attendees of the Summit would receive a pre-release of Switch before it was published.  I promptly lost the coupon, but fear not; Ron Griffin was there with a replacement.  Before I knew it, there it was…in all its top secret-ey-dressed-up-in-its-shrink-wrap glory…Switch.  I felt so exclusive.  What did I do?  Placed it on a shelf for several months.  There it beckoned and called for weeks.  Then finally I cracked it open and started to read.  What I read was nothing new, but yet made new in ways that I could not imagine.  It is one of a very few books that shaped and impacted how I lead in and through change.

I am an elephant man.  While I can relate to the rider with all his or her analytics and parsing of the data, I find the elephant more attractive to me.  As a United Methodist I have set in meeting after meeting with analysis of what is wrong with the church, its structures, its focus and…well…its purpose.  From study group to task-force, there has been a great deal of oxygen spent and paper shredded over the analysis of “what-went-wrong-for-the-Methodists”.  Not only does this happen across our organization, but it happens time and again in the local church.  How many vision retreat outcomes, focus group conclusions and purpose statements are attached to walls in our local churches?  The rider places these truths on walls.  Fixed in time and space.  They are a written testament of knowing the truth while yet testifying that we have not embodied the truth.  This is why I am an elephant man.

For me, the analytics of problem-solving are the kindergarten of the issue.  When reading Switch I resonated with the pros and cons of the “rider”.  The one who knows where to go, but yet cannot persuade the elephant to go there.  My experience of so-called “change-management” was too long rooted in this model alone.  I could always make a compelling intellectual case about why path “A” is better than path “B”.  Why did no one ever follow?  The facts were clear.  The study was conclusive.  The vision statement is framed on a wall.  People said they wanted change.  With contempt, the clergy blame the laity for asking for change but not changing.  With despair laity wonder why clergy won’t step up and make tough choices about leading through change.  It’s because no one is taking seriously the role of the elephant.  This is where leadership succeeds or fails.  We must act on the change we seek.  The conviction of our beliefs is made manifest in our actions.  Some one (the leader) must FIND THE FEELING.

Finding the feeling means that groups change primarily out of an emotive response.  This is not to say that people are emotionally fickle.  It simply means that change must be PRESENTED in practical way that EVOKES a desire to change.  Once I started to figure out that my job was to present change in an inspirational manner…things started to, well change.  The elephant, once persuaded, is an unstoppable force.  As a leader it was my JOB is present change in an inspirational manner.  I am not suggesting that I need to function as some kind of spiritual cheerleader.  The purpose statement hanging on the wall had to get into the hearts of people.  That was my JOB.  Inspire.  Provoke.  Exhort.  Push.  Pull.  When people sense that their envisioned future is POSSIBLE, there is nothing that can stop it.  It means that every leader must in some way embrace their role as FEELING-CASTER.  I am talking to clergy here.  We need to up the energy, conviction, passion about what God is doing.  90% of that happens outside the sermon.  Do you talk about your vision in every meeting?  Do you share a story about a changed life with your choir?  Do you tell your retired members about a teenager whose life was changed?  Do you ooze the vision of your church?  Are people intoxicated around your passion for reaching people?  If they are not…you are not doing your JOB.  You were ordained to Word, Sacrament, Service & ORDER.  Order does not mean putting together a Charge Conference packet.  Are you ORDERING your congregation’s life around God’s vision and purpose for it?

It is a monstrous task, taking that vision statement off a wall.  That is why I am an elephant man.  To turn the analogy on its head…there is only one way to eat an elephant and that is one bite at a time.  As the Heath brothers describe it, you must “Shrink the Change”.  If you can succeed at doing your JOB of inspiring people, then that means you are ready for your first bite.  What is the first step toward arriving at your God-Given, envisioned future?  I learned that if you shoot for the most challenging aspect of your change, you will likely fail.  Look for the low-hanging-fruit (LHF).  What is the easiest step to accomplish?  That then is the first step.  By finding that LHF you will set up a cycle of success.  You can then build upon win after win.  Soon people will sense that they can move in God’s direction.  Soon people will step up.  Most of our congregations do not because they have forgotten what a “win” looks like.  They look year after year at the aging and shrinking congregation.  It may have been years since there was a “win” for that church.  Another part of being an effective leader and coach, is building confidence.  Shrinking the change is a pastoral act that invites people into transformation.  For laity, this means that there are times you will need to hold back your dreamy-eyed pastor to take it one step at a time.  When the elephant beings to change course with one step…it can, and often is, the most delicious bite of a long journey.  Being an elephant man is what it is all about.

For the church, watching people develop and change is the heartbeat of a vital ministry.  So often we sell the people-capital part of our work short.  Sometimes we are so principle-oriented we loose all sight of being practice-oriented.  It is ironic that the people called Methodists have largely forgotten this truth of their DNA.  We often hear of churches of 20-40 people justifying their existence because of a ministry they provide the community.  Whether it be a food bank or renting their facility, their existence as a church is merited by the work they do.  We seldom think in terms of what kind of food bank we would have if there were 200 people here or even 2000 people here.  At times we are so captivated by the “principle” work of the church we neglect the “practical” work of making disciples for the transformation of the world.  Making disciples.  Developing people.  Growing spiritually.  These terms can become synonymous.  Our capacity to transform the world is only limited by our ability to make disciples.  Developing your people is the greatest investment you can make toward the world transformation we so often talk about and seek.  It is the model Jesus demonstrates time and again.  Personal development and transformation lead to a transformed world.  When you see lives being changed by God’s grace, you know God is moving.  I believe that the change must occur in multiplication.  One changed life leads to two, which leads to four and so on.  This is the biblical model we see in the Acts of the Apostles.  How are you growing people?  How many are growing?  Are they growing other people?  Is there exponential growth in any area or facet of the life of the church?  When the elephant begins to move with momentum and clear direction, you know you are on to something.

I feel so exclusive.  What a wonder it is to witness the wonder of a church catching God’s vision for its future!  I feel so exclusive.  What great joy is there is watching a group of people take one small step that leads to monumental change!  I feel so exclusive.  What excitement there is when people come to Christ and are released to fulfill their purpose and call in ministry!  I feel so exclusive because, I get the great honor of playing a small part in it.  What a true honor it is to see the church take flight and step into the fullness of what it can be.  I feel so exclusive that God would let a man like me, cracked and broken that I am, see the fullness of God’s grace released in a congregation of beautiful people.  I really do feel quite exclusive to be an elephant man.