Change

There's an old joke--stop me if you've heard it. A man comes up to the zen hot dog vendor, hands him twenty dollars and says " make me one with everything." The vendor hands him his dog. The man asks "where's my change"? To which the vendor replies " change must come from within." Ok, so maybe not the funniest joke you've ever heard but this bit of wordplay does have relevance to today's post.

Let me start by saying it isn't about a happy thing, in fact it is about a sad moment, saying goodbye to our new pastor and friend of only nine months. Sad, because in that short time his message and his person made a profound impression on many of us and we'll miss him, especially as the interval between his arrival and the departure of our previous pastor of more than 20 years was difficult enough. But this post isn't about this specific moment in time and it isn't the first time I've said goodbye to someone I found inspiring. It is about change and how we handle it.

It is trite to say that change is hard, as much as we may welcome novelty and wish to avoid the same old, same old, day to day. Few of us like to get outside our comfort zone, even fewer welcome disruption, the uncomfortable adjustment to something new and unfamiliar, unless we are already uncomfortable with where we are. Change thrust upon us without the opportunity to digest what's coming and why, without the opportunity to share our feelings with others in the same circumstance is even harder.

Students of change management and yes, it is a discipline not merely a glib phrase, follow a proven process. I say proven because change is constant and adapting to it is something with which the human race has had a lot of experience. I'm not going to bore you with a laundry list describing the process, just highlight the three phases that are critical to success. First comes the analysis--what is changing and why? Who will be affected and how prepared are they? As you might imagine that takes some time, and I cannot emphasize this enough, a lot of dialog and absolute transparency.

Without understanding the answers to the questions above, no one can develop a plan, and change without a plan is generally chaotic, upsetting and --you guessed it, unsuccessful. Something or many things are going to go off the rails and if unanticipated they may cause untold damage. But let's assume there is a plan--maybe a good one, or maybe one that is flawed. There is still a chance for a positive outcome if the next steps are followed with great care.

In the second stage, the plan needs to be communicated to those who will be affected. They may not like the plan, they may even point out the flaws and that is a good thing, because taking ownership of the plan is critical. Will everyone be pleased in the end? Likely not, but if those who must accept the change are part of the process there is a far better chance they will help ensure it works out for the best.

The last stage of the process is one that is open ended. It is about the ongoing work to sustain the change--to avoid backsliding or fresh resistance, and to learn from what transpired how to make change in the future a friend not a challenge, because, well, change is a constant.

So, why am I going on about this subject? Because I've just watched a case study in how not to implement change. In my professional career both in the business world and non-profit communities and in my personal life I've experienced significant change. But it is the first time I have watched it unfold where no one, and I want to underscore this, no one wanted it to end badly. No one acted with malign intent, no one sabotaged the process, and no one feels worse about the outcome than the folks who led it.

I've used the isn't word way too many times in this post so allow me to say a little about what is. Change seldom happens to just one person and when we are talking about organizations, whether they are companies or congregations we are talking about lots of folks. They don't all think or feel the same way but to navigate change successfully they all must do the same thing. They must move from where they are to a new and uncertain place within themselves. That is acceptance. Given the chance to understand the what and why, the opportunity to voice concerns, participate in the process, maybe offer suggestions to enhance its successful outcome, most of us can get there. Perhaps not everyone, and not all the time, and some will fall away because they cannot accept. That too is ok. We can still love them and honor their choice even if we must part ways.

No one can do this for us, change is personal and private whether we transition with grace, resignation or resistance. But no matter what we do, change will come. Sometimes we can choose when and how it will come as in this case, and when we have that opportunity we have a sacred trust to navigate with care and respect for the lessons humankind has learned at great price. There will be times enough when we do not have advance notice.

I'll get through this moment, as will all those affected for better or worse even if it didn't have to be this way. But it is a cautionary tale and I tell it not to pass judgement but to remind us all that even when our intentions are good the outcome may not be. I'll leave you with a quote from Henry David Thoreau that sums it up for me: "Things do not change, we change." As the zen hotdog vendor said, change must come from within.