Change
Delivered February 11, 2007 by Karen Brause at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of New Bern.
Change………have you
seen it? Can you touch it? How do you view change?......For some, it’s
sailing off into a glorious new adventure while others see it as stepping
off a precipice into an abyss.
Fundamentally, Change
denotes the transition that occurs when something goes from being the same
to being different. For example, water in the liquid state is not the same
as water in the frozen state. At some point, it experienced a transition
and became different. Thus, it changed.
Change, the quality of
impermanence and flux, has had a checkered history as a concept. In
ancient Greek philosophy, some saw change as ever-present and
all-encompassing, while others virtually denied its existence. Clearly,
one's philosophical position has a crucial influence on what one has to
say about change.
Medieval thought fostered
great respect for authority and revelation, severely cramping any
encouragement of change.
Isaac Newton harnessed
mathematical concepts into calculus to provide mathematical models of
change. This constituted a major step forward in understanding flux and
variation. In modern physics, the concept of change is associated with
action.
With the rise of
industrialization and capitalism, the importance attached to innovation
grew, and social and political upheavals and pressures often forced change
by violent revolution. By the late 20th century much business and New Age
thought focused enthusiastically on transformation in management, in
function and in mental attitudes, while ignoring or deploring changes in
society or in geopolitics.
Cultural attitudes to
change itself may fall into one of at least two categories:
Change is random, lacking
design or purpose
Change is cyclical, and
one expects circumstances to recur. This concept, often seen as related to
Eastern world views such as Hinduism or Buddhism, nevertheless had great
popularity in Europe in the Middle Ages, and often appears in depictions
of the wheel of fortune.
Change may require
organisms and organizations to adapt…. evolution.
Changes in society may
take place either slowly through gradual modifications in mindsets and
beliefs or suddenly through revolutions. Societies continuously acquire
predictive knowledge to avoid the impact of catastrophic changes. Research
is one of the tools for anticipating impending changes and adapting to the
new inevitable conditions. Changes in constitutions and laws could be done
to bring about changes gradually. Societies, which do not follow this path
have changes thrust upon them by forces beyond their control.
“Change is inevitable;
misery is optional”.
Growth is Natural and
Shows the Welcoming aspect of our identity. If all congregations kept the
same members, stayed the same size, retained the same minister and staff
members, and always had the same well-known set of issues, religious life
would be easy. It would also be fabulously boring. It is exciting to
welcome new guests, hear new sermons, and puzzle over new challenges, but
it is not easy.
Getting used to change is
the hardest change of all. That “change is inevitable; misery is
optional” it truer than many of us care to admit. Somehow, we imagine
that it is possible to live without change. Actually, we can no more live
and not have change than we can jump without feeling the impact of
gravity. In each case, inevitability links the two. To live is to grow; to
grow is to change. Therefore, to live is to change, and any thought that
we can avoid change in life is pure illusion.
There are inevitably
“moments of truth”/crucial crossroads and there are four possible
outcomes: early termination, meltdown, installation or realization.
Early termination –
never gets off the ground or drawing board
Meltdown – discontinued
after implementation.
Installation – you
reach the end state and the change is “installed”, but it could be
either beneficial or dysfunctional
Realization –
installation complete and the key purpose for the initiative has been
achieved.
Change is a powerful
force that has a major influence on our lives, but we can’t actually
touch or directly see it. You can’t hold change in your hand; you can
only confirm its presence by observing the trail of influence it leaves
behind as it passes through people and/or organizations. Because of its
elusive nature, change requires tangible “containers” that allow it to
be transported into an organization and be recognized.
True transformation
always enters our lives embedded within some type of recognizable package.
The package only carries the seeds of change, not change itself. The seeds
of change within a project can be planted, but the true purpose of the
endeavor must then unfold. And this can happen only if the surrounding
“human landscape” has been made ready to absorb the inherent
disruption.
There are two types of
building blocks – “inert” and “human”. These two aspects follow
the same journey.
“Inert” block is
concrete items like money and time and is handled via project management.
The “Human” block is not so easy to define and involves on-going
change management.
A key challenge is
delivering on the commitments when announcing critical changes.
“Installation” of change is seldom in jeopardy; it is the
“realization” of the promise to shareholders that is typically at
risk. Fulfillment of these promises is possible only if initiatives are
limited to those we are serious about implementing. For each imperative,
we must require proper preparation of the human landscape as a
non-negotiable part of the strategies being formulated.
Light travels through
space at a constant 186,281 miles per second. Humans, though, travel
through life without the benefit of a fixed speed. We move at a rate that
shifts according to our capacity for assimilating major change. How well
we absorb the effects of change dramatically affects the rate at which we
successfully manage the challenges we face, both on our own and with
others.
Our expectations are
disrupted when our perceived abilities and willingness to perform a task
exceed or fall short of the dangers and opportunities we face. Significant
disruption in our expectations signals that major change is taking place.
Some people walk faster, think quicker, or show emotion more easily than
others show. People also assimilate change at different rates. Nature
designed each of us to move through life at a unique pace that will allow
us to absorb the major changes we face in the best way possible. We call
this our speed of change.
We fail to live up to our
potential when we assimilate change at less than our optimum speed. When
we try to assimilate more than our optimum speed permits, we get into
trouble. Regardless of age, position, wealth, status, motive, or desire,
people cannot adequately absorb life’s certain shifts any faster than
their own speed of change will allow.
Individuals can face an
unlimited amount of change, but when they pass their threshold they become
dysfunctional. They may become overly tired, burnt out, inefficient, sick,
or abuse drugs. These problems are often an indication of “future
shock”. People who lead challenging but productive and healthy lives
typically stay within the bounds of their speed of change and avoid the
symptoms of future shock.
We all operate,
consciously or not, by a basic axiom: Our lives are most efficient when we
move at a speed that allows us to best assimilate the changes we face.
This is not the pace at which things around us are changing, but the rate
at which we can recover from disrupted expectations. This is not the speed
at which we wish to change or how fast our spouse, or leadership, tells us
to change. It is the speed at which we are able to absorb change with the
least personal dysfunction.
(Refer to the front of
your “Order of Service”) There are two orientations to change: the
disruption of major change produces a crisis. The Chinese express the
concept of crisis with two symbols. The top symbol represents potential
danger, the lower, hidden opportunity. By combining the two, the Chinese
seem to be characterizing change as a paradox. In observing how people
respond to the stress produced by the crisis of change, our research found
two common orientations. Each has a particular perspective on these
crises. While some tend to see mainly danger, the others typically focus
on the promise of opportunities.
These danger-oriented
people, Type-D folks, view the crisis of change as threatening and often
feel victimized by it.
Opportunity-oriented
people, Type-O folks, respond to the crisis of change in a dramatically
different way. While seeing the dangers, they also see change as a
potential advantage to be exploited rather than a problem to be avoided.
Which are
you?.................
The Nature and Process of
Change is inevitable and continuous
Most major change efforts
fail due to lack of attention to the human aspects of change
Major change = major
disruption to expectations
Humans seek control
(direct or indirect)
Change requires a high
level of adaptability: “go with the flow”
What is Your Capacity for
Change?
Change can be perceived
as a loss or as an opportunity
It’s all about
expectations, perception and choice of reactions
Everyone is different:
past experience, current “load” and your personality influence your
capacity
When your capacity is
exceeded, you will notice “dysfunction” such as brief irritation,
feeling stunned or numb, defensiveness, psychosomatic illness, depression
or despair, errors and accidents
How to Build Your
Personal Resilience
How to Handle Your
Reactions to Change
Accept that your feelings
are natural
Talk with people you can
trust
Keep in mind that this is
a process, not an event
If you perceive the
change as negative, you may go through the stages of grief more than once:
Immobilization
Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Testing
Acceptance
Allow yourself time to
re-evaluate your goals
Consider all possible
options
Look for ways to
positively impact the way your work group recovers from the changes
Do something rewarding or
satisfying each day; don’t forget to have fun
If you perceive the
change as positive, you will also go through a predictable process
Uninformed optimism
(Certainty)
Informed pessimism
(Doubt)
Hopeful realism (Hope)
Informed optimism
(Confidence)
Completion (Satisfaction)
Resilience is a strong
differentiator between those who survive and thrive during major change
and those who don’t
Resilience: The ability
to bounce back from setbacks and keep going toward your goal even more
effectively than before
Characteristics of
Resilient People:
Positive
Focused
Flexible
Organized
Proactive
POSITIVE people identify
opportunities and have the personal confidence to believe they can
succeed. Many positive individuals:
Use a journal to maintain
a list of accomplishments
Look for opportunities
and practice turning “minuses” into “pluses”
Use positive
“self-talk”
FOCUSED people have a
clear vision of what they want to achieve and they use it to guide them.
Focused individuals:
Visualize themselves as
they would like to be in 1 year, 5 years and identify necessary steps to
achieve their vision
Set specific short-,
medium- and long-range goals and ask trusted individuals for feedback and
suggestions to improve them
FLEXIBLE people draw on a
wide range of resources to develop creative strategies to respond to
change. Flexible people will:
Swap sides in a
discussion where you disagree with someone
Identify someone who may
typically approach things differently than themselves – ask him for
input on your change initiative. Listen to his ideas without interrupting
or passing judgment.
ORGANIZED people use
structured tactics to transform ambiguity (making order out of chaos).
Organized people:
Use a personal organizer
(paper or electronic)
List key steps needed to
accomplish a new task before tackling it
Use project management
techniques to build their skills
PROACTIVE people initiate
action in the face of uncertainty, taking calculated risks vs. the status
quo. Many Proactive people:
Develop plans for
managing the worst-case scenario that might result from the change
initiative
Assess the risks about
your situation or change initiative by listing all the possible pros and
cons
Balance among the
elements of resilience is key to success for individuals and for teams
Which characteristic
would you like to work on first?
Positive
Focused
Flexible
Organized
Proactive
What will you do to begin
building your personal resilience?
How will you help your
team build resilience?
Change is hard! It’s
SCARY!! It’s different.
We HAVE changed, and we
will continue to change. You might worry about where you fit into this
future picture? Are you ready to experiment, or are you stuck in old ways?
Will you save some meaningful
rituals, and create new ones? Will
you try something new and challenging? Or do the same old thing? Will you
be creating the small church of the future?
The Change Process is an
on-going cycle of “unfreezing, changing and refreezing”
A tortoise on the move
can overtake even the fastest hare if that hare stands still.
The skills most needed in
this area are those that typically fall under the heading of communication
or interpersonal skills. To be effective, we must be able to listen and
listen actively, to restate, to reflect, to clarify without interrogating,
to draw out the speaker, to lead or channel a discussion, to plant ideas,
and to develop them. All these and more are needed.
The honest answer is that
you manage it pretty much the same way you’d manage anything else of a
turbulent, messy, chaotic nature, that is, you don’t really manage it,
you grapple with it. The task of change management is to bring order to a
messy situation, not pretend that it’s already well organized and
disciplined.
The first thing to do is
jump in. You can’t do anything about it from the outside. Helping to
create a clear sense of mission, or purpose, is essential. ……” it
takes a village to raise a child” ….it takes “everyone in UUFNB, to
make a “HOME”.
Change is HARD but it
happens all the time. We all need to be aware that we are individuals and
therefore, our ability to change may happen at different rates. The
challenge to all of us is to take responsibility to help each other
through change as we move on into the future.
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