4 Ways to Lead Change with Your Team
by: Rich Birch
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You have a meeting coming up with your team in which you need to walk them through a change at your church … how should you structure the information? The way you communicate change is a critical part of the process.
The following approaches work well as frameworks for presentations in meetings. You could also use them in any communications to your team: emails, voice memos, ebooks, etc. When you are in the middle of a “change management” process, you need to communicate information over and over … don’t get stuck in a rut! Use a variety of approaches to explain why change is critical at your church.
- The List // Create a list of items related to what you are talking about. The order doesn’t matter, but together the items should cover the entire topic. (Clearly, we use this framework all the time at unSeminary.)
- Helpful: When there is a wide variety of items to present. Easy for people to jump in and out of.
- Limitations: It can feel like a “fire hose” of information that people are left to categorize on their own.
- Examples: 6 Changes Our Church is Making to Summer Camp; 12 Reasons We’re Canceling Sunday Evening Service; 3 Tools for Inviting Your Friends Next Weekend
- [Click to download List PowerPoint Template]
- Chronological // Take people on a journey! Start with what happened first and then lead them through the timeline of what happened next and finally to where things are going.
- Helpful: This approach can be particularly helpful in “change management” situations because you can show how the future is connected to where the church has already been. This will reduce some people’s anxieties.
- Limitations: Choose the “starting point” wisely. It needs to be the agreed upon beginning to move people towards where you are headed. If you start in the wrong part of the story, you’ll lose some people.
- Examples: How Summer Camp Has Evolved Over the Years; The Story of How People Grow at Our Church; How Bill Got Connected to Our Church
- [Click to download Chronological PowerPoint Template]
- Compare & Contrast // Draw out the differences between two ideas or approaches to show where you want to go.
- Helpful: This works particularly well when people have experienced what you are comparing. Take people to a church that is excelling in one area and compare it to how your church is performing in the same area.
- Limitations: This approach can be distracting if the comparison isn’t crystal clear because you’ll spend most of your time bringing people up to speed, rather than focusing on how it should impact your church.
- Examples: Lessons Learned from Walt Disney World to Apply to Our Camp; A Survey of Service Times from 10 of the Fastest Growing Churches in the Country; How Chick-fil-A Grows and What that Means for Our Church
- [Click to download Compare & Contrast PowerPoint Template]
- Problem & Solution // Explore the problem your church is facing and then present the solution to relieve it! “Aggravating” the problem is key to this approach. People need to feel and understand the problem before they will move forward. We change when the pain of staying the same is bigger than the pain to change.
- Helpful: Great for when the stakes are high and change needs to happen quickly. Draws a stark contrast between what is and what needs to be.
- Limitations: Use this approach sparingly and wisely. When done effectively, people will feel the pain associated with not changing. However, sometimes that pain generates unpredictable responses in how people respond.
- Examples: Camp Is Broken … This is How We’ll Fix It; Better Uses for Sunday Evenings at Our Church; What Happens When People Stop Inviting Friends to Church
- [Click to download Problem & Solution PowerPoint Template]
Want to learn more about communicating for change? Connect with an Auxano Navigator and start a conversation with our team.
Tags: Communications, Leading Change, Rich Birch
