Nine Essentials for lasting change.

March 2, 2011

I read this post from Artie Davis the other day and thought is was worth reposting. What do you think?

Having guided businesses, churches and organizations through many large changes and observing others who have navigated the same waters, I have noticed some essentials in making change occur and lasting…

1- Communication

For real, lasting change to occur it has to be clearly and masterfully communicated. Which means you need the ability to communicate the idea well, and a platform from which to communicate it. Cater your presentation to those you are communicating to. Different audience, different form of communication. Absorption is the goal!

2- Urgency

Change comes when a sense of urgency is present. Change falls prey to procrastination far to often. Those we lead need to understand and feel the urgency and necessity of our shift. If it feels like something isn’t really urgent, it will get filed away to “another day” and stall or kill the change initiative.

3- Faith

Lasting change has to be a God thing. It must be be authored by God and not by man. If you know it’s a God thing, that fact will give you faith when things don’t seem to be going well.  If you didn’t cook it, you aren’t responsible for the way it tastes.

4- Passion

People don’t follow a “lukewarm” leader. People and other leaders follow the leader that is on fire with passion! Lasting change will never come through a leader that presents the new direction in a “matter of fact” way. It has to be burning deep within her soul. Passion goes viral when the leader lives it, communicates it and has fire for it.

5- Determination

Change is hard, and when leading a change, resistance and push back may be in abundance. But…Never stop. The God authored agent of change can’t quit. Pulling the plug option must never be on the table (This is God authored remember). All obstacles must be met by an undeterred leader.

6- Innovation

Creativity is an incredible God thing. The smart leader will embrace his “inner artist” and seek it out from among those around him and use it to the fullest. Innovation arises from the ability to take what you have and marry it to a solid vision, then  something new and exciting emerges. It gives breathe and life to the “how” of the new change.

7- Need

We don’t change for the sake of change.  The beginning stages of change are birthed through an honest examination of the end product. When what is being produced becomes completely unacceptable, and we can accurately measure what a change would produce, then the power of the need becomes the fuel for lift off.

8- Plan

Lasting change comes on the wheels of a well thought out and prayed through plan. The simpler in the over all scope the better. The new plan must be explainable by those who follow, so they can answer questions about it. No one really likes change, but present a change that is difficult to explain, and you’re dead in the water.

9- Influence

Leadership boils down to INFLUENCE. If you don’t have a high degree of influence, your chances of pulling off a lasting change in an organization are slim at best. So if your tenure or trust is short, you would be wise to hold off on any large changes until your influence is firmly in place.

Is there another essential you would add? Make it a perfect “10″

Posted 3/2/2011 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment