Leading and Managing Kidmin Change

N avigate resistance.

The key question: How do we mitigate the negative? 

Almost all change meets resistance. Significant change usually meets significant resistance. Sometimes a leader’s tendency is to forge ahead regardless, but addressing the resistance can help you gain important influencers and momentum.

Don’t be afraid to answer questions, or to take time to communicate to those who need a deeper understanding of the change, or to listen to those who have concerns (it might help you avoid a hazard that you don’t see!). People need to understand why the change is necessary—to “feel the pain” of the current situation—before they’ll embrace your proposed change. Meet it head-on or it will only grow more substantial.

Another very important element in this step is to honor those who are being displaced in some way. It could be you are adopting new techniques for ministry that are leaving some of your long-term volunteers in the dust. Or it could be a change in facility that was donated by a particular family. Or eliminating a system put in place by a key leader. Find ways to honor these people both privately and publicly.

G alvanize change through “wins.”

The key question: How can we highlight the positive? 

When the change is initiated, find ways to “win small” and celebrate these wins. Highlight any movement forward and those who helped move the change forward.

Celebrating wins helps fuel momentum, silence doubters and encourage those who are invested.

E valuate, adjust and build on your change.

Your change initiative will not look like you envisioned it before you started. It’s almost inevitable that, somewhere along the way, the change will change! That’s OK. As you meet unexpected obstacles or are blessed with unexpected resources, evaluate where you’re at, adjust the sails and build out the change you are pursuing.

And don’t forget to celebrate along the way!

The foundation for any change …

What we shared here in regards to change addresses some of the “practical” side of understanding and carrying out change. I’m writing this with the assumption we, as church leaders, base all of our actions in the foundation of our faith. Every discussion, decision and action is to be prayerfully thought through, based on the principles of God’s Word, and carried out with the character of Christ. If this is not the case, then what we are doing is relatively worthless.