Leading your kidmin through change is a leadership reality that is neither easy nor intuitive. Leading through change is tough. But I believe every leader can lead through change better by incorporating this one key skill: projecting outcomes.
I’m an odd person. I enjoy certain aspects of leading through change. I love painting a picture of what “could be” rather than “what is.” A significant first step to leading through change is helping someone grow dissatisfied with the present reality because they see the potential for a better future.
A big change we’ve worked through at my church is an accurate view of kids’ small groups. If we want to successfully have small groups, then the groups actually have to be … small. However, smaller groups requires more volunteers. And more volunteers seems to be the insurmountable goal no one has successfully achieved.
When I painted a picture of what “could be”—small groups of six to eight kids that a leader can reasonably connect with and truly invest in—it was a vision people could embrace … but the prospects of getting there seemed impossible. But I discovered there is another critical step to that helps people recognize progress toward our goal: projecting outcomes.
I needed to invest time projecting the outcomes of current actions. When a volunteer brought a friend, we consistently celebrated that action. (What’s recognized is repeated!) But we also took time after celebrating to project the outcome of that action: “If 10 more volunteers in this group helped a friend get plugged in to serve, we’d be [fill in the blank] in six weeks’ time.”
Projecting the outcome of the action helps connect one achievable step (inviting a friend) with the overall goal (smaller small groups).
People are motivated by progress. Big victories are made up of a series of small wins. Small wins keep you on the right trajectory toward your goal. Just like connecting the dots, helping people recognize the smaller actions as progress toward the greater objective is motivational.
So as you lead through change, incorporate the skill of projecting outcomes to help your team recognize how each little win leads to the greater victory.
