On Wednesday of this past week, John Britt, co-author with Ken Blanchard of Who Killed Change? engaged in a telephone dialogue with a group of ministry leaders as a Travel Free Learning event hosted by Columbia Partnership.
This latest book installment in now several dozen books by Ken Blanchard, seeks to discover who killed change in an organization, and what we can learn from that one organization’s experience that can be applied to many other organizations.
The focus of the telephone dialogue was on how to apply the principles of the book to congregations and denominational organizations. Congregational ministers and denominational staff from six different denominational families joined the conversation.
John Britt highlighted the head, heart, hands, and habit of change. Head is about knowledge. Heart is the emotional side of change. Hands refers to action. These first three are commonly understood and documented in various books. John adds habit. This is where changed behaviors are anchored and now a natural, continual part of an organization.
Among the significant issues facing the congregations of participants are these:
- People are exhausted by the process of a necessary change due to sluggish outcomes and budget.
- Our congregation has no sense of urgency about change.
- We are faced with great resistance by one powerful individual.
- This congregation was near death several years ago. There is still so much to be done, although there has been progress.
- We are finding it hard to connect with any young person who did not grow up in our congregation.
- We have worked hard to help our older folks realize that not changing is really not an option.
John Britt is a master at picking up quotes from others and sharing them in a way that all can remember them. Among the quotes he shared were these:
- “People not involved in planning the change will find a way to tell us how important they are.”
- “Those who plan the battle rarely battle the plan.”
- “Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.”
- “At times it’s change or fry.”
- “Change is easy. You go first.”
This Travel Free Learning event is an example of many events that will be part of the TCP Learning Community when it launches in September. For more details and to connect, go to http://tcplearningcommunity2009.eventbrite.com.
