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Eight steps to transform your congregation

Written: 4/27/2009

No church today - large or small, local or global - is immune to change. To cope with new technological, competition, and demographic forces, leaders in every denomination have sought to fundamentally alter the way their congregations fulfill their mission.

 These change efforts have paraded under many banners - total quality management, re-engineering, restructuring, mergers, turnarounds, consultations, refocus. Yet, despite all of this change, most church fail at managing change.

Yet, according to change management guru John Kotter, fewer than 15 of the 100 or more organizations studied have successfully transformed themselves. While the particulars of every case vary, Kotter has identified eight critical stages of successful change management. Mismanaging any one of these steps can undermine an otherwise well-conceived vision.

1. Establish a sense of urgency (reality orientation)

  • Examine demographics, history and changing current realities
  • Identify and discuss crises, potential crises, or major opportunities

2. Form a powerful guiding coalition (leadership team)

  • Assemble a group with enough power to lead the change effort
  • Encourage the group to work as a team

3. Create a vision

  • Create a vision to help direct the change effort
  • Develop strategies/prescription/action plans for achieving the vision

4. Communicate the vision

  • Use every vehicle possible to communicate the new vision and strategies
  • Teach new behaviors by the example of the guiding coalition

5. Empower others to act on the vision

  • Get rid of obstacles to change
  • Change systems or structures that seriously undermine the vision (create teams)
  • Encourage risk-taking and non-traditional ideas, activities and actions

6. Plan for and create short-term wins

  • Plan for visible Blockbuster Events
  • Create multiple improvements

7. Consolidate improvements and produce still more change (resource focusing)

  • Use increased credibility to change systems, structures and policies that don't fit the vision
  • Hire, promote, and develop staff/volunteers who can implement the vision
  • Reinvigorate the process with new projects, themes and change agents

8. Institutionalize new approaches

  • Articulate the connections between the new behaviors and organizational success
  • Develop the means to ensure leadership development and succession (leadership culture)

Source: Kotter, John P. "Winning at Change" Leader to Leader. 10 (Fall 1998): 27-33