Change: How To Handle It

By Frances Forde Plude

The Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA) met in the Silicon Valley (San Jose, California) last June. The locale was a dramatic reminder to theologians that we are “doing” theology in an electronic culture.

I was invited to address the feminist constructive theology session and my topic was “Feminism and the Cultural Change Process: A Communication Theology Perspective.” I shared some of the latest research information about the change process with this group; many of them are, themselves, change agents within the church.

More than 4,000 research studies have been done on how the process of change functions. The communication scholar Everett Rogers summarizes this research in a book entitled Diffusion of Innovations.

There are several stages inside of the process:

  • the knowledge phase: people seek information and process it

  • attitude formation: this is a “feeling” stage

  • the decision stage: individuals decide to adopt or not

  • implementation: the innovation moves forward; and

  • confirmation: the decision may (or may not) be continued.

Personnel and Networks in the Change Process

Key players in the change process include the change agent, the opinion leader, and the early adopter. And this is interesting: In 100% of the research studies, change happens more often and more effectively if members are linked closely by communication networks.

By Suzanne Nelson

Pastoral ministers are not usually interested in change for the sake of change. Rather, they find themselves courageously trying to implement needed change or coping with leaderless changes that seem to just happen. I believe anyone in a leadership position needs to know how and when to manage the change process.

John P. Kotter of the Harvard business school outlines an eight-stage process for creating change in his book, Leading Change. I draw freely from his ideas because it is easy to see how they can be adapted to our parish work. Of course, implementing these ideas will not be easy. I will use the eight titles of Kotter’s process, but will describe them in parish terms. You can refer to his book for detailed methods and case studies.

Change Infusion

1. Establish a sense of urgency.

Can you identify a crisis, a potential crisis, or a major opportunity in your parish? If so, analyze how support for this change will fit into the larger parish picture. Even if there is a critical element of your parish that needs fixing, change can be stalled by many things: cultural or ethnic factors; old management patterns; church politics; lack of trust, teamwork, or leadership – not to mention simple fear of change. Before the change progress can begin effectively, 15-20% of the affected group must share a sense of urgency about the need for the change. I have found that a change affecting the entire parish (and all changes are not necessarily that large), should be supported by a group that represents the average age and socioeconomic status of the parish.

2. Create a Guiding Coalition

Neither an autocratic solo leader nor a weak committee will accomplish change in this millennium. Today’s change agents need to form a team with a good balance of position power, expertise, credibility, and leadership. Retreats, workshops, and mutual sharing can build the team’s trust level and get them focused on a common vision that speaks to both head and heart.

3. Develop a Vision and Strategy

Vision creates a picture of some aspect of the future and motivates people by logic and inspiration to create that picture. A leader does not demand that others follow him/her to the future (authoritarian) or spell out detailed orders of how to get there (micromanaging). Kotter gives a simple example of a positive vision and strategy in one sentence: “It’s going to rain; let’s go over there under that apple tree and eat some apples for lunch.” Here is a parish example. “Very few high school students are involved in the church. Let’s aim to establish an identifiable line of communication between each high school parishioner and at least one parish minister by the end of this year.” There are a lot of assumptions behind this statement. It could take months to arrive at a vision statement like this.

4. Communicate the Change Vision

Kotter maintains that, once established, the vision often gets lost in the clutter. Generally, 99.42% of communication from leadership to employees is classified as “miscellaneous.” Less than 1% of communication is focused on communication about vision. Here are some suggestions for success. Communicate the change vision with simple language. Use pictures or a logo. Keep the vision on every agenda, newsletter, and memo. Repeat it over and over. Walk the talk. Listen and address inconsistencies or roadblocks.

In a follow-up column we’ll look at other change strategies: empowering broad-based action; generating short term wins; consolidating gains; producing additional change and anchoring new approaches in the culture.