banner with photo of people and world map

Volume 57 : Spring 2006 : Number 1
   

Clear and Present Change...

 

Some things just don’t go away! Change is here to stay! More importantly, Christ’s commands and Christ's presence are also here to stay!

 

by John H. Orme

Former Executive Director

IFMA (now known as CrossGlobal Link)

John Orme Lou Holtz, the famous basketball coach, wrote a motivational book on success in life in which he compared a basketball team to an organization. Lou Holtz said, “Organizations must be fundamentally sound if they are to endure change.” The velocity of the political changes in the Soviet Union is illustrated with this imaginary conversation between an Old Russian woman and the Russian cosmonaut who had just returned home after a year in space:

“Comrade,” the cosmonaut begins, “I’ve been in space for a year. It’s good to be back in Leningrad.”

“Sorry,” the woman replies, “Leningrad is out. This is now St. Petersburg.”

“Leningrad out? But Lenin was the father of communism.”

“Sorry, communism is out. We are now capitalists.”

“Capitalists? But how could Gorbachev allow this to happen?”

“Sorry, Gorbachev is out. He was overthrown by the hardliners.”

“You mean the hardliners are in charge?”

“No, the hardliners are out. And Yeltsin took over.”

“You mean Yeltsin is the head of the Soviet Union?”

“No, the Soviet Union is out, too.”

“No Soviet Union?" cries the cosmonaut in disbelief. “Quick, alert the Warsaw Pact.”

“We need to talk,” the woman concludes.

From a speech by Robert M. Price retired chairman and

CEO of Control Data Corporation.

Change is here. Change is in vogue. Books abound about how to manage change, how to manage transition. Most notable is Peter Drucker's Managing in a Time of Great Change. John Kotter of Harvard Business School wrote Leading Change and A Force for Change. William Bridges contributed a national bestseller, Managing Transitions. Not to be left out is missions executive Hans Finzel who wrote Change is Like A Slinky.

Finzel says that change is like a Slinky toy™ messy, noisy, chaotic, gets stuck halfway down the stairs, and rarely lands where you predict. He nonetheless implies that change is somewhat manageable.

All of the writers we have mentioned, in one way or another, suggest that change is manageable. You will successfully manage the beast if you follow the steps in each of these books.

There is a mouse, however, who would totally disagree with these authors. Tests were done in a laboratory where the mouse’s doors for food were closed. The old doors where once there had been cheese were locked; new doors of opportunity were then opened—for a while, that is—only to be locked and changed again. Of course, the mouse would manage change by adapting quickly. He learned new ways to access his food. But—finally change just became too much. He had experienced just too much change. He hesitated, pondered—and then this poor little mouse paralyzed. No more managing, no more adjusting, no more accommodating, he just couldn’t cope! For a little mouse, he simply had a nervous breakdown. These experiments likely form the background for Spencer Johnson’s bestseller, Who Moved My Cheese?

We fear change. Lee Iacocca said, “...from Wall Street to Washington, from boardroom to union halls, what anybody with power is most scared of is change—any kind of change—especially change that is forced on them.”

We not only fear change—We resist change.


Martin Van Buren, then Governor of New York, On January 31, 1829, wrote U. S. President Jackson the following letter:

President Jackson,

 

The canal system of this country is being threatened by the spread of a new form of transportation known as railroads. The federal government must preserve the canals for the following reasons.

One, if boats are supplanted by railroads, serious unemployment will result. Captains, cooks, drivers, hostlers, repairmen and lock tenders will be left without means of livelihood, not to mention the numerous farmers now employed in growing hay for horses.

 

Two, Boat builders would suffer and towline, whip, and harness makers would be left destitute.


Three, canal boats are absolutely essential to the defense of the United States in the event of the expected trouble with England, the Erie Canal would be the only means by which we could ever move the supplies so vital to waging modern war.

 

As you may well know, Mr. President, railroad carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour by engines which, in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside setting fire to crops, scaring the livestock and frightening women and children. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed.

However, we are confronting much more than change today. Our times are described as postmodern where order and chaos, yes, chaos, exist side by side. “Leaders in this edgy postmodern world must somehow navigate through a turbulent ‘white water’ environment, filled with unpredictability and requiring short term survival tactics and long term strategies.” (William Bergquist, The Postmodern Organization, p. 13). Some have called this constant flux with instability and unpredictableness, “chaos management.”

Charles Handy describes this organizational chaos in our time as:

A few years ago it was common to speak of MBO—Management by Objective—and to set five and even ten year goals.


But—no more. We now deal daily with the challenge of chaos produced through:

After researching top notch corporations, in 1982, Tom Peters and Robert Waterman wrote a book entitled In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best Run Companies. By the late 80's the same companies which were named as "best run," were troubled and so in 1987, Tom Peters wrote Thriving on Chaos.

And, thriving amid change or chaos is not merely a work place concern. The same social, technological and cultural changes that convulse the work place present an endless stream of threats and opportunities in every facet of life. The abilities to adapt, relate, and respond quickly are all necessary leadership skills for this 21st century (Lowney, Heroic Leadership, 149). The urgent question of our time is whether we can make change our friend and not our enemy (Lowney, 164). To do this, we must have the ability to innovate, absorb new ideas, and respond quickly to opportunities, or threat—and to let go of strategies that no longer work in order to embrace new strategies that do.

This ability to innovate and respond will depend upon our first identifying all of the absolute nonnegotiables. Only then can we safely embrace any new strategies. Too often we shrink from change—paralyzed by bald fear of what is different. So while some are paralyzed, then again, there are those who run full throttle into change just for the sake of change, just for the sake of doing something different.

Whether the response is paralysis from fear or lurching from one change to another, the need for core principles and values is evident. These core beliefs and values are the nonnegotiables within change. They are the anchor that allows for purposeful change as we negotiate drifts and currents in our scene. We adapt confidently only by knowing what is not negotiable first of all—and then what can be adapted after we firmly establish the nonnegotiables. The paradox is that energizing power lies precisely in the combination of nonnegotiable core beliefs and a willing embrace of change.

Harvard and Stanford universities researchers have clearly shown that outstanding performance occurs when deeply held core values are artfully and willingly combined with the embrace of change. We can see this very combination of deeply held core values and the artful and willing embracing of change in the New Testament. In fact, the book of Acts sets a scenario for the rest of the New Testament century—and for our own 21st century.

In Acts, we see that:

So, maybe the many changes in our 21st century are not as frightening nor horrific nor different as they seem at first glance or experience. Perhaps the first century missionaries would use the word chaos about their culture, too.

Nonetheless, the real issue is what will keep our focus on Christ, not on the current scene. What will empower us as we focus on Christ? What will paralyze us?
That which did not change for the apostles in the first century is still that which will not change for us in missions today. What is amazing is that God Himself specified what won't change when He directed Luke the physician to write Acts chapter one, the very hinge of change in the New Testament.

Even as the apostles inquired for the timing for the kingdom, Christ answered in effect, “It is not for you to know or worry bout, that is the Father's authority. He controls time and critical events.”


Luke records in Acts chapter one the importance of:

We might add one more item that Luke would approve of. Change is an issue that will never, never, never go away. Change was an issue in the first century, has always been with us, and is still with us. And with ever present change, God has assured us of His sovereign, authoritative control. He also has equipped us with supernatural resources to witness about the unchanging Christ to and in this chaotic world.

 

With the energizing bond of the Holy Spirit and the authority of the sacred Scriptures, we combine:shared purpose, shared values, and especially, shared vision.
Leaders need to lead by example with clear consistent messages with values that are moral compasses.

This has been the IFMA heritage and by God's grace will continue to be so—until Christ our Messiah returns.