How to Change Your Culture…When It’s Not Your Job.
All of us have found ourselves in the position of wanting to make changes…when we actually haven’t been asked to make changes. We see the need. We feel the stirring. We observe the discontent. But without a title, a job description or mandate, the lingering question we’re often left with is, Should we even try?
This gets especially tricky when it comes to ministry and the needed changes rise and fall on an organization largely made up of volunteers who might predate you by decades. Maybe you’ve moved to a new town, and your new church has a ministry culture that’s anemic in comparison to your last church. Perhaps you’re a volunteer in an area with no clearly defined leader, but you believe some leadership and standards are desperately needed.
So how do you bring change to a culture when no one has asked you to do so? I think there are at least six things to keep in mind:
1. Have an honest conversation with senior leadership.
Avoid the path of creating needed change in a subversive way. Whether it’s the lead pastor or the staff member in charge of the ministry in question, you need to have a sit down where you lay all of your cards on the table and ask for their feedback and insight. “I know I’m brand new, but here are some things I think I’m observing. Can you give me your perspective and tell me where I’m off base?”
You might find that the leader agrees with you. Or was unaware until you brought it up. Or has a historical perspective that you don’t or knows where the land mines are or how it’s never been done that way before or why Brother So-And-So is a force to be reckoned with.
The point is, the senior leader will know facts you don’t have, but you might bring a fresh energy that he doesn’t have. So combine those forces before stepping forward.
[Related posts: “Your Alternate Agenda is Not Welcome Here” Part One. Part Two.]
2. Be aware of the unofficial power brokers.
Every church has them: the person who may not have real authority but certainly has a lot of perceived authority. That perception could come because they’re a fount of wisdom, or have been around for decades, or because they’re a grouch that everyone is afraid to cross. Power brokers aren’t inherently bad for the ministry, but they’re a very real center of gravity in the ministry.
And the wording is important here: be aware is better than beware. Don’t fear the power brokers. Get to know them. Befriend them. Hear their perspective. Glean their wisdom, mine their longevity, and – yes – learn what’s made them a grouch. Their discontent with things might shine a very helpful light on what many others feel, but don’t articulate.
[Related post: The Room Where it Happens]
3. Maintain a posture of humble service.
Nearly everyone loses when the new kid on the block acts as the new sheriff in town. We gain far more as helpful servants and humble guides than we do as know-it-all overlords. In his terrific book How to Know a Person, David Brooks talks about the beauty of coming alongside someone, to model instead of mandate, to serve openly rather than being quietly subversive:
If I’d been better schooled back then in the art of accompaniment, I would have understood how important it is to honor another person’s ability to make choices. I hope I would have understood, as good accompanists do, that everybody is in their own spot, on their own pilgrimage, and your job is to meet them where they are, help them chart their own course. I wish I had followed some advice that is rapidly becoming an adage: Let others voluntarily evolve. I wish I had understood then that trust is built when individual differences are appreciated, when mistakes are tolerated, and when one person says, more with facial expressions than anything else, “I’ll be there when you want me. I’ll be there when the time is right.”
[Related post: See it from Their Side]
4. Be a cheerleader, not a critic.
The easy way – dare I say the lazy way – to create change is to point out everything that’s wrong and tell people how they can make it right. It’s much harder to start with what’s right and find each individual’s genius as its applied to their ministry. Chip and Dan Heath refer to this as looking for the bright spots. In their book Switch, they say that “too much analysis can doom the effort.”
So seek to bless people by pointing out how you clearly see God using them. If you can’t honor the quality of their work, at least honor their commitment to their work. Give credit where credit is due. Know that no matter how wobbly the ministry is, it’s often their shoulders you’re standing on. They paved the road, no matter how many potholes have developed along the way. Be a grateful encourager, and you might find that your eventual suggestions are accepted more readily.
[Related post: The Arrogance of Experience]
5. Focus on concepts before concrete steps.
It’s one thing to ask good questions and point to potential new horizons, it’s another to say Here are all the things that should change by Sunday. We all know the advice to new leaders: don’t make any major changes in the first six months. Whether you wholesale agree with that or not, the reality is you’re not the leader in this situation, and so even suggestions of change will be met with even greater resistance.
So instead of concrete action steps, paint some pictures. Inspire new ideas. Ask insightful questions. Understand people’s motivations, and you might understand that people want to get to the same place you do, they just have a different idea (or a limited perspective) of how to get there.
[Related post: See It Before You See It]
6. Stay in your lane…but know when the lanes are changing.
If you follow steps 1-5 closely, if you have the right conversations and serve people well and are aware of all the dynamics at play, you may very well find that there’s a time when you’re asked to take on a greater role. Even in this, tread carefully, but tread intentionally.
Know what you’re being asked to do, and make sure the ones who are asking know what your vision, your concrete steps, your path forward might look like. And then, if you are the person for such a time as this, lead with that same humility, open communication, and respect to those who have gone before you.
[Related posts: “I Didn’t Sign Up for This.”, Helping Your Volunteers Navigate What’s Next]
