Six Axioms to Change the World

By Geoff Surratt

photo credit: hira3

Two of the constants in my life are an adversity to change and constant change. I like variety, but I also like consistency. I’d prefer my kids never grow up and I never grow old. I once told Sherry that someday I’d like to be buried in our backyard in South Carolina. That was two states and four houses ago. As much as I dislike change I know if I really want to make a difference in the world change is inevitable.
I once had a boss tell me he loves change, but after working for him for about six months I realized he didn’t love change; he loved changing everybody else’s life. He was as adverse to personal change as the rest of us. Improvement always requires change, but real change is difficult and painful. So if we want to change the world, and we do, how will we do it?
Here are six axioms (None of these are original. I have placed my source after each)  I have learned over the years that guide me in leading teams in effecting constructive change:
The hardest model to change is the one that works (Wildworks)
If what we are doing is working today why would we change it? Bill Hybels in his message “From Here to There” outlines why this attitude is what keep organizations from reaching their potential. When the walls are falling down, when everyone is ready for change, is the least ineffective time to change. When everything seems to be going well is the hardest but most rewarding time for change.
People will support a world they help create (Dale Carnegie Training)
No one likes change imposed on them, but everyone likes to have a voice. Every time I sit down with a team considering major changes in an organization I go back to this axiom. The key is to actually let people help create the world rather than just giving the illusion of collaboration. No one likes to be manipulated to reach the same conclusion as the leader.
No one is as smart as everyone (The New Pioneers)
Unless God chisels the answer in stone and hands it to the leader on the mountaintop all change improves with input. Not groupthink, but feedback and input from a wide variety of sources. With social networking getting input is incredibly easy and essential. A corollary is, “Change created in isolation breeds revolt.” I just made that up. All by myself.
Power of small wins (Harvard Business Review)
Sweeping change is paralyzing; smaller, achievable change is empowering. The big picture might be a complete overhaul, but what could we do in the next four weeks that would make an impact? One of the first things I did when I became pastor of a small church in rural Texas was throw all of the hymn books in a dumpster. This was not a popular change. I could have achieved the same results without the angst and animosity of desecrating the sacred songs. Small wins can lead to bigger change.
Everything is an experiment (Greg Surratt)
One of the first thing I learned when I worked for my brother at Seacoast is we never changed. We tweaked, adapted and modified, but we never changed. We didn’t add a Saturday night service, we tried out a new service time. We didn’t “become” a multisite church, we tested a new location. There were very few changes we announced sweeping changes, but we were always tinkering in the laboratory.
Those are my six, how about you? What axioms guide you in implementing change?