3 Minute Read

When we first realize our church or organization needs to transform, our leadership instinct is to develop a strategy.

That’s good.

Transformation is impossible without strategic, guiding steps.

The problem is too many leaders stop at the strategy. When we consider making a change or leading a transformation (they are not the same), beginning with a strategic plan is smart, but stopping with strategy is naive.

Let me explain.

Organizational change is a strategic endeavor, but organizations are entities constructed by, with, and for people. At the heart of every organization are the people within. It’s these people who will experience the transformation. More, they will lead the changes and eventually work within the renewed organization.

As the business and management author Henry Mintzberg once said,

“Organizations are communities of human beings, not collections of human resources.”

With this in mind, assuming change and transformation is purely a collection of strategic steps sets up the effort for failure before it begins.

The only way to successfully lead organizational transformation is to simultaneously manage people’s emotional and psychological transitions.

Only leaders willing and able to manage the people side of organizational transformation will experience successful change.

I believe a primary cause of transformation failure is the lack of people management throughout the journey.

Luckily, the strategic process of transformation takes people through four relatively predictable states of emotional transition.

States of Emotional Transition

State 1: Comfort

In the initial stages of a transformation journey, leaders must recognize the powerful pull of remaining comfortable, even in the face of missional or organizational decline. Comfort is a primary motivator, making discomfort an enemy to avoid.

State 2: Grief

We consistently hear that people resist change, but this isn’t wholly accurate. People resist unknowns and loss, and change and transformation are full of both. The emotional response we so often label as “resistant” is actually grief. We grieve a loss. In a transformation journey, letting go of what was known is a required step on the path that brings variations of loss.

State 3: Confusion

As the transformation adventure progresses, a state of confusion overwhelms the organization. During confusion, bailing on the effort is tempting, as we assume confusion is proof of misdirection. The opposite is, in fact, true. Confusion is not evidence of poor leadership but confirmation that everyone is letting go of what was known. We are confused not because of a lack of vision but from a lack of organizational acclimation. Transformations bring more than new behaviors and job descriptions. They disturb and disrupt every aspect of the organization. Of course, this will create some confusion along the path to clarity and a renewed culture.

State 4: Acclimation

As the organizational values, norms, and behaviors are adjusted, people need to acclimate to the new culture. Transformations don’t make the organization better, but rather form better organizations. Transformation deforms the old to reform something new. Adapting to a new culture is not without emotion.

Leaders must manage each emotional state along the transformation pilgrimage for the effort to be successful. Again, without people, there is no organization, therefore no organizational transformation without the management of the people and teams involved.

How can I help?

Helping you change to do something better and transform to become something better is why I created Transformation Solutions. At Transformation Solutions, we help leaders gain traction for organizational transformation.

Go right now to mytransformationsolutions.com and sign up for a free, 30-minute conversation to decide if working together works for you.