Musings: Notes From My Daybook

I am reading Peter Steinke's Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times (Alban, 2006).  Steinke is a nationally recognized church consultant and author.  Here are some of his abbreviated thoughts on change and anxiety from chapter five:

1.  "Western society is experiencing a shift from one historic period to another.  Many believe no parallel exists in history for the current rate of change. . . .  For thousands of years, civilzations focused on continuity.  Teh overriding and new fact of history is living with constant, radical change."

2. "You can never make only one change.  Change here creates change there."

3. "No transformation happens without a crisis."

4.  Quoting Edwin Friedman, those who come first are the last to accept new ideas. "This is the paradox of the change agent who, once his or her change is completed, tends to block or stall the new changes someone else wants to implement."

5.  "Change is stimulated when we look at things from a different angle, associate with new people, pass through a critical moment."

6.  Quoting Nancy Ammerman--"Congregations that systematically avoid conflict are also very likely to avoid change."

7.  "Sometimes leaders get into the position of thinking they are primarily responsible for preserving tranquility in the congregation. . . .  Anything that might jostle or jar the equilibrium is instantly rejected.  The congregation's unity supercedes anything else."  He then quotes Edwin Friedman on what Friedman calls "peacemongering:"  "by peacemonger I mean a highly anxious risk avoider, someone who is more concerned with good feelings than with progress, someone whose life revolves around the axis of consensus, a 'middler,' someone who is so incapable of taking well-defined stands that their 'disability' seems to be genetic, someone who treats conflict or anxiety like mustard gas--one whiff, on goes the emotional gas mask and they flit.  Such leaders are often 'nice,' if not charming." Steinke continues: "If the leader adapts his functioning to the weakest members, he enables their dependency, encourages their happy ignorance, and reinforces their helplessness.  To protect a congregation from bad news or upsetting changes is to admit that the system is weak and fragile, too brittle to be challenged."

8.  "Distress is not always an obstacle to learning.  Pain can be a teacher.  Real learning begins when the threat of pain emerges.  Everyone has learning anxiety (a general dread of entering unfamiliar territory or exploring new ways of understanding).  The anxiety that spurs growth is survival anxiety, when choose something new because survival itself is at stake."

9.  "If a leader does not have some degree of toleration of pain, it's doubtful that others will be able to tolerate pain and use it for growth."  If that occurs, "the weakest, most dependent, and most emotionally driven people will control the congregation."

10.  Resistance to change is a normal reaction.  Leadership must recognize that and not take it personally.

11.  Leaders must exercise patience in anxious times; well-composed leaders influence the congregation well over the long term.

12.  Leaders must keep their focus on the goals of the congregation to "avoid giving in to the pressure of the moment, such as by quickly fixing problems and taking care of people's anxiety."