I have heard more times than I can count from ministers about their experiences to resistance to change.  A former colleague who has passed away several years ago by the name of Eli Goldratt formulated a quick and to the point processes to dealing with change in an organization.  These are called the “six layers of buy-in” to overcome resistance to change, and if you think about them, you will see how they are intrinsically tied to how you manage your situation and project.  The six segments are all a process of education.  Let’s take a quick look at them:

1.    Agree on the problem

2.    Agree on the direction of the solution

3.    Agree that the solution solves the problem

4.    Agree that the answer doesn’t lead to adverse effects on the

       organization

5.    Agree on how to overcome any obstacles going forward

6.    Agree to implement

The key to success for the six layers of buy-in is what I call, Organizational Life Cycle Management. OLCM for short.  OLCM is all about asking the right questions within the framework of the six layers of Buy-in.  We must ask: “What new processes and paradigms will be needed for our church, our mission, our project to make it a success?  What is needed from a technology perspective be secure and compliant in using the Internet and other forms of technology?”

The world is changing and is continually evolving, and the result is that the methods and processes of the last 20 years don’t apply anymore. However, these verities are what have been driving many organizations in the past and for some even today, even after their reliability has faltered, the old paradigm includes:

•    Seats in the pew and tithing are the two significant determinants of success.

•    Growth is the cure for everything that ails you; it can paper over a million mistakes.

The most dangerous thing you can do in this new era of technology and with congregations who are tech savvy is to operate in the old paradigm as the only measure of “success.”   Think beyond your comfort zone, if you do what you do because you are comfortable doing what you know (think buggy whips), as opposed to migrating with, or in advance of, the congregation’s needs and expectations,  you will not serve yourself or your group well in the future. Change occurs often. Significant changes can be devastating.  Adopting a framework dealing with a change is necessary for our congregations.  Look at the world today.  Women comprise one of the most significant segments for influencing family life.  The baby boomers have more disposable dollars than the now largest demographic the Millennials and technology is part of all their lives.  Change needs to become a Process of On-Going Improvement for linking mission, technology, and the congregation together as one.

Organizational Life Cycle Management (OLCM) is a simple framework you and your teams employ as the means of achieving the process of on-going improvement.  OCLM will take you through the cycles of technology and business growth all the while maintaining a healthy level of cybersecurity based on the NIST Framework (National Institute of Standards and Technology) and being compliant with all the new privacy and data security recommendations and regulations currently in place and those to come.

OLCM is the way you can see the storm coming before the clouds arrive.  The model enables organizations to produce cycles of value from one phase to another, allowing the organization/church to become a leader and build a workable design that enhances the mission.

Unlike most improvement efforts, and we all have been through a baker’s dozen over time, I believe OLCM provides organizations/churches with common sense solutions and methodologies.  OCLM will enable your organization to synchronize themselves around achieving the most significant benefit for the organization as a whole.  OCLM will allow you to focus on missional performance, rather than local optimum. The OLCM framework, helps you to understand the patterns and solutions that present themselves to your teams in the project and leading them to success and achieving the goals.  All the while using the tools of technology as an enabler.

Throughout the OLCM process, your organization’s critical players in the project use cause and effect thinking to identify and reach consensus on the core missional issues causing many of the symptoms existing throughout your organization that touch upon why change is necessary. This process is key to the six layers of buy-in.  The core conflict/problem you identify is responsible for significantly constraining your organization’s mission.  People understand the futility of fighting symptoms.   Once you come to grips with the core conflict/problem, you will then know precisely where to focus your resources (people, technology, investment) to achieve the most significant impact on your mission.

Revamping the design of the approach is the smart leader’s response to migrating values. Sticking with your old “tried and true” even after it has been tried and found to no longer be true is a sign of approaching extinction.

Living with the Organizational Life Cycle Management approach must be managed very carefully so that it does not fall prey to the typical issues encountered by the vast majority of projects attempted. To ensure this, you must focus on education the tool to mature the process. Knowledge is the catalyst which drives OLCM. I would suggest you internally create a set of services that should be “owned” by your team leaders:

–    Rapid Value Assessments: this is what you perform for investigating and beginning your project application or infrastructure project or enhancing your current technology strategy. The teams along with congregational experts perform the assessments. You are striving for a level of objectivity of services, the discovery of the most prominent opportunities, an understanding of the financial impacts, mission impact on the current strategy, and technology visioning through the use process, and design patterns.

–    Timeboxed Value Delivery: a proven methodology, standard process patterns are a must have to drive reliability and quality.  They also help in reducing costs and keep project teams focused on delivering goal functionality.  By timeboxing all the phases and stages, you will stay on track.

–    Program Management: What is critical here is the use of a set of proven activities and associated deliverables that focus on successful implementation of the change resulting in the realization of value. Throughout the program, the engagement team determines the benefits, assesses the project risks, determines communication and training needs and develops a rollout approach for the solution. These activities are accomplished using a set of customizable tools tailored to your specific situation.

–    Education & Mentoring: is vital in removing the cultural, organizational, process and subject matter barriers.   That always seem to present themselves in a project.  Create a mentoring environment where the team feels their particular opportunity, and related problems are well understood, the same will apply to the technology side. This role needs to be part of the total goal effort; there needs to be a severe level of objectivity.

–    Technology Transfer: training that empowers your IT teams to maintain and support systems and give them the necessary understanding of the technologies and architecture that makes integration with processes possible.

–    Risk Management: addresses project successes, issues and recommendations concerning the project schedule, the project plan, staffing, cybersecurity, change management, middle judicatory issue management and financial management.  Follow-up health checks must be conducted to assess the impact of previous recommendations and to revise or reiterate the independent view of project status, issues and risks.

–    Technology Innovation: we are talking about when the technology becomes solidified there will be on the horizon the new ever evolving tools. You need a process of on-going innovation as a service to help bring about fundamental change and innovate your organization/church around the technology channels of growth helping you remain strategic into the future.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”  Jeremiah 29:11