What's common among the High Performing Congregations-able to make real change?
“Reform
Congregations have an easier time of making change because they are open to
reform—dah it is in their name:” say Conservative congregations.
“Big
congregations have the resources to make change,” bemoan small congregations.
And of course big congregations point to the lucky small places that make
stuff happen quickly because they are nimble.
Of course
they are all wrong.
We
conducted a study this year of over 30 congregations that have been trying to make significant
change in their educational model over a four-year period. The thirty congregations in the study were
different in size, denomination, geography, financial resources and longevity of
leadership.
Here is
a shockingly surprising conclusion from the study:
NONE OF
THAT MATTERS! Size: no. Movement: no. Geography: no. Longevity of leadership:
no. Financial Resources; no.
So
close your eyes and guess.
What do
you think is the one quality common in all the bolder success stories?
I’d
love to know what you are thinking.
We
found the answer is:
Relentless
commitment.
When individuals
believe in the need for and the possibility of change and don’t let it go no
matter how much the tiger screams --change emerges.
These
tenacious d’s (doers) fail, get rejected, have set backs and damn, because they
are so passionate, they pick themselves up and keep going. In their movement forward they are open to what emerges..new insights and new blows. They learn and deal. They learn and deal in part because they have benefited from tenacious support of grant funding (as little as 2500 a year), consultant guidance, network connections and professional development.
This year we’ll interview some of the relentless change drivers to understand the source of their passion.
I want to put their passion in a bottle and sell it. "Eau d'change" (pronounced as the French would say it...shange) A Dab for your dreams to come true.
When you are wearing eau'd change others are attracted. Simple human chemistry. Followers (not the twitter kind) emerge so the
system develops a stance towards tackling every obstacle and seizing opportunities.
Tenacity.
Passion. Relentlessness.
Dab a little of that behind your ear each morning and see what comes.
Curious:
How
right or wrong do you think this study is?
Being relentless can sound pretty unforgiving, but creating enough momentum to overcome the deep desire to do what we've always done requires an individual who is willing to work as part of a team to bring every possible resource to bear on the process of opening up the whole system to a new way of creating meaningful opportunites for rich Jewish learning. No one can do this alone, but the more people who are drawn into the effort with a shared vision for what could be, the better the chance that when one person falters for a while in their commitment, the others on the team can lift them up and carry them until they are once again ready to run on their own. The leaders that keep coming back to their core values and who demand that those around them do the same are able to turn obstacles into opportunities and setbacks into profound learning experiences. Jim Collins, in Good to Great, talks about getting the flywheel moving. Once it's truly in motion, it takes far less effort to keep it moving. That's where this work is headed - building a deep and highly valuable momentum that will lift others toward a different landscape of Jewish learning, one only now beginning to emerge.
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