HOW TO CHANGE THINGS WHEN CHANGE IS HARD

Chip and Dan Heath wrote a book a few years back titled Switch (How to Change Things When Change is Hard).  One connected to Stanford University and the other to Duke, these brothers are a part of the Churches of Christ tradition.  Their publications are brilliant.

Chip and Dan wrote of a change that took place at Lovelace Hospital in Albuquerque under the guidance of Kathleen Davis, a registered nurse, and Susan Wood, a consultant who specialized in Appreciative Inquiry; a process for changing organizations by studying what's working rather than what's not.

Since this hospital had a rather high turnover rate, Wood asked the nurses what made their jobs satisfying.  She recalled, These nurses were beaten down and overworked, but as soon as we started them in a conversation about what they were good at, the tone changed.  Not only did the hospital observe immediate satisfaction among the nursing staff, surveys indicated this satisfaction has spread to the patients as well.

Eight years ago I determined to become a different and improved leader at Memorial Drive.  I decided to let our staff and our elders hear me speak of their value to this flock.  True, not one of these men is perfect for who is?  But each is ideal; highly effective, powerful, important, admired, and loved.

I have a question I like to toss, Do you know what I like about you?  No one has a law against hearing what is good about himself.  No one.

True, there are many ways to make many changes.  We are about improvement day by day.  I have found that bragging to our staff about our staff is both important and productive. 

If you want to see things change in your line of work, try what the nurses did.  Speak of what it is your colleagues are good at....and see if God doesn't keep His promise of Ephesians 4:30 and following.  Maybe we, too, would do well to speak of what's working.