RX 24 - Managing Transitions - Jason Jones

Transcribed Content

Welcome to the second afternoon session of day one of the conference. Today we have here with us Jason Jones from Cedar Creek Church, one of the most positive and encouraging people in the Rock community. We're so glad to have him here, And he's going to go over managing transitions. Jason. Well, thank you. Now I have like something to hold up to. That's terrible. Yes, thank you guys for being here. Today I'm going to talk about managing transitions. The last couple years I've talked more technical led conversations around blocks and things you can do in rock. But I'm very passionate about people who are, one, just newly introduced to rock or helping make the transition to rock. But also in general in technology, think we have a huge opportunity within our organizations to lead people well through the transitions that we're making and not leave people behind. So this year I wanted to take a little different approach and talk about some ways that we have transitioned to different platforms within our organization and talk a little bit about William Bridges. Has anybody heard of William Bridges or read the book Managing Transitions before? Sweet. We're gonna talk a little bit about that today. But to get us started, I wanted to ask the room how long you've been on Rock. So just so I can feel out the room, how many people are not currently on Rock? Lovely. It's a great group. How many people are already on Rock? Awesome. Any of you been on Rock longer than five years? Great. Love that. Second icebreaker. How many people in here would consider themselves a developer, software developer, code writer? Lovely. Awesome. Congratulations. Love that for you. Most of the conference would have the same reply you do and I think that's what's really valuable about our conference specifically and our community is that, one, none of us would probably consider ourselves that knowledgeable in development or software coding, but we're all in the same boat together trying to figure it out and willing to lend a hand. So you're in the right space. A little bit about myself. My favorite season is summer. I love outdoor sports. So I love mountain biking, excuse me, I love whitewater rafting, kayaking, pretty much anything outdoors. I love also just started getting into skiing two years ago. So that's been a fun experience being 40 years old and going down a hill awfully fast and not knowing how to stop. That was lots of learning curves. So figuring that out, but it's a lot of fun. My favorite podcast is Crime Junkie, and my favorite current song right now is Sherban Good featuring Tiffany Hudson out of Elevation. So this, that's a little bit about myself. A little bit about our church in Northwest Ohio. We have six campuses. Our attendance is just over 6,000. We've gone through some different changes over the years. We had a founding pastor who ended bracket and have been building ever since. So feeling really good about some of the things that are going on in our church again. We launched Rock in February. To give you a little bit about our transition period, we started migration in February and launched in February. And our team is three people. And I don't even know that I would say that we have a team of three people. It's just three people who are consistently working in and out of Rock. Those three people are a dedicated IT director, a data director who manages all of our reports, our data integrity, all of our data views, security roles, things like that. But she also does that for multiple different platforms, not exclusive to Rock. Similar to our IT director is an exclusive to Rock. And then I'm our executive project manager of the church. I'm involved from groups, check-in, outreach, our website, our app, so not exclusive to Rock. I guess that's one of the things that's really important to me that people understand is you don't have to have a dedicated rock team. We don't have a dedicated rock team. We all do multiple things. This just happens to be the makeup of people who are most involved in rock and our church. My role is, like I said, I'm the executive project manager at our church. I'm sitting on our leadership team. And really the the thing that I do most often is create synergy and consistency across all of our digital platforms, making sure that none of our digital platforms silo off too deep, that we're all playing together in the same pools. Maybe student ministries is like, we got this really cool new reporting structure. It's called Google Docs. I'm like, I have a lot of questions. Let's bring you back over here. So that's kind of my job. I I dip and dive in and out of Teams to create consistency, reenergize them around the platforms that we have, or really understand what's not working for them or where they need additional training and hopefully moderate the platforms back to what they need. Again, today, there's a book that we went through as a team, specifically when our lead pastor transition happened about ten years ago, but then consistently comes back up in our culture and that's Managing Transitions by William Bridges. There's a lot of good good tools in there that I want to talk about today. I think and I said this at the beginning a little bit, but I think it's really important how we approach change in our organizations, whether it's you moving your team to rock or anything else going on in your church. The way that we talk about it, the way that we lead people, the way that we do discovery through that process is really important. William Bridges quotes, transition does not require that you reject or deny the importance of your old life, just that you let go of it. So that's really important how we talk about it. It's natural at first to create the outcome of the plan, where it is you're going, what it is that you're doing, and plan all of the stops along the way. Sometimes by being so detail oriented before you even start the process will create failure because then you have to hit every one of those marks along the way. And it's really important that you just have an outcome and then you start the process. Don't plan so much that every single checkpoint along the way is already planned. What I want you to do today as as I have this conversation is think about a change that has been harder than you thought. Something that maybe you did at home with your family, maybe something at work or maybe something that's happened to you because of change. Think of a change that's happened to you. The example that I thought about when I was putting this presentation together is about eight or nine years ago, I moved our entire church volunteer scheduling to planning center, not just our music and production teams, but our entire church went to planning center scheduling. And I was like, we're just gonna do this. Like, it's just the best thing that's out there. This is what we're doing. Some people were using all of these different platforms. And I just made the decision, like, it's easy. And it left so many people in the trenches and it didn't go well. So for me, that was a a a process that was a lot harder than I thought. When you think about yours, the change that was harder for you, what are some things that you guys were thinking about? Maybe a new database, a system, maybe a process, a new form that you had to build, or you wanted to build, a new policy that was being put into place, maybe a new staff role, it wasn't really the change that probably did you in. It was more the transition of how you brought people along or how you were brought along. Going through change is tough. You probably put a ton of work into figuring out exactly what you wanted to do and all the practical deal details, all the strategies, the tools, the people that need to be brought along. But what about the human transition? The human transition is really important. We need to guide our teams through that change and walk step by step with them. William Bridges says change happens on two levels, both situational and psychological. The change is what happens. Change is the external event or the situation that takes place itself. It's a new business strategy, a turn in leadership, a merger, or a new product. The organization focuses on a desired outcome, but change happens pretty quickly. Transition is how we adjust to it. Transition is how we're brought along. It's the inner psychological process that people go through as they internalize and come to terms with the new situation. I think that's really important to come to terms with because not everybody wants the same change that you do. Not everybody wants the same form or the new process, the new database. Empathetic leaders recognize that change can put people in crisis. The starting point for dealing with transition is not the outcome, but the endings that people have when they're leaving the old situation. I was in a session yesterday when John was talking about sports and what it means to be a leader. And it's not necessarily the coach that's a leader, but it's sometimes the captain, the code, the peers in our ecosystem. So for us, sometimes, we don't always feel like we're leaders or we're the ones making the decisions, but we are the ones that are responsible for leading our peers through this transition. We are the boots on the grounds that are actually making the physical transition in a database or to a new form or to a process. And it's important that we lead our peers through that. Whether we consider ourselves a leader or not, we are. Each one of us is that leader. William Bridges says that change will only be successful if leaders and organizations address the transition that people are experiencing during the change. So specifically think about that change that was more difficult for you and whose role was whose role was that to bring you along at that time? Supporting people through the transition rather than pushing them forward is essential in the change. William Bridges outlines three different parts of the journey that are really helpful for our team and have been really helpful for me when I outline anything that's going on in our organization, whether it's planning center scheduling or ROC forms, ROC event registrations. Anytime that I'm moving my team, I think about these things. There's an ending, there's a neutral zone, and there's a new beginning. Where have we been? Where are we going? And what's the in between? This is how he describes or how he illustrates that. Ending what currently is, the transition starts with an ending. It's kind of a paradoxical truth where the first phase of a transition begins when people identify what they are losing and learn how to manage those losses. They determine what what is over and what is being left behind and what it is that they can keep. The neutral zone, the second step of the transition comes after they have let go. So it's important that during that ending, you allow them to move into the neutral zone and you don't just end it and move them in. Today at 09:00, the form is gone. And by the way, you haven't learned about this, but there's a new form and you have to use it. There is a transition in there that's difficult even if the decision we have is the right decision. People go through an in between time when the old is gone but the new isn't fully operational. That is a critical psychological realignment for each person no matter how small or big the transition is. There is time between the old and a sense of new identity that's created. During the new beginning, beginnings involved new understandings, new values, new attitudes. Beginnings are marked by a release of energy in a new direction. They're an expression of fresh identity. Well managed transitions allow people to establish new roles with the understanding of their new purpose, the part that they play in this new role, and how they contribute or participate most effectively. As a result, they feel renewed and reoriented where you want them. Ultimately, it'll take a lot less stress off your plate by guiding them through the ending and into the neutral zone. William Bridges says you cannot have a new beginning without first understanding what needs to end for them. What changes have recently taken place for you? What changes are currently taking place? And what changes are about to take place in your transition, in something that's difficult for you. If you're thinking about moving to rock, what changes have recently taken place that have led you here, what changes are currently taking place in that model, and what changes are about to take place for you personally. In order to end well, it's important that you name your endings. What is ending? It's okay to actually name them specifically and call them out. We are no longer using this. We are going to be using this. Clearly identify what has ended and what has not ended. Maybe there's still discussion for things that are in flux. Care specifically about your endings and your people. Identify who is losing what in your organization and how are you caring for them through that ending. And then mark your endings. It's important to commemorate the endings respectfully. I know for me in a lot of places where I've come into the organization and introduced new platforms, it's important that I also celebrate the platforms that we have or what has been built before me because people were part of those decisions and those responsibilities. And if I just come in, I kinda look like the bully. And it's important to be like, this was really important at the time that it was important. It fixed lots of problems. And sometimes that feels like it slows me down, but it does bring people along who are attached to those old processes. So we name it, we care for them, and we celebrate what that old process was. The neutral zone, William Bridges calls the wilderness for lots of reasons. It's a scary place for people. They have now heard that we're leaving, you know, whatever it is. We're now leaving this. We're not doing this. And they know this big scary other thing is coming. So that's the wilderness for them. What if? Do I have this? Am I gonna know how to do this? Where am I going? There's lots of elements to the neutral zone, ambiguity, uncertainty, and the time is fragile for a lot of people. Ambiguity, what used to be clear to them is now unknown. And for us, it can still feel clear. It's like, but I'm gonna be here. I'm gonna guide you. I'm gonna be here. All the forms are gonna be great. But for them, they it's panic. They don't know. And that's gonna continue to stall you out if you don't guide them through those endings, care for them, and celebrate during that ambiguity or that wilderness. Uncertainty. We're unsure of the place that we're in, the direction or the bill the ability we're gonna have in the new platform or the new process. And, of course, fragility. You pull one thread and everything starts to unravel. It's like, got this great idea. We're gonna move to rock. And then it's like, what about scheduling? What about event registrations? What about checking? You're like, okay. Yep. We're gonna get there. It's gonna be all okay. But it is fragile for every individual who has purpose within their own area. What about you in that idea that you came up with that was difficult for you? Where were you in the wilderness? Where were you thinking all of those ambiguous thoughts? Where is your team during change? Have you ever watched your team have those scary faces, those thoughts, those panics? And sometimes we can look back and we can probably identify that we might not have helped them end well. We're all at conferences. We're taking learning to the next level, which is what we need to do at the organization. But a lot of that is going back to them and saying, I have an idea and I'm gonna help bring you along. William Bridges also provides a compass to work from during his process where he says south is what's ended. East and west are your guardrails or the values that you're carrying. Here's why I want us to do this new process. Here's why I want to guide us to this new platform because I here are the values that I'm holding in doing this. I've learned them from you. These are the values my teams, my ministry teams are holding, our leadership teams are holding, and this is how I best think that we're ultimately gonna guide north, which is the mission that we're all on. So his compass is south, identifies what's ended, east and west are the values or your guardrails for guiding your your north decision of mission. He also warns multiple times through the book that going faster will not bring the beginning any quicker. So be cautious of that. Sometimes you'll feel like you've landed and it will recirculate months or years later. And oftentimes, I've been on staff just over nine years now, and things will bubble up every once in a while, and people will be like, what if we did this? I'm like, you're still doing that? We created a form for that five years ago, and I'll dive in and be like, I did not help you end well. And you refused the ending and the new beginning, and you're still got it. Yeah. You know why that form doesn't work? We haven't supported it in five years, and that's my fault because I didn't help you. I moved really quickly because I was like, it's a thing. We're just gonna jump there. So going faster, caution, will not always bring the new beginning quicker. In the new beginning, you'll experience a lot of new energy, a lot of new growth, and it's what we all want and what we're not certain of. I think what we want is our entire team to be excited about a change. We want our entire team to be on board like we are, but it's really important what happens in the neutral zone to get them excited. You want them as excited as you are. In order to begin well, you need purpose, you need a picture, you need a plan, and you need to part or engagement. Purpose, mission, remind them why. Leave no doubt in anyone's mind why they're doing it or what they're doing. Everybody should be able to know. Think of Moses. He told people God had promised their own land, so they were going there. You could ask anyone in that tribe and you would have gotten the same some same version of we're going to the land that God had promised. They understood why and they understood what. They were all going there. But provide them a picture of where they're going as well. Help them see what it's going to look like. Moses engaged the picture of imagination for each person. A land flowing with milk and honey. He brought them along with visual interpretations, their imagination. Strategy, how are we going to phase into this? It's not gonna be overnight. We're gonna bring you along. What does that look like? And engagement, what part is each person invited to play in the organization? It's not just all me, but each of you have a part. This is really important. Recently, when we built a new mobile app for our team, I brought the entire staff along. Every single person had a part of building the app. It was not just me. They may not have had a technical component of it, but they owned a tab, a page, a component of the app. So ultimately, when we rolled it out, if there was any confusion outside of our team, our team owned it. They're like, I built that. I did that. That was my ownership. So I created engagement for each of them along the way, and it saved me a lot of time because there were, like, 60 other people doing part of the work, and they didn't realize it. It's wonderful. But use out use organizations using the same system to provide you some of that engagement or that strategy. Use outside voices and pictures and videos to illustrate the change that you're taking people to. Engagement, only bring them along and what part do they play, but engage them with gifts, t shirts, desk ornaments, stickers, a pizza party. Remember to celebrate that change. It is difficult for people. Help them know that they're part of the new beginning and they're not being left behind. They're not just being told they're in a new beginning, they're actually part of it. How to manage the transition? Things that we've learned as a team and some of them seem really obvious and yet some of them we still don't do well. So I offer that where it's gonna seem like this is really simple stuff and yet it's not because we're all human. Transition management in an organization addresses the inner psychological process that people experience during change, but successful transition management involves the following steps. Communicate. Communicate with the organization and the people around you why the change is needed. Start collecting information. Collecting information from those affected by the change. Understand the impact that it's going to have on them. That will give you a better way to describe why the change is helpful to them. Gather their investment along the way. I'll describe in a minute kind of some of the phases that we go on on a journey of change, whether it's a database change or a system change. But gathering or gaining their investment is really important. Transition readiness. Do an audit along the way. Once you've announced that the ending is happening and you're starting the neutral zone and before you get to the new beginning, how are people doing? How are they feeling? Is the development that you're working on ready for them? Has anything shifted from when you first announced that something was ending and when you're moving? Educate core leaders around you. Educating leaders about the change will affect individuals in the organization to manage the transition themselves and their teams. It's not just all on your shoulders. Continue to monitor progress. Where are you at in the ending? Where are you at in the in the neutral zone? And where are you at in the new beginning? And help individuals. By educating other leaders in the organization to carry some of that burden, it allows you to care more for each individual. Understand how they can positively contribute to the change, but also the importance in their role that they have for the change. One of the things that we did at Cedar Creek Church probably was met with a lot of what felt like administrative red tape is was to help our teams go through that process. And we created what was called a vision doc for our church. And when we want to roll out something that's a significant change, which we've learned everything is significant because everybody somebody has an emotion tied to everything that we do, we write a vision doc. It's a one page quick resource that equips our staff with broad vision. Maybe we're doing an men's event. Same thing. We would do a vision doc. This is what the men's event's for. These are our guardrails east and west. These are the values and the vision that we have. So it's a one page document. At the top of the document, it's gonna have a bottom line. Two to five sentence project description, a thesis statement. This is why we're doing what we're doing. Everybody on staff receives this document. It's a quick once over like, I know why we're moving to Rock. I know why we're doing Planning Center for Scheduling. Why are we doing it? What problems are we trying to solve? It also includes goals. Along the way, we're hoping that it supports our mission in this way. And why do we want to accomplish this? Sometimes by supporting the goals in this document, it's no longer Jason Jones wants to do this thing because Jason Jones thinks he's the best at it. So he gets to make those decisions. It's like, nope. We're trying to support mission. These are some of the goals that we are trying to achieve along the way. Here are our values and vision through the process. And then at the very end of the document, the bottom, it's a one page document, we put some broad FAQs. So throughout the process we've probably heard staff, Well, is it going to be blue or red? Well, can you use Mastercard or Visa? Is it going to be available to all staff or not? We start kind of gathering those questions and we put them all in here to answer them. It helps take the information out of our brains and put it down on paper so it equips all of our staff. Now when other people on staff or people who are volunteers on our team ask those questions, we've equipped everybody around us with the same FAQs no matter how small or no big. They're they're all going to be on this document along with the the goals and the mission statement. So that's kind of how we go through that process internally at our church, we just create this document. Then we have our rollout process. So we created this document. This is where we're going. We're going to choose rock. We're going to do these things and this is why. Ultimately, have a rollout process. So we take that document. Why are we doing this? We get a team of people together. What's the idea? The idea is we are going to move to rock. Why are we doing it? What data or research supports this? It starts to eliminate the emotion out of our decision. Here's all the research that we've done. Here's what supports that. What resources are needed in order for us to do this? So it's not like I'm thinking blindly. I've done a little bit of research. Here's how we're doing that. Helps our leaders gain trust in the decision that we've made, but also some of our peers who often have like, well, did they think about? And what about this? It's like, yep, here are all the things that we kind of went through in this process. Also we go through input. Who needs to be around the table? This can be the most painful part of all because everyone likes, at least in our organization, everyone likes to have a voice, everyone likes to give their input, and sometimes I'm like, this is slowing me down and I could have rolled this out three weeks ago, but I'm getting your input so let's do this. But we decide who needs to be around the table. A couple tools that have really helped us through this and not feel so so tough is following the RACI model, who's accountable, who's responsible, who's consulted, and who's informed. That makes it really clear. Like, I'm inviting you to the table so that you're informed. I'm inviting you to the table because I wanna consult you on some different areas. I'm inviting you to the table because you're actually responsible for x, y, and z in this process. Working Genius has been another one. If you've not heard of Working Genius, I would highly encourage that you, your team, your immediate team at the very least, take Working Genius. It's been really helpful for us. Prior to taking the Working Genius maybe a year ago, our teams, the people that we would invite around the table, made organizational sense by their job title or their role in the organization. Now we invite people to the table based on if what their gifting is through working genius. Maybe we need some people who have wonder and innovation and can dream, not people to cross the finish line right now. I just need people who are gonna be dreamers. And that may not be top leaders in the organization. It may not be people on my immediate team, but they're gonna help me dream. Working genius also has a role of like tenacity or galvanizing. Galvanizing bringing people along. That's not me. I'm wonder and I'm tenacity. What I can tell you I'm not gonna do is bring you all along on the why. So I will have somebody on my project team who is a galvanizer, and I'm like, do you got it? And they're like, I got it. I was like, great. There are 50 people that need to be brought along because it's not gonna be me, and I'm gonna start working on executing it. And it'll be done tomorrow, so bring them along quickly. But Working Genius helps us pause and bring people along the right way. What needs to be decided during the rollout and what ultimately needs to be done? Then develop during development, we decide who needs to know what about the development. Like, now now we've decided we're moving to rock, we've decided all the right reasons, now we're in development. We started the actual migration process. So we start who needs to know what? Who needs to be brought along? Are all the resources ready for rollout? Are the teams equipped for rollout? How are we training people? How are we bringing them along? Are our guests ready? Who's all impacted? It's not as clear during development, so it's important that you take time to provide clarity. And then rollout is equally as important, and you need to determine how are we measuring success. Now that we've made the decision to be where we're going to be, how are we measuring that this is a win? Is there anything along the way that needs to shift in order to be considered a win? But also evaluate what has worked, what didn't, what happens next. And one of the things that one of our staff values is celebrate progress. So it's find things to celebrate along the way with your team and the development that you just did. So last thing I want to do is I want to take you on a little journey on what it looked like for our team as we rolled out a new website last year. I think we did a really good job. And it was probably the first time that a project that I led actually felt like it went well because like I said, I have great ideas and then I like to cross the finish line. I don't do such a good job of bringing people along. So for me, that's why this is all really important because I think we all want to be successful. We also want our teams to be happy with the product. And sometimes I'll make decisions that I know are the best for the organization, but it's not received well. And I get really bummed out when I'm like, man, that failed. And we still need to carry it through, and it's because of the way that I handled it that it failed. And it didn't really fail, that's strong language. But for me, this was a really good process and it's because of all of those kind of ideals that we just talked about. So last year we rolled out a new website. We had the idea. What is the outcome we're looking for? We learned what our options were. We started talking to other people. Who's done this before us? What have they learned? We asked lots of questions from lots of organizations and developers. And is there any data that supports this change? What have they learned? Can you share with me your website data so that I know that this is the right it's not just me making an emotional decision, this is actually going to probably pan out well for us. Once we delivered the idea and people were like, Great, I think this is the right change. We're going to start going down this. Let's gather input. So we're not just changing the website, we're now going to start gathering input. And remember, early on, I I wanted to gather input from everybody in our church. So the first thing I I decided is, like, who's accountable? Who's responsible for different areas of the website or different areas of the transition? What problems do we currently have with our website? And what would everyone like to see? Those were really important questions for me. So I literally sat down with the kids team and said, what do you hate about the website? What do you love about the website? Then I went to the students team, every single individual team. And then I made sure that that supported the idea. The idea of moving because at that point, if if their problems or celebrations didn't support what I had already created as an idea for moving the website, if it didn't support that, then the process should go back to a new idea. But instead it did support it. It supported our idea of what we thought we had. We also asked everyone what they would like to see so that as we started going through the neutral zone, you know, we're like, we're ending our website, we're changing all this. Panic started to ensue, what about, what about, how's my thing going to whatever. But I had already asked everyone, what would you like to have? And I already had answers from them like, you're going to get this, this is going to be great. Like I could celebrate with them along the way. They felt heard. And we decided through input, how are we going to get there? Who's all going to be involved? Whose voice from your team do you want at the table? When we went through development, we kept everyone updated. This is where we're at. This is the timeline. We showed them proofs of the website along the way. Sometimes there were moments of tension there too because, like, I don't really like that blue. And you're like, okay. Yep. We're gonna get there together. But I answered that. I was like, this is why we're doing that blue. This is who is accountable for that. This is who is responsible for that decision. How are we training people how to use it? How are we caring for people along the way? And how are we celebrating progress through the development. So we actually use staff meetings in order to celebrate here's where we're at with the website, here's where we're at with our mobile app. And then ultimately we ended up with a new website which we're really happy with. This is just screenshot of the top, but I just wanted to share with you kinda where we landed. So along that process, what was most important to me and our team was that everybody had input, everybody bought in. Now when you go to the kids page, the kids team is not looking at us going, well, IT decided that, communications decided that. It's like, no. You your team member was there who played part in it, and it really took all of the emotion down from us pushing out a decision of doing a new website to everyone was part of the process. Everybody knew there was an ending. Everybody was taken through the neutral zone together, and we had clear new beginnings for everybody that we could celebrate along the way. That's all I have for you guys today.