Are you using your time wisely? I am sure many of us have been asked that question or something similar by a parent, boss, co-worker, or friend. Most of us live life at such a pace that we do not slow up enough to ask those kinds of probing and potentially life-altering questions. Therefore, our default is to keep doing things the way we have done in the past. (Seven words of a dying organization = we have always done it that way.)
Avoiding Change
Most people avoid change, but why? Here are three key reasons we have observed:
Comfort zone
We don’t want to experience the growing pain that change often brings. A quote I have heard many times is, “Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.”
In other words, until it is more painful to stay stuck in the status quo than the pain of change, we don’t change. That is sad to me. We can change our house, our car, upgrade to the new iPhone. But, when it comes to organizational change, we quiver at the thought.
Fear of the unknown
We don’t want to fail. That new “world” looks scary from where we sit. We have never ventured down that road before, so we are too afraid to step out. I am sure glad that Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and many other people did not succumb to that kind of fear. Aren’t you?
Being Exposed
What happens if we make a change and people find out that someone else can also perform our jobs? If the new way takes me less time to do my job, how will I fill my hours? Will I become expendable? I understand these human emotions, but I would suggest flipping these concerns with thoughts such as:
- If I save 10 hours a week with this new system/process, I can do other projects.
- If more than just me have access to this software (as an example), then more people will be able to help carry the load and take more responsibility.
- If we don’t have to run around the building changing temperatures on the thermostats all day, we can actually perform our Preventive Maintenance Checklist weekly as well as get on the roof monthly to inspect its condition which could save us a lot of money in repairs and deferred maintenance.
A Game Changer
We have received a lot of calls lately from churches using EMS Lite. This product is no longer available to purchase and is no longer supported. As such, people are looking for alternatives. This tool was an inexpensive option for many churches But the company sunset it a few years back to focus on a much more robust (and expensive) option. EMS Lite was a viable option for many churches 10-15 years ago, but has many shortcomings in 2022 compared to when it was first released, including:
- It is desktop and not cloud-based. This means you are tethered to a single computer to use the product.
- There is a limited capacity for the entire team to use and have visibility into the application.
- There is no mobile app.
- It has little to no integration options.
- There is no customer service support, training, new features, etc.
So, why do people stay with it? Please refer to the three issues above on change. That says it all.
The same applies to integrating your HVAC, door access, and digital signage into your event management software. How much time could be saved if all of those systems could be integrated? Once the events are approved, those systems are activated based on the event schedule.
What if you could be alerted to a potential facility breakdown before it occurred? You will be hearing a lot more about this in the weeks and months ahead.
Change Happens
Change can be scary, but it is inevitable. I suspect that none of you reading this post have hitching posts for your congregants to tie up their horses outside your church.
Things change!
