Today I want to talk to you about focusing on purpose during change. In the past, a leader may have led one or two major changes throughout his or her career. Now, major changes happen every three to five years. So, let’s take a look.
After the Cold War, the U.S. military created an acronym, VUCA – volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous.
Volatility is when something happens very quickly and on a large scale. What was once considered rational, is no more. It is now volatile.
Next is uncertainty. Sometimes we think we can predict the outcome, but we can’t. And it leads us to a fear of the unknown.
Then comes complexity. The world was once pretty simple. But in an age of ever-increasing access to information, data, and opinions, it feels like we need a degree in chaos theory to move anything forward and sort through all those details and opinions.
Finally, there is ambiguity. Ambiguous information is incomplete and lacks clarity. What was once linear has now become ambiguous.
So, how do we respond as leaders? Nick Craig states that, “Leaders must be certain on purpose when these factors are in play.” No one wants to continue to follow a leader who is not clear on their purpose. For us as church leaders, this means fulfilling the Great Commission. That is our purpose. If you are clear on how your purpose is being fulfilled in this current change, then people are going to continue to follow you even when there is volatility, uncertainty, complexity, or ambiguity.
Now that you understand how to focus your purpose during change, what are you going to do about it?
