by Clarence E. Stowers | Sep 27, 2021 | Empowerment
Leaders, I'm sure you've noticed that something feels off lately.
Maybe it's in your work life, or perhaps it's at home. You're trying to do more with less because of budget cuts but are frustrated that the quality is dropping. Or you're feeling exhausted and overwhelmed by all the tasks on your plate when there just aren't enough hours in the day.
The thing is, leaders today are expected to do MORE with LESS - not only for themselves but also for their staff members - without any additional resources or support from their organization! Leaders are in a tough spot. The world is changing faster than ever before, and the tools they need to succeed are evolving at an equally rapid pace.
This blog post will explore what has changed about leading today and how we can adjust and make a real difference in this world. Something happened in March 2000 that changed our lives forever and ushered in Culture Shock.
Leaders today are expected to do MORE with LESS - not only for themselves but also for their staff members - without any additional resources or support from their organization.
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Culture Shock
Culture Shock happens when we experience cultural differences in a way that confuses, frustrates, and even frightens us. In culture shock, culture change seems too fast for our culture-adjustment capabilities.
Culture Shock happens when we experience cultural differences in a way that confuses, frustrates, and even frightens us.
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The Four Stages of Culture Shock
Church culture, post-pandemic, can be hard to adjust to, especially if it's completely different from what you're used to. There are four stages of culture shock, and the church is not exempt. They are 1) The Honeymoon Phase, 2) The Frustration Phase, 3) The Readjustment Phase, and 4) The Acceptance Phase.
Stage 1: The Honeymoon Phase
The Honeymoon Phase stage usually lasts for about 3 months, but it can be shorter or longer depending on your situation. During The Honeymoon Phase, culture shock is still low, and you are enjoying your culture change. This stage usually lasts for about 3 months or so, but it can be shorter or longer depending on your situation. During the honeymoon phase, you're excited to explore new things and experience new technology like live streaming, Zoom, social media, and learn the latest industry trends. You might find yourself getting too tired at night because you've been doing so much during the day to understand this new culture.
During The Honeymoon Phase, culture shock is still low, and you are enjoying your culture change.
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Stage 2: The Frustration Phase
The second stage of culture shock is called the frustration phase. This typically takes place between 4-6 months after arriving in a culture different from one's own (though this timeframe may vary). You might start getting more emotionally upset about culture-related things as well as starting culture-related fights with colleagues, friends, and family as you're trying to figure out how everything works. Culture shock is more significant now, and you are resisting the culture change that surrounds you. You might not understand why you must lead differently than before.
Stage 3: The Readjustment Phase
The third culture shock sensation is the readjustment phase, usually around the 3-6 month mark. By now, you might feel like you're never going to be able to fit in with anyone or anything, and you've probably hit a culture-related low point. You'll start getting really upset about leadership-related issues that used not to bother you at all. You'll probably feel worse about leadership-related activities than you did before arriving in your new culture. You do not like the culture change and long to return to what's familiar and worked. You've grown weary of Zooming, streaming, and all things online, or even hate it because culture shock is so hard on the mind, body, and soul.
During the Readjustment Phase, leaders do not like the culture change and long to return to what's familiar and worked.
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Stage 4: The Acceptance Phase
The last stage of culture shock is the adjustment phase, and it's typically reached after 6 months (though again, the timeframe may vary depending on the culture). The Adjustment Phase occurs when culture shock comes to an end; you've adjusted into your new culture, and culture-related things (mostly technologically related) don't bother you anymore. Leaders feel they understand how everything works and that they fit in; culture shock is gone at this point.
The Adjustment Phase occurs when culture shock comes to an end; you've adjusted into your new culture, and culture-related things (mostly technologically related) don't bother you anymore.
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Where Do We Go From Here?
Culture shock is a response to cultural differences. It's happening today as leaders navigate cultural changes brought on by this pandemic. Some leaders cannot keep up with the culture change and are thrown us off balance. Some leaders refuse to change, and culture shock turns into culture shock resistance.
Culture shock doesn't have to control your leadership journey. With the right attitude and culture-related tools, church leaders can keep culture shock from controlling them or their church culture.
Many church leaders have culture shock resistance which makes being a church leader in today's culture extremely challenging. Church leaders need to understand that culture is never going back to how it was in the past. Church culture needs to adjust, mature, and grow into this culture change if church culture survives.
Leaders need to understand that culture shock only becomes culture shock resistance when the leader resists culture change and culture-related difficulties. Culture change doesn't happen overnight, but culture shock can. If leaders want to lead effectively in culture today, they must become culture savvy and culture prepared.
As a leaders, were you prepared for the changes that the pandemic brought to our culture? I'd love to hear your response.
Culture shock doesn't have to control your leadership journey. With the right attitude and culture-related tools, church leaders can keep culture shock from controlling them or their church culture.
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by Clarence E. Stowers | Dec 5, 2018 | Empowerment
The Power of Evaluated Experience
Hey, what's up, everyone?
I want to take the opportunity to share from my experiences in leading people.
I've been in the game a long time. 20+ years pastoring, 30+ years in various leadership positions, so I know enough, I believe, to kind of help someone because I've made a few mistakes.
We hear the word wisdom tossed around a lot because people think just because I have experience means that I have wisdom, and that's not necessarily true because the only way you get experience is by making a lot of bad decisions. Experience is not necessarily the end goal to wisdom. It's evaluated experience that makes you wise.
Think about that. "Evaluated experience is what makes you wise", according to Andy Stanley. Why? If you never take time to evaluate the bad decision, then how can you take that knowledge into tomorrow?
So by me being able to evaluate the bad decision sets me up to make even greater decisions, and my prayer is that we find or rather help people look at the bad decision, evaluate it in its entirety, and then use that evaluation to springboard them into making better decisions.
Now, here's the thing. Why am I sharing this? I'm sharing this because any time you endeavor to become a leader, any time you make a decision to own your own business, a decision to lead others down the path of greatness, think about this.
You're going to have to make some tough calls, and if you haven't had enough evaluated experience, then you're going to continue to repeat the history. Think about it. If you don't have enough evaluated experience, you'll continue to repeat history. And that's why yesterday looks the same as today.
So go out there, make some decisions. Make evaluations, and then come back and evaluate that decision so that you can set yourself up for a better tomorrow.
"Evaluated experience is what makes you wise", according to Andy Stanley.
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by Clarence E. Stowers | Feb 3, 2014 | Encouragement, Motivation, Teamwork
Heard this somewhere:
Don’t press timid people to be bold – Give them hope and they will be bold.
Boldness follows hope. Hope is facing the future believing you’ll win. Napoleon Bonaparte said, “A leader is a dealer in hope.” Timid people don’t believe they can win. People who believe they can win keep working to win.
10 Ways to Build Hope:
- Believe in them more than they believe in themselves.
- Do things that matter. Never complete bland tasks; always achieve meaningful vision.
- Remember past successes. “Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent,” Mignon McLaughlin.
- Smile.
- Pat people on the back.
- Celebrate small wins, every day. Small wins create big wins.
- Celebrate effort; it keeps people moving forward.
- Praise often; correct occasionally.
- Focus on strengths more than weaknesses.
- Help people rest and renew.
People who give others hope inspire people to be bold.
by Clarence E. Stowers | Mar 1, 2012 | regular
Honestly, I do not understand why most churches, pastors, and church leaders do not leverage technology for the Glory of God. Pastors, church leaders, and faithful church attendees who see social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn as evil are missing a great opportunity to reach people far from God.
Are you sitting?
Here’s something that’ll blow your mind…
Christianity was, in a very real sense, the first technologically driven religion.
Intrigued? Angry? Frustrated?
Galilee, Bethlehem and the rest of Palestine were part of a Roman world whose technological underpinnings had reached a level by Jesus’ day that was not to be surpassed until the 19th Century. Those roads that The Apostle Paul and his associates traveled to spread the faith were unprecedented marvels of engineering. Without the ingeniously constructed roads that led from the streets where Jesus had walked to the cities of Syria and Greece, Christianity might have remained another obscure Judean sect like those that fill the pages in accounts by Jewish historian Josephus.
The roads were technological marvels – the ORIGINAL information super-highway!
What’s The Point?
If Jesus, His Disciples, or The Apostle Paul were here today, they’d all use Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites to reach people for God! I can imagine The Apostle Paul with his MacBook Air updating his Facebook status with these words:
19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. (NIV)
At Mars Hill, we decided to leverage technology for the glory of God. Why? More people prefer to have information pushed to them as opposed to having to go looking for it. Twitter and Facebook can be used to push information to users. This saves people the effort of going to a web site and looking for the information they need.
Moreover, Twitter forces brevity with its 140 character limit. Churches can get out a short message with a link to a registration form or web page if additional information in necessary. The benefit is that people don’t need to spend a lot of time wading through information that does not pertain to them.
Pastors, if you’re not using Facebook, Twitter or any other form of social media, you’re missing a God-sized & ordained opportunity reach people for God.
How do you feel about churches using technology?
by Clarence E. Stowers | Feb 8, 2012 | regular
In Part 1, I shared my experiences regarding change and transition. If you missed it, you can read it HERE.
In 2011 we experienced many exciting changes at Mars Hill Baptist Church. Regardless of how exciting the vision of the building was, we know now that in the process, we left some people behind.
In Part 1, we learned how BUILDINGS HOUSE MEMORIES – DON’T ERASE THEIR SIGNIFICANCE.
Here’s SECOND humbling lesson learned:
CHANGE HAPPENS QUICKLY BUT TRANSITION OFTEN FOLLOWS MORE SLOWLY
We also assumed that most people would be able to accept the changes as easily as we did. We were only looking ahead of us. We were not looking around. What we did not realize is that while change happens instantly, transition follows more slowly.
Different personalities adapt to change in different ways, and in their own time. For most people, change is difficult. For others change is downright scary. As leaders, we should have invested additional time in building individual relationships. This may help people understand and accept the transition.
To go back to the lake fishing example mentioned in Part 1: If the leaders had stayed on the shore instead of going ahead in their boat, they could have helped and encouraged those that were uncertain about going fishing. Sometimes there is more serving involved in leadership than leading.
What are your thoughts regarding change and transition?
Which do you find most difficult?
