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Technical vs. Adaptive Change “Every day, people have problems for which they do, in fact, have the necessary know-how and procedures to solve them. We call these technical problems. But there is a whole host of problems that are not amenable to authoritative expertise or standard operating procedures. They cannot be solved by someone who provides answers from on high. We call these adaptive challenges because they require experiments, new discoveries and adjustments from numerous places in the organization or community.” This is a quote from Leadership on the Line, authored by Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002, p. 13.) A typical parish is faced with many problems and issues that can be solved through technical changes. The impending revision of the Roman Missal that will go into effect this Advent has a host of liturgical planners organizing workshops to help priests and people adjust to the changes. This is a problem that can be handled using existing personnel and ways of operating. It will demand a technical adjustment to the liturgy rather than an adaptive change. Other problems are more substantive and might entail a whole new way of envisioning parish. They require adaptive changes.Gathering and Sending Mr. Jack Jezreel, the creator of the JustFaith approach to raising social consciousness in a parish, gave a keynote address at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress in Anaheim, CA on March 19, 2011. He spoke of the two essential elements of a Catholic parish: Gathering and Sending. He talked about how most parishes do a good job at gathering people for worship, formation, community-building and socializing. Improvements can always be made, such has helping people feel more welcomed as they come into church or offering new, creative options for adult formation. These are, however, technical changes. As Heifetz and Linsky mentioned, they can be put into place through “authoritative expertise and standard operating procedures.” Addressing the issue of why people are no longer attending church, on the other hand, might demand an adaptive change, including “experiments, new discoveries and adjustments from numerous places in the organizations and community.” Concentrating more on sending may show the way to this adaptive change. Jack Jezreel challenged parishes to consider giving as much attention and energy to sending people out to be of service and confront injustices as it now spends on gathering them together. “Why not spend half the parish budget on gathering and half on sending?” he asked. The same would apply to staffing and the use of buildings. He suggested that people would be drawn back to the church if they saw that it was sending its members out to do good works as a way to put their faith into action. This is a new vision of parish worth considering. Getting Started This emphasis on sending as a balance to the gathering will take some time to accomplish but there are ways to get started. Consider using the end of Mass, right after the blessing, as a time to send people out into the world to make a difference. Another option is to establish small groups of twelve to care for an immigrant family, help an unemployed parishioner, connect with someone experiencing loss, make friends with a homeless person. The adaptive change is that everyone who belongs to the parish has a duty not only to come to church, but to carry this experience out to those who need support, care, friendship, hope or financial assistance. This becomes everyone’s responsibility; gathering and sending are both necessary. It may not begin with the leadership, but pastor, staff, council and commissions need to be converted to this way of viewing parish life. Only in this way will they hold themselves and others accountable to main-taining the two parish essentials of gathering and sending. Tom Sweetser, SJ & Wendy Rappé Parish Newsletter - April 2011
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