Aloha Friday Message – January 23, 2009

904AFC012309

We are just a week and a day away from ending the first month of 2009. We have seen some remarkable history during this month. Not all of it will be viewed as good by everyone. And of course, not all of it will be viewed as bad by everyone. Nearly everyone will find some of each extreme, and a lot of things in between about which they are undecided or uninformed. All of us can agree, I believe, that the United States has taken a new stance in the World. All the clamoring for ‘change’ has produced unprecedented changes the effects of which could hasten or delay the hopes all of us hold for our future. We have all thought about changes a lot in past year. Many of us have undergone changes, some good and some not so good, we did not plan. For some of us our planned changes were successful and for others those changes failed to meet our expectations.

I looked back into the processes for change I have advocated over the years. Here are a few of them, all things that came about when looking for way to make permanent positive change – Quality Improvement – Performance Improvement – Performance Optimization – lots of fancy phrases for trying to do right things better and better things right.

Creating Effective Change for a Healthy Future

1: Create commitment through joint diagnosis.
2: Compare diagnosis to shared vision of health.
3: Foster consensus, competence, and cohesion.
4: Implement a revitalizing treatment plan.
5: Develop new lifestyles that support continued revitalization.
6: Make continuous improvement based on continuous feedback (return to step 1).

The CAREFUL Plan for System Change

Choose an ACTION, PROCESS, or SYSTEM that is suboptimal, but still is essential.
Analyze the resource allocations (PEOPLE, SPACE, TIME, MONEY, MATERIEL, REPUTATION, AND INFORMATION).
Review and revise the quality, quantity, or method of resource allocation.
Evaluate the short-term, long-term, and side-effect benefits and deficits of this revision.
Follow the implementation process closely so problems that arise can be handled quickly.
Utilize continuous feedback for continuous improvement by monitoring responsibility and accountability.
Lead by example. Make the change an integral part of your sphere of influence.

I.D.E.A.S.
Identify an opportunity
Define the opportunity
Evaluate resource requirements for the opportunity
Actualize resource dispersion for the requirements
Synergize the results with applications to other processes

P Plan
D Do
C Check
A Act

Lots of talk, lots of ways to deal with planning change, and these can even be used to plan how to deal with unwanted change. All of them depend on deciding to do something and then sticking with it until you find out if it works. That’s pretty much what all of us do every day, isn’t it? We try to do the right things right, try to avoid doing the wrong things, and hope everyone else will do that, too. It’s the Golden Rule.

What messes it all up, what makes plans go bad, or bad get planned is when we forget The Golden Rule. Think about it. Wasn’t it selfishness manifested in pride, lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, and envy? Sound familiar? There’s a Plan for dealing with all of those things, too. It is a plan I learned from my daughter: WWJD?
John 3:16-17 (New International Version)
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Now, that’s a plan I can stick to. Not everyone can. For those who cannot, there is still The Golden Rule. That rule does not say, “Get all the gold before someone else does.” It does not say, “Those who have the gold get to rule.” It does not say “Do unto others before they do unto you.” It says, “Treat others as you would have them treat you.” Or “Treat others as decently as you would treat yourself.” “Love your neighbor as yourself.” “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary.” In a word: Reciprocity. Recently I talked about God as Community and humanity as community and God and Humanity as Community. Here is the way, then, to make change: Make a community better for everyone, with everyone, by everyone, in everyone.

That’s what this old man thinks. How about you?

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service.

Chick

Share this:
Share this page via Email Share this page via Stumble Upon Share this page via Digg this Share this page via Facebook Share this page via Twitter

About Chick Todd

American Roman Catholic reared as a "Baptiterian" in Denver Colorado. Now living on Kauaʻi. USAF Vet. Married for over 50 years. Scripture study has been my passion ever since my first "Bible talk" at age 6 in VBS.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Type answer *

Pages Email Newsletter Categories Archives Connect