Video Transcript: Our Iceberg is Melting

Session 27 is about our iceberg is melting. Now in the last session last two sessions we talked  about John Kotter's eight steps toward a meaningful and lasting change, establishing a sense  of urgency, creating the guiding coalition, developing a vision and a strategy, communicating  

the change vision, empowering for broad based action, generating short term wins,  consolidating gains and producing more change and anchoring the new approaches in the  culture. So that's what we've been talking about. Now, Kotter has taught on this, in fact, he  wrote a book on each one of those eight steps. So original book was Leading Change. And  then there are all these other books that came up as a result of that. And then in order to  make this more palpable to people, I guess, then just something of the head, he decided to  create an allegory. And so he wrote an allegory story, and it's called Our Iceberg is Melting.  Here's a picture of the book, and it's the story of some penguins. And what I want to do today  is just run through a slide program. Now, they took the book, and they made a animated  movie about it. And unfortunately, there had to be a rental fee that was paid, I'd love to show  that to you. But there had to be a rental fee for every time it was shown. And I didn't know  how many times it was going to be shown and couldn't, couldn't confirm that. And, you know,  there are other issues that were involved in that. So getting permission to put it on this  website for Christian leaders Institute. And so what I did was I downloaded a slide program  that somebody made that summarizes the story of these penguins on an iceberg, and how  they have to figure out change and go about changing just a word of mea culpa, I guess, and  that is, the person who did this didn't do it very well, in the sense that names are misspelled.  There are some wrong grammar in several places. And I'm not going to even try to point all  those out, I just want you to catch the story in the flow of the story here. And so sometimes,  like early on, we're introduced to a character, that the name says Louise and it's actually  Lewis, and etc. So I'll, I'll make some reference to that. But what I really want you to note is  the flow of the story, and how they move from creating an urgency, a sense of urgency to  that, anchoring the new approach in the culture. So here we go. First in telling the story, I wish to tell you a story about a flock of penguins who live on an iceberg in Antarctica on the South  Pole. This flock of Penguin has been living as a colony on this iceberg for years, as far back as  they can remember, they would tell you, this is our home. They learn to live together in  harmony, like a big family, a penguin is monogamous. They build family with love and  marriage. Penguins also go hunting for creatures in the sea and spend much of their time with friends and relatives. Except this one guy, Fred. Fred is very curious and observant. And  there's Fred, you know, just up on a hill on the iceberg and, and he's just looking out over the  sea. Fred had a briefcase stuffed full of observations, ideas and conclusions. One day, Fred  noticed an iceberg that had collapsed into many pieces. And he realized that an iceberg can  become fragile. And so he looked at that he said, Oh boy, I have to do something. Because as  he explored his iceberg, he realized that his iceberg was potentially becoming fragile.  icebergs are not like ice cubes. The birds can have cracks inside called canals, the canals can  lead to large air bubbles called caves. If the ice melt sufficiently, cracks can be exposed to  water, which would then pour into the canals and caves. And during a cold winter, the narrow  canals filled with water can freeze quickly trapping the water inside the caves. And as the  temperature goes lower, the water in the caves will also freeze. Freezing liquid expands  dramatically in volume. And so an iceberg can be broken into pieces. Alice is one of the  leadership council members. She's tough and has a reputation of getting things done. Fred  took Alice to dive down into the water and into the caves and canals and pointed out the  fissures and other symptoms of deterioration caused by melting. Alice followed Fred into the  heart of the iceberg to see it with her own eyes because she says show me how it happened,  says Fred said Alice, our home is in danger. So Alice was shaken by what she had seen. Fred  felt relieved as somebody else shared his worries, but felt worse as he didn't have a solution  to it. And so Alice says this is not good. I must talk to all the leaders. And Fred says I'll prepare a presentation to convince them so at that point of creating a sense of urgency. Now Louis  was the head of the Council and the most respected penguin on them all. Alice was a practical aggressive make things happen person there was somebody on the leading council called  NoNo. Name is important. NoNo was one of the council members who was responsible for  weathering forecasts he was accustomed to being blamed for being wrong in his forecast 

more often than not, Buddy is on the guiding coalition of 10 Penguins. He's handsome. And  he's slightly ambitious, he wants to see a change made in his position within the colony. So  prepared, Fred prepared iceberg model of ice to show the council. And after seeing the  demonstration, Louis was hesitant for the assumption about that they were breaking Well,  NoNo said, No, our iceberg is not melting. No, you're gonna have a NoNo, you just know it.  And he said, Can you guarantee that this data and conclusions are 100% correct? And Fred  says, I can't guarantee that but if our iceberg breaks into many pieces in winter, many of us  are going to die. And one of the other says imagine parents who lost their children. Imagine  them coming and asking How could this have happened? What were you doing? Why didn't  you foresee the crisis? And then Louis, the head pinion penguin says, If Fred is right, we're  only going to have two months, until winter to prepare things. So Alice said, we must inform  everyone we must call a General Assembly of the Council. And lead it Louis said he needed  proof if the assumption was not a mistake before he would call a meeting of the general group of penguins. And because people were saying worrying everybody is very bad panic, we don't  want to panic people, we've got to keep this as a secret. And so the council was on unwill,  unwilling to bring it to everybody. So Fred, creates another demonstration before deciding yet  to call for General Assembly, Fred proposed an idea with a bottle that he found washed up  ashore and was harder and stronger than ice. But as much as clear as ice he would fill up this  bottle with water, seal it with a cap and leave it in the ice for a night. If the next morning, his  assumption was correct, the bottle would be broken. And so the next morning, their bottle  was smashed and broken by an expanding ice and their nightmare had come true. And so  Lewis says, We've got to tell everybody, and so they tell everybody and they're all looking and panic begins to settle in our iceberg is melting, something has to be done Stop complaining,  start thinking what will happen to me Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh boy. But look at lesson one down  on the bottom, they are creating a sense of urgency. A team of five people the guiding  coalition, including Louis, Fred, Buddy, Alice, and the professor, somebody who's knows a lot  and thinks a lot is there, they're charged with thinking of a solution. Let's drill the frozen ice  and release the water just like they did to an oil well. And somebody else says with all of our  268 Birds Helping Hand in Hand it will take 5.2 years to do that. Let's move to the center of  Antarctica where the ice is thicker and stronger. Said we'll be too far from the water. How will  we fish? What about using superglue to hold the iceberg together. And Fred says that's very  funny. And then somebody notices notices the bird flying says look up there the bird can't fly  forever, it must have a home somewhere. Or somebody says it could be very lost and doesn't  seem to be afraid. What if moving from one place to another is just the way it lives. And  somebody you say it's a nomad? Yes, it moves around. Maybe we wouldn't try to fix the  iceberg, we just face up to the fact that what sustains us cannot go on forever. And they start  to plant the idea of moving around to develop a change vision and strategy. So this idea of  moving around is not new. We've done it before. That's what the founder of our colony did  when he moved to our home today. So it's something that's tied into the past, right? It's  honoring the past, even as it's moving into a new vision. Says we'll move and move, we won't  stick to our ice. So Louis called the General Assembly again and formed a new strategy and  they communicated for understanding and buy in. And the nomadic solution is logical, but  they still got to test this out to see if it'll work. So they need a scout team. A scout team  should go and look for another iceberg. Take your men and find a place so Buddy has said  yep, yes sir. All go I'm going to be the lead scout. But now the conflict starts coming in. There  were nearly a dozen birds expressed an interest in being a scout. NoNo and his friends were  forecasting storms and dangerous currents, said the gods are mad at them and will punish  them. A teacher told the young how how scary the move is and so the young were scared and started having nightmares. Penguins needed a lot of food and fat to build up fat for the winter. The scouts would wouldn't have sufficient time to fish if they were out exploring. Some  leaders think the scout team should should or need a leader and start lobbying Louis and this  caused conflict among the leaders. A word of mouth spread for obstacles from NoNo and the  feeding and the feeding Scout problem. How are they going to get enough food and more and more discouraged, got discouraged and did not attend meetings and Louis told NoNo that his  forecasting service was not needed at this moment. I think I deserve to be the scout leader 

please. Consider and finally, you know, Louis gets to the point where he says, Leave me  alone. It's enough Buddy goes to his teacher says hi teacher I love to tell your students how  heroic it was to do something for the company in the past says okay, so Buddy helped talking  and convincing the teacher to speak of bravery to the young people, not fear mongering but  bravery. And so he goes somewhere here. What about your nightmare? Are you still scared?  Said no, they're gone. I'm going to help the colony my teacher said, no matter how small we  were, or big, we could all help dad. Said I'm going to help fishing, spare food for the scouts so  that when they come back, they'll have enough food. I'm going to help with promotion  campaign, and we're going to celebrate our tribute to our heroes day when they return so  empowering others to act even the kids can be part of it. I was thinking about when we're  raising money and how children brought in banks of money that they've saved and earned in  the line. lemonade stands and like, so Here go the scouts you know life was boring. This is  fun. I must help Jane gonna be proud of me. So strong, bright, highly enthusiastic scouts  jumped into the water to search for a new iceberg that is good enough for them to move to  scout have been looking and trying to find the answers. Now, when the scouts returned, they  told amazing tales about the sea about swimming long distances about new icebergs that  they had seen. And they used up a lot of energy and they're hungry, and the little member of  the team gave them the spare foods that's less than six producing short term wins. The little  one also gave them medals to honor them as their heroes producing short term wins,  identifying heroes. The next day wasting no time, a second group of scouts went out to find  the right iceberg which would become their safe home. This would have to have a tall snow  wall to protect them from icy storms and had to be close to fishing sites and located on a rock with enough for small icebergs or ice plateaus along the way so that the young and old can  rest so they're the ones charged with finding the right place. Notice Step seven. Don't let up  press harder, create more change, anchor changes in the culture. So after the first success, a  perfect iceberg was found. Later, the colony moved to new home and the year after that they  moved again to find a better iceberg. Now, even they found the perfect iceberg. They still  keep moving because a nomadic culture has become their culture. Last step is creating the  new culture, anchoring the new approaches in the culture. So our penguin says just to wrap  up once again, this is the change management process, create a sense of urgency, pull  together a guiding team developed the change vision and strategy, communicating for  understanding and buy ins that people are saying I'm going to go empowering others to act  since all part of it, producing short term wins, don't let up but you know, consolidate your  gains and create more change, and then create a new culture. So that's an allegory. It just  tells a story. Now, here's an afterword. Sometimes you get in movies, right? Louis retired,  becoming only a grandfather raising as many nieces and nephews. Alice took over Louis's job  as the head of the Council. Buddy was offered many jobs but turned them down. So he could  stay with his family. NoNo, no one believed NoNo anymore. His weather forecast job is handed to the professor. See, the people who are the critics who are constantly saying no, no, will be  marginalized eventually, if there are wins, and Fred became the head of the ongoing scout  team that was constantly looking for new places, new icebergs for them to live on. Like other  good stories, you want to know what happened to them, right? That's the kind of things that  can happen. So that's the end of the story, but just the beginning for you. Is your company  safe? Is your company. Is your church safe? Are you sure your iceberg isn't melting? Okay, so  we've talked about change, a great deal, and are trying to give you the idea that this is a  process that you're going to have to go through. If you're going to change successfully. Don't  try to jump the steps. Make sure you follow them carefully. And prayerfully. We're going to get  into prayer ministry later, but just know that change is hard for people. We are people as I  said at the beginning of this three session lecture on change. People like the status quo, they  like doing things the way they're doing things they like, allowing ritual to take place so they  don't have to think much and they're within a comfort zone and they like their comfort zone.  And so change is going to be difficult for people. But if you approach it this way, you're going  to find More and more people will come along with you. And there won't be the crisis that I  caused in all of a sudden introducing bang, a whole new style of worship for a Sunday, you  can do it in a way that allows people to have buy in, that allows other people to have input 

and gathers. Leaders who have influence who are going to be part of an extension of you to  the positional power people, as well as the rest of the congregation or organization that you're part of. And it can be done, it is being done. There are fantastic stories about churches that  are going through renewal about organizations that once were dying, and now they found a  new life. And there a setting out there are even great stories about a vision. Remember that  church I told you about in our area grouping of churches that had figured out it was dying, and they were just waiting for the last one to turn off the light and shut the door. They're gaining a new vision, not for their church so much. But they're looking for a ministry that they can turn  things over to that's going to make a difference. And it's going to take over there, they're  going to give the facility to them and allow that facility now to serve a new generation as  there's a new start two small churches in my community. And each of them is doing okay, but  they got a new vision. They recognize a church growth principle, and that is that more people  are won to faith in new churches than established churches. And so they decided to come  together and pool their resources and start anew, and then to establish ministry centers in  various places around the community where differences are being made. These are churches  that were On a plateau, 90% of the churches in the United States, at least are on a plateau or  declining. And they're just many are deciding we need a new day, we need a new life, we got  to find a way to establish this. So all I've been talking about in this whole idea of visioning and in planning is how do you get to that new day. So as you change, do it prayerfully we're going  to talk about in the next couple of sessions, getting the right people on your team, developing a team of people, not the guiding coalition but your working team, on your staff, the people  around you, and whatever kind of organization you have, getting the right kind of people  around you who can help move toward that vision positively. And then we're going to talk  about developing prayer, and how you develop prayer as a leader in your own life. And then  as you develop prayer as a corporate body, what does that look like with everyone engaged in prayer? We're gonna talk about that. And then we're going to talk about spiritual warfare,  because you can't talk about being a Christian leader, without recognizing that there is an  enemy. And he is he is about the destruction of everything that God is about trying to do. And  so you're going to have to engage in spiritual warfare. So we're going to get to know what the Bible says about our enemy, and how to approach him and how to win victory when he tries  to destroy us, All that's coming up the next sessions. We'll see you again