In Part 1 in thinking about transition, I share a little of my experience of the effect of transition on those around you. In Part 2 I shared something of where transition sits in our lives. Today I am thinking about innovating through change and challenging our mindset towards improvisation.

Improvising creatively, creating improvisation

The Waterfall model of managing IT projects was once the norm. This model requires analysing everything you needed to know about a project in advance, making a plan, executing it and delivering your outcome. Sounds good, but this was rarely possible. Many things are not clear, or cannot be discovered, until you start a project. So the inevitable delays and deviations from the original plan were seen as negative or failure.

I sometimes feel that we try and ‘Waterfall’ our lives, and if we go off plan we can think we are failing or at least not doing the best. There are so many unknowns in life, especially around others.

We need to be okay that things are going to change in life, and learn to work with that flow of change, to improvise and adapt and see that as success in itself. Current education systems are not good at helping us innovate and create in all aspects of life. How do we learn this? Seek out those you see doing this and hold on to their coat-tails until you learn, or they teach you to make you go away! You could also check out this book Do/Improvise.. by Robert Poynton

If you are a church leader thinking about transition in your church, and companions for the journey, why not contact me at gill@forgescotland.com and attend our Future Travellers Taster Day on 30th September in Glasgow (details and booking link).

Why not tell us about your experience of change and transition?