Backward Mutters

“Every organization is built upon ‘an underlying systems story.’ He points out that ‘this is not a belief system. It is the continually repeated life story that determines how an organization feels, thinks, and thus acts. This systems story determines the way an organization behaves, no matter how the organizational chart is drawn. It’s the primary template that shapes all other things. Restructure the organization and leave the system story in place, and nothing changes within the organization. It’s futile trying to revitalize the church, or a denomination, without first changing the system.’ Drilling down into this systems story — the paradigm, or mode of church — is, Easum suggests, one of the keys to change and constant innovation.”