Serving Christ Learning Mentor, Gareth Fitzpatrick, reviews “Who Moved my Cheese” by Dr Spencer Johnson and explores how we can adapt to change in these testing times.
“I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”
Jimmy Dean
I don’t know how the last six months have been for you, I can imagine it has been an unsettling time.
Personally, I have felt like the ground has been rudely swiped from under my feet. My plans, routines and ways of working have all changed due to the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is as though someone has rudely interrupted my plans, thrown them into the air and left me to put the pieces back together.
It seems ironic that ‘managing change’ isn’t a subject that we are taught in the education system, despite the fact that sooner or later change is something that will affect us all. Change is an inevitability, we know it can happen at any time, yet when it does we are still taken by surprise.
Given that change is as inevitability I want to ask, ‘how do you respond when confronted by change?’
Are you quick to adapt to the new landscape and positively embrace the new opportunities available? Or are you a bit more reluctant? Do you feel overwhelmed and unsettled, are you angry that your plans have been scuppered by life’s new circumstances? Or do you deny that change is even happening? Do you bury your head in the sand in the hope that if you ignore it long enough it will go away by itself?
I would love to say that I have adapted gracefully to all the changes we’ve seen in 2020 like a duck taking to water. However, if I am honest my ability to change with the times has been less ‘duck to water’ and more ‘Bambi on ice’! Fumbling, awkward and shaky. In the last few months I have experienced times of anger, grief, frustration, insecurity and even hopelessness. It has been difficult to accept that the plans I made and looked forward to implementing are no longer going to happen! Experiencing these emotions has led me to ask two questions. Firstly ‘why do I feel this way about events that are out of my control?’ It isn’t my fault! Nobody could have possibly foreseen these events that have taken place over the last year! The second question is ‘how can I better accept change when it next happens?’
In 2020 rules about what you can and can’t do, where you can and can’t go and who you can and cannot meet are changing all the time as the R’ number rises and falls. So with change being the likely ‘norm’ for the foreseeable future I want to explore how we can grow and better prepare ourselves to accept and adapt to change.
Recently I read a book that has been a classic in the business word for over 20 years. “Who Moved my Cheese” by Dr Spencer Johnson explores common tendencies found in humans showing how we can be suspicious of, and resistant to change. As I read through this fun story involving cheese, mice, little people and a maze it is clear to see the insights found in this tale resonate more than ever as we rapidly approach the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic with all the uncertainty that will surely follow.
In this tale we have four characters who live in a maze. There are two mice ‘Sniff’ and Scurry’ and there are two little people ‘Hem’ and ‘Haw’. All four characters have one thing in common, they are all in search for cheese. In this tale ‘cheese’ represents the thing[s] that we hold most dear [for some that can be happiness, health, family, success, status, money, etc.]
At the start of the story both the mice and little people are searching tirelessly around the maze until one day they come across ‘Cheese Station C’. They are elated at the discovery of a huge supply of cheese. Day after day they return to Cheese Station C to feast on the wonderful cheese. Over time the two mice refuse to get comfortable as they know that the cheese won’t last forever, so they make sure they are ready to move when the situation changes. Whereas the little people “Hem” and “Haw”, get comfortable. They think the cheese will always be there so they become comfortable and make cheese station C homely. They hang pictures on the wall add furniture and put on their slippers whilst enjoy the cheese.
Early one morning the mice approached Cheese Station C, and noticed that all the cheese had gone. This wasn’t a surprise to the two mice, they knew the cheese wouldn’t last forever and they had noticed the cheese was running low. Though the two mice were disappointed they quickly accepted that the situation had changed. So readied themselves, put on their trainers and set off back into the maze in search of new cheese.
Later that day, the little people, ‘Hem’ and ‘Haw’ arrived at Cheese Station C. When they saw that the cheese had disappeared they reacted very differently. There was no response of acceptance like we saw from ‘Sniff’ and ‘Scurry’. Hem reacted angrily, he felt entitled to the cheese. It was his cheese! Now that it is gone he is looking for someone to blame. Hem refuses to accept that the cheese is gone and will not move until whoever took it brings it back.
Haw’s initial reaction to finding no cheese is one of denial. He is unprepared and not ready to accept the change. He feels immobilized and held back by fear of this new ‘cheese-less’ situation. However as the realization sets in Haw starts to come to terms with what’s happened. He realizes that in order to get new cheese he will have to venture back out to the maze and leave the relative comforts of Cheese Station C. In the tale we journey with Haw as he set out on his mission to find new cheese. Along the way Haw learns invaluable lessons which he writes down:
LESSON 1: Change Happens
They keep moving the cheese.
LESSON 2: Anticipate Change
Get ready for the cheese to move.
LESSON 3: Monitor Change
Smell the cheese often so you know when it’s getting old.
LESSON 4: Adapt To Change Quickly
The quicker you let go of old cheese the sooner you can enjoy new cheese.
LESSON 5: Change
Move with the cheese.
LESSON 6: Enjoy Change
Enjoy the taste of new cheese.
The lessons we learn in this book can be invaluable as we seek to navigate our way amongst all of the changes. As I reflect on how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the local church I think about how the restrictions enforced by government have affected the way we worship and fellowship together. No longer can we sing with abandon, we cannot greet one another with a hug pray for our friends by or ‘laying on of hands’. How do we observe the Eucharist in a safe yet meaningful way? All of these issues have become a potential minefield. In short, the ‘cheese’, for many worshippers in the world has been moved. The question for many is ‘how do we learn to accept, adapt and even thrive amongst all of this change?
We are living in unique times. The church has an amazing opportunity to reconnect and engage with our communities and neighbourhoods like never before. In my role as learning mentor I have seen churches that have ‘moved with the cheese’. They have invested the time and energy to embrace the changes. They have adapted the way they do things in order to make the best of the circumstances. They have learned new skills by moving their physical meeting online platforms. They have used lockdown to engage with their neighbours in new ways [for example, through street WhatsApp groups}, they have used this time to reach out to the isolated and marginalized in their communities with acts of kindness. In short they have embraced mission opportunities that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused.
I have also seen churches that have refused to move with the cheese, they don’t know how to adapt, they have frozen and are just wanting things to get back to normal. Like Hem in the tale, they are refusing to move with the cheese. If this is you, I just want to encourage you today to take the first steps and move with the cheese. It can be scary and unfamiliar but as you leave the comforts of Cheese Station C know that God is with you, He is for you and he will never forsake you.
Who Moved my Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal With Change In your Work and in Your Life By Dr Spencer Johnson