Bethany Blomquist

LDRS 534-Fall 1
September 23, 2015

Personal Change
In pursuing deep change, we redesign our maps or paradigms and realign ourselves with

our surrounding environment (pg. 66). Throughout Quinns book he talks about the deep

change or slow death dilemma. What I took this to mean was that in order to avoid a slow death,

our internal self must adapt and adjust to our ever-changing external environment. This adapting

and adjusting takes risk and courage and is often a very difficult process. The dilemma lies in the

struggle between the fear of change and the fear of slow death. For this change to occur, we have

to make a change in our current self.

As I read Quinns book, I began to see similarities between deep change and repentance.

As a Christian, when I repent of my sin, I am making a decision to change my behavior. In

looking further into repentance, I came across the Greek word metanoe (Strongs

Concordance, 3340). Metanoe comes from the compound of meta (Strongs Concordance,

3326) and noeo (Strongs Concordance, 3539). The definition of meta implies change

afterward and noeo means to perceive or think. Therefore, metanoe means to change ones

mind or purpose. Another definition for metanoe is to change the inner man (Strongs

Concordance, 3340). I see a very clear relationship between the word metanoe and what

Quinn defines as deep change. In order for our relationships with others to thrive as well as

organizations we work in, we must change our inner purpose to align with our environment.

Quinns book is filled with challenges and strategies for us to use to affect deep change

within our lives. This deep change must occur personally and organizationally. Four concepts

that stood out to me that I would like to integrate into my life are walking naked into the land of

uncertainty, breaking the logic of task pursuit, vision, and empowerment. These concepts can be
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integrated into both my personal and professional life in order to continue on the path to deep

change.

Most of us build our identity around our knowledge and competence in employing

certain known techniques or abilities. Making a deep change involves abandoning both and

walking naked into the land of uncertainty (pg. 3). As a coach, it is pretty easy for me to

consistently rely on my knowledge of running to teach my athletes. However, I have found over

the past few years that there is so much more to coaching than just the running part. I found

myself relating to the story of the psychotherapist in the first chapter of Quinns book. The

psychotherapist finds that deep change in the client necessitates the courage on the part of self to

step outside the safety of traditionally prescribed roles (pg. 10). Many times, athletes need me to

be much more than their coach. They come to me with struggles and challenges that are

happening away from the track and my knowledge of running no longer can help in those

situations. It is in these times that I need to step out of my comfort zone of being their superior

and be vulnerable with them. I feel that being vulnerable with athletes is often difficult for me,

because I feel it could make me lose my credibility or authority. However, as I watched Brene

Browns TED Talk on vulnerability and shame, and read through Quinns book, I saw that

vulnerability, in reality, brings about a trust from my athletes that was not there before. The

therapist does not instruct but leads the patient through the transformation (pg. 10). When I

am vulnerable with my athletes and share my realities it allows them the freedom to feel how

they are feeling and persevere in their struggle. Ive experienced this in the past as I walked

alongside an athlete struggling with an eating disorder. As much as I did not want to, in the end,

it was when I stepped out of the idea that I had to look like I had my whole life together and

shared with her my past of disordered eating that we were able to connect and work through her
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challenges together. I have seen how important it is to walk naked into the land of uncertainty

in order to impart deep change within myself and with my athletes. This is a concept that is very

difficult for me but something I would like to continue to work on in both my personal and

professional life.

There is a lot going on in my life right now. I have been married for just over one year, I

coach collegiate cross country and track and field, I am currently training to qualify for the

Olympic Trials in the Steeplechase, and I am pursuing my Masters Degree. This means I am a

full-time wife, coach, mentor, athlete, and part-time student. Needless to say, my life is pretty

busy, which often means that my goal for the day is to just check the tasks off the list. The

concept of breaking the logic of task pursuit often seems impossible, but is what needs to be

done in order for deep change to happen in my life. What you dont understand is that we dont

have the time to make the deep change you are recommending (pg. 60). This is my exact

response when I think about deep change and making deep change in my life. I have become

very good at multi-tasking which makes the thought of focusing solely on deep change very

overwhelming. I am thankful for the illustration of the man on the beach (pp.61-62), who has to

take a pause from life to find himself. These words could not have spoken more true to where I

am at right now. I am living in a world of organized chaos. Because I have been doing it for a

while, I have learned how to manage in a way that I can survive, but at the same time I know that

I can only do it for so long before I reach my breaking point. I am beginning to see relationships

suffer, the most important being my relationship with Christ. I know that the disconnect in my

relationship with Christ is very much contributing to the chaos in my life. I would like to take the

directives the doctor prescribed and integrate them into my life. To listen carefully, try looking

back, reexamine my motives, and write my worries in the sand (pp. 61-62). Psalm 46:10 says,
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Be still and know that I am God (New International Version). In order to listen carefully to

what Christ is wanting from me and for me, I need to take time to pause. I cannot listen carefully

to anything if I am constantly on the go and constantly busy. Next, I need to reflect back on the

times when I felt connected to Christ. I need to remember the peace I experienced when I let him

guide the way and be my first priority. This also ties in to reexamining my motives. I need to get

to the point where Christ is my sole motive for all that I do. I have put to many other things

higher on the priority list than Christ, and I need to put Him back at number one. To me, writing

my worries in the sand means giving my worries to Christ. I need to let go of what is holding me

back and push forward into the life Christ wants me to live. A life rooted in Christ is when deep

change will occur.

During turbulent times, peoples uncertainty climbs, and they hunger for meaning and

direction. They are seeking someone who has a clear vision and communicates a clear message

(pg. 196). As a coaching staff, we came up for a theme and a verse that we felt fits the vision of

the track and field team at Azusa Pacific University. Our theme is everyone matters and our

verse is Philippians 2:3-4 which says, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain

conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but

each of you to the interests of the others (New International Version). This is the vision we are

continually reminding our athletes of. As coaches it is sometimes easy to get caught up in only

the kids that are doing well, but we have to remember that everyone on our team is an important

member and regardless of their athletic abilities, they matter. We have to be investing in the lives

of every athlete on the team. Yes, we want to win, but developing the character of our athletes is

so much more important. The challenge I have found with this vision, is that I do not think our

athletes are particularly tied to this vision. Since the coaches are the ones who came up with it,
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the athletes do not have much investment in it. An influential vision reflects the insight of an

individual or group that has deeply contemplated the core issues (pg. 200). I think our vision is

great and could really impact the training environment, but it cannot really be a team vision if the

team is not bought in to it. This has caused me to re-think our vision and include the team in

creating a new vision that they can take ownership of. We need to sit down with the team and

talk about our core issues and how we can develop a vision that can make an impact on the

culture of the team. There is definitely room for some deep change within the team. I also like

this idea of creating a vision in my marriage. My husband and I have talked about creating a

mission statement for our family, but we have not put that into action. Who are we as a couple?

What do we want to accomplish? What are the core issues in our marriage? These are just a few

questions that I would like to sit down with and unpack. Having a vision of who we want to be

and what we want to do will be a foundation that we can return to when are struggling or on the

path toward slow death.

Empowerment is another concept that was impactful to me in Quinns book. We do not,

however, empower people. Empowerment cannot be delegated. We can only develop an

appropriate empowering environment where people will have to take the initiative to empower

themselves (pg. 228). As an assistant coach, I want to feel empowered, but have been afraid to

do anything in fear of overstepping my boundaries. Instead, I often just feel like I have no impact

or influence because I do not have control over a specific area of the program. However, I now

see that responsibility for empowerment is on me. The head coaches of our team have provided

an environment for me to be empowered, but I have not taken the risks to own up to that

empowerment myself. The opportunity is there, I need to take ownership. I cannot expect it to

just be given to me. As the only female on the coaching staff, it is easy for me to take a step back
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and feel intimidated and use that difference as a negative thing. What I need to realize is that

being the only female, is an opportunity for me to find empowerment in my differences. What I

can bring to the table may come from a different perspective and be beneficial for the whole

group. It will take a bit of courage and a bit of risk, but the end result will be worth it.

Empowerment is an aspect of deep change that I am excited about moving forward with. As a

member of the coaching staff, I have a sense of meaning, a sense of competence, a sense of self-

determination, and I can have a sense of impact with a change in my perspective (pp. 225-226).

All these areas of deep change: walking naked into the land of uncertainty, breaking the

logic of task pursuit, vision, and empowerment will require a lot of work and risk. Risk taking is

not something that comes easily to me. But, the thing I have to remember is that I am not doing

this on my own. It is only through the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit that any of this is

possible. With my faith, trust, and hope in him I can do anything. Deep change is possible. It is

going to be a hard journey, but a journey that will be fruitful and life giving.
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References
Quinn, R. (1996). Deep change: Discovering the Leader Within. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-
Bass.

Strong's Greek: 3340. (metanoe). (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2015, from
http://biblehub.com/greek/3340.htm

Strong's Greek: 3326. (meta). (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2015, from
http://biblehub.com/greek/3326.htm

Strong's Greek: 3539. (noe). (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2015, from
http://biblehub.com/greek/3539.htm