We are clearly in a season of change and change is often difficult. But the change that is in the works is not incremental change that allows us to slowly adjust to what is c oming down the pike. I believe that what is happening can be considered a Level Two change. Allow me to elaborate.
All change has at least 3 stages. In the first stage of change there is some discontent with status quo. Pressures begin to build, leading to the need for change. This is followed by a loss of what was considered the norm resulting in resistance to the change if a clear vision of the future is not put forth. More resistance comes from those who fear losing power.
Second there is waiting after letting go of the old until the new has been revealed. This “time in between” is full of uncertainly and anxiety. It is also a time of grieving the loss of all of what we had to let go. Power bases are changing bringing further instability.
Finally, as the dust settles, the new reality become clear and there is movement towards rebuilding and resettling.
What is Level Two change?
Level Two change is radical change that seems to happen fairly suddenly though there may have been more subtle changes in the works for a long time. It seems to come out of left field from a direction one may not suspect. It is discontinuous change so that what the new will be, is nothing like what was, nor can we imagine what it might look like. What was before will be dismantled, destroyed or inexorable altered. What we thought was “foundational” will no longer be. There is no going back to the way things were.
In Level Two change, before the new change is put in place, most people cannot even begin to imagine what the new will look like. All we can think of is the same, only more so. Level Two change will force us to give up our old paradigms of how life works. Often core values are reshaped and the journey shifts course as we are challenged to find new and different goals. There are shifts in relationships and power – who has it and how it is used. It is ‘discontinuous’ change in that the new ways of operating may be unrelated to the old ways of operating. We have to re-examine all our assumptions about life.
Level Two change can be especially unsettling if there is lack of trust in the competence of the leaders. There is a certain helplessness that comes with level two change both because we can’t seem to control or mitigate what is happening and because we don’t know how things will look on the other side so we can’t prepare for it.
Level One change is needed when a business or life is doing okay, but they know they could do better or there are some aspects that need to be improved. A business may hire a consulting firm to help them assess their business operating procedures to find out how they can tweak their practices to improve their desired outcomes.
Personally we experience Level One changes like this as well. We feel healthy but we’re gaining more weight than we would like so we change our eating habits or up our exercise levels. But if we let up our efforts, all the changes we’ve made can revert back to where we started.
Level Two change is much more drastic. At this level, if change doesn’t happen for a business, they will likely fail. Here the consultant does a deep dive into foundational values, objectives and the business culture itself to determine whether the business can be saved and what core change will need to happen for the business to survive and thrive. These are the kind of changes that once they happen; you can never go back to what was. You either learn the new and your role in the new or you are left behind.
Again in our personal lives this kind of Level Two change may happen when a person gets a divorce the stress of which causes them to lose their health and then they can no longer keep their job. A few tweaks and eating less sugar isn’t going to do it. Life as they knew it is over! In order to survive, they will have to rebuild much of their life from the ground up….and they are never going back.
Examples of Level Two change in our world
We’ve been through Level Two changes before, pivotal times in history where people exclaimed “What is this world coming to?” And then as we look back we say “Wow, everything changed.”
The church has gone through this kind of change about every 400-500 years. About 500 years ago the Catholic Church had a monopoly on the definition of ‘church’ and what that looked like. Then along came Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic Church could never have imagined what this new Protestant church would look like, how it would develop or the impact it would have. The church ‘lost’ some things in the change but also gained some things. The Catholic Church did not disappear but the impact of the emergence of Protestants forever changed our understanding of church. In fact according to Phyllis Tickle author of The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why the church is due for another major Level Two change.
I would contend that World War II was a pivotal point in history particularly for America. Parts of America were still struggling to emerge from the Great Depression and recover from World War I and the pandemic of 1918 when World War II added more pressures and changes. The war did help end unemployment, largely by sending much of the workforce into the army. This pushed women into the forefront as they found their rolls in the army (as nurses, spies, codebreakers etc.) and in the workforce both supporting the war effort and putting food on the table for their families. Our national loyalties and alliances were also shifting after World War I and into World War II – those we thought were the good guys and who were the bad guys. After the war, as society settled into a post-war culture, everything had changed….and there was no going back to the roaring 20’s and 30’s.
In my living memory, another war was part of a huge shift in American life in the 60’s. The Viet Nam war lasted from 1955-1975 but American officially entered the war in 1965. Other pressures were building as the civil rights movement gained steam. Young people also began rebelling not only around our involvement in the war but also against other cultural norms. New technology such as TV added to the change where we saw in real time, the revolution happening. We sent men into space beyond the confines of our Earth and even walked on another planetary globe! Again, everything changed.
What changes are leading us to a Level Two change?
Often the pressures that result in the need for a Level Two change are many, varied and complex. Pressures come from various directions. External change is happening affecting life as we know it, and often our own internal changes are driving the need for a foundational change. And then there is the ‘final straw’ that pushes the situation over the proverbial edge.
We know that the pace of change since 1900 has risen exponentially and some feel this shift more profoundly. Yes, there have always been incremental changes, but in our world today I believe that many of those incremental changes, specifically in the last 50 years, have been building pressures that are leading us into a time of radical discontinuous change. Here are some incremental changes that I think are pushing us into a Level Two kind of change.
The Internet and Smart Phones and other technological advances including AI – The development of the internet and the World Wide Web has crept into our daily life moving us from faxes to instantly being able to transmit large amount of data in many formats around the world. Since the 60’s, phones have gone from one plugged into the wall to cordless to mobile to smart phones. One cell phone has more computing power than the huge roomful of computers that made the first moon landing possible. Now nearly every man, women and child has all the information of the world at their fingertips. Information and mis-information spreads like a wildfire blown by hurricane force winds. Instant communication around the globe is changing everything. AI is a whole new level of change that I’m not sure we’re ready for but…it’s coming.
Social/Cultural Changes and Unrest – There has been continuous incremental changes in the last 60 years reverberating from the 1960’s. I include in this issues around race, LGBTQ, women’s rolls, and the move of all these people into positions of influence. Like the push to give African Americans the vote in the 1860’s and the civil unrest resulting in the Civil Right Act in the 1960’s, addressing the systemic racism in our culture will shake us to the core. We fear losing power and we tend to denigrate those who gain power seemingly at our expense. Add to that the increase in immigrants and refugees due to unrest beyond our borders and there is trouble brewing.
Individualism – This is a hallmark of American culture. I believe we have totally lost the plot on community and how we must lay down some individual ‘rights’ in order to live well together. The controversy over wearing a simple COVID mask highlights this. The other side is that in our individualism, we think we can create our lives the way we want without the help of others and for no regard for how it impacts others. This self-sufficient way of living will come back to bite us when times get tough and we wake up to the fact that we do need each other and at times we do need to defer to others for the sake of the whole.
Climate Change – Again, this has been happening over time but we are reaching a tipping point where we will begin to see the disastrous effects of climate change accelerated by human actions. Our ecosystem is becoming unbalanced and the result is not only huge changes in climate resulting in weather changes but also new diseases could be unleashed such as…COVID-19.
The COVID-19 Pandemic – It has affected nearly every aspect of our personal lives but it has also impacted the entire world. Many of the incremental changes above, we have been able to roll with or even mostly ignore as they haven’t seemed to impact us in our daily lives in a negative way. But the pandemic could not be ignored. My guess is that with global warming, the pace of new and different strains of diseases will also rise sharply…this won’t be the last one.
The Populist movement – This is a reaction to the incremental changes of globalism that have developed since World War II. We see it not only in America but in countries around the world. While we can’t deny that we are one world and countries must learn to cooperate and co-exist, some see this as a threat to their national identity and survival, fearing that another country’s gain will certainly be their loss. Closing ranks and circling the wagons seems to be the safe path.
OK, so fine, yes we have seen a lot of changes in the last 50 years. So why now?
The Final Straw
The Trump Presidency – This may be the “last straw” and it’s not very subtle or ‘incremental’. Those who have observed American history from the frontlines have repeatedly said “We are seeing a president like no other.” There have been popular and unpopular presidents in the past, but Trump’s style has revealed the divisions in our nation in a way that no other president has.
Everyone has been saying for many of the previous administration that the government is broken, that we need to reform aspects of the government. Government waste is a real thing. Everyone says we need to lower our national debt. Congress has been burping through debt ceilings for the last decade and more. Yet none of these needed changes seem to happen in any meaningful way. Will it take a Level Two change to make this happen? Trump seems to think so.
What is happening under this presidency feels to many of us, like a huge betrayal. That Trump would appoint a billionaire with no official standing to have freedom to invade and destroy every level of government in the name of “efficiency” with no congressional oversight is a betrayal of trust. This way of bringing change feels like a ‘scorched earth’ policy. Destroy everything first, then we can rebuild as we choose. It’s very inelegant and stirs up more fear and anxiety. That the entire GOP is saying nothing to object let alone stop or direct it feels like a betrayal of the trust that our elected representatives would act on behalf of the best interests of the people and our nation. This makes me very sad and yes, a little scared.
I believe this is the beginning of Level Two change and if so, we are not going back!!
So, What now?
People wonder if America will survive such a huge Level Two change. For many people life will never be the same. There will be many losses for individuals and for us as a nation. We will have to grieve those losses.
How might we respond to this kind of disruptive change? We can get angry, highly anxious and shake our fists resisting the change at all cost. Although sometimes resistance is needed no amount of anger will change the direction of massive change. So we need to use the energy of our inner frustration and fears wisely.
We will also need people who can be a voice of reason and hope when everything is changing. We can stay tuned to the changes and be a voice for holding on to those few things that are in our power and influence to do. We can be people who reach out and help those most negatively affected by the change. We can be points of stability for our communities.
I will hold the grief and fear as best I can and I will look for the points of light in the darkness. I will contribute to stability and speak up for what I believe. I will not give up. I will wait with hope, I will stay curious about what the future might hold and I will be ready to be a positive part of the new normal, whatever that will be.
There is life on the other side of Level Two change but it will be a tough go. In most change, something is gained if we have the wisdom and grace to look for it. We dare not get stuck in fear, anxiety, and grief. When the time comes we must be ready to rebuild. It will be slow but…once the dust settles, it might even be better.
We’re in for some major changes. I don’t think we will be ‘going back’ either. It’s going to be a bumpy ride so…hang on!!
Of course, I could be wrong….
Jeannette B Slater 2025
