Old Wineskins and New Beginnings: Why Change Feels So Hard

- RSS

A wineskin is an ancient container made of animal skin. Usually, a goat is used to transport liquids such as water, olive oil, and wine. Is trying to bring motivation, or even change, to an organization like putting new wine in an old wineskin?

The old wineskin has become brittle and set in place. It had done its job for years with no problem, but the new wine hasn’t fermented yet, and as it expands, it will split the old container.

The Bible, Mark 2:22, used this example to teach about dealing with change. “And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.” ……. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one, after drinking old wine, wishes for new, for he says, ‘The old is good enough.

Good news for the Old Wineskins: A fresh wineskin can be a new wineskin, but it can also refer to an old wineskin that has been reconditioned. A reconditioned wineskin is as supple as new and can hold new wine. An old wineskin must be cleaned and soaked in oil to recondition it. The wineskin is soaked until it is rejuvenated to its supple, soft state, ready for the new wine. So old wineskins are not thrown away, but are only used to hold old wine. It can be made fresh again to have new wine!

Of course, we’re talking about people, not wineskins.

People, in their way, can also seem brittle and set in place. The problem is often the perception of what is happening around them. The roadblock is often just the attitude that “this is the way we have always done this.”

A person who has done something the same way for years can seem brittle or inflexible. Several years ago, I knew some managers at a small distribution warehouse with limited space. Jim, the warehouse manager, had a new boss who expected tasks to be done in ways he was not used to.

Changing things that had always been done one way for years became an obstacle for Jim. The last straw was when an item bought weekly for years, 50 cases at a time, was changed to 100 cases, and the order frequency was changed to once every two weeks. Jim knew the reasons for the change and the plan, but he did not feel comfortable with all the changes. This led him to quit his job after 35 years and advance to warehouse manager. 

Change was not foreign to this company's environment, which had grown significantly over the years. I was more than that “they had always done that way.” It was about him always being the sole decision-maker.

Over the years Jim worked for this company, it had expanded its warehouse size many times. He faced increased reserve levels on many inventory items and changes to accommodate buying brackets. If he hadn’t been flexible, he would not have made it far as he did.

Why did Jim become brittle and set in place?  He was upset by what he was afraid the future would bring. After Jim left, he enrolled in some classes at the local community college and took some computer classes. Perhaps for Jim, it was more than just turning brittle and unchangeable. Maybe he was just smart enough to see that he needed more skill, but he still was not flexible enough to come and talk about that side of the issue before leaving.

The poet Maya Angelou said, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Jim didn’t feel good about his new manager, and that reality was far more critical than the challenges of warehouse changes. The new manager didn’t know Jim and