Useful Resources
Rose, Kenneth H, 2002, Leading Change: A model by John Kotter
Kotter, John. P. "Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail." Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review. March–April, 1995.
Leading Change
Change is the only constant in our modern world. One of the most important leadership skills is the management of change – whether this change originates within the organisation or is brought about by external forces.
John Kotter, the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership at the Harvard Business School, developed a model for leading change that offers a valuable tool to management teams. This model was described in his popular books 'Leading Change' (1996) and the follow-up 'The Heart Of Change' (2002). His model is a result of many years of experience in consulting with hundreds of organizations.
It has been developed to support major change initiatives, but the basic principals hold in all change situations.
Kotter's eight step change model (Ref 6) can be summarised as follows:
1. Establish a sense of urgency: Inspire people to move by creating dissatisfaction with status-quo. Identify and discuss an urgent need in terms of a potential crises or opportunity. This is not a scare tactic; it is a necessary step in removing complacency and creating the impetus to move forward into the unknown. In Kotter's experience, 50 percent of change efforts fail at this step.
2. Form a powerful guiding coalition: Change must be nurtured and supported by an influential leadership group. You need to assemble a group with sufficient power, commitment and skill to lead the change effort. Without this the opposition forces will be able to thwart the change effort.
3. Create a vision: Create a vision of the future to direct the change effort and prepare a strategy to achieve that vision. Once people accept the urgency, they will want to know where they are going. Without a vision, the change effort can dissolve into a series of disjointed projects. The vision should be clear and concise - able to be communicated in just five minutes. Make the objectives real and relevant.
4. Communicate for buy-in: Involve as many people in the change effort as possible. Use all communication media at your disposal – no change effort has ever failed from too much communication. Communicate the essential message, in a way that shows empathy towards people's needs. Leaders should make opportunities to communicate the vision in day-to-day activities, and more importantly, demonstrate it in their day-to-day actions. Nothing will kill a change effort quicker than leaders saying one thing and doing another.
5. Empower action: During implementation, the guiding coalition must clear the way for employees to develop new ideas and approaches without being hampered by the old ways of working. They need to remove obstacles, provide constructive feedback, and reward and recognise progress. The obstacles to change may be in the organization’s processes, or in the minds of employees, but both can be showstoppers.
6. Create short-term wins: Create early momentum for the change effort by setting initial aims that are easy to achieve. Have a manageable numbers of initiatives, and finish current stages before starting new ones. People need to see results within 12 months or they will give up. Short-term wins validate the effort and maintain the level of urgency. Look for measures that will show unambiguous benefits of the change effort, and rewarding people responsible for the results.
7. Consolidate Improvements and make still more change: While short-term wins are important, resist the urge to declare the battle won too early. Use short-term wins as stepping-stones to bigger opportunities and bigger wins consistent with the vision. Ongoing progress reports are essential, to continually highlight achievements and present future milestones.
8. Institutionalise new approaches: Having made effective changes, leaders must now cement the changes in place. Leaders must send a clear message that the new ways are here to stay. Reinforce the change via recruitment and promotion. Embed the changes in business systems and weave them into the culture.