Leading Change

John P. Kotter
The rate of change is not going to slow
Down anytime soon. If anything,
competition
In most industries will probably speed
up
Even more in the next few decades.

Leading the Change Process

Apply Science of
Learning & Human
Performance

Generate solution
options and
metrics

Conduct
effectiveness &
cost analysis

Translate job
requirements into
competencies
(K, S, A, T)

Performance
Consultants

Make
recommendations

Creating Major Change

The 8 Stage Process of Creating Major Change

1. Establishing a Sense of Urgency

2. Creating a Guiding Coalition
3. Developing a Vision & Strategy
4. Communicating the Change Vision
5. Empowering Broad-Based Action
6. Generating Short-Term Wins
7. Consolidating Gains & Producing More Change
8. Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture
Source: Leading Change, John P. Kotter, 1998

Creating Major Change

Establishing a Sense of Urgency

Examining the market & competitive realities

Identifying & discussing crisis, potential crisis, major
opportunities

Concepts:

Create a crisis: highlight major weaknesses, allow errors to compound

Eliminate obvious examples of excess (company facilities, services,etc
Set goals & targets unrealistically high
Distribute company-wide performance data highlighting deficiencies to
more employees
Force interaction with unsatisfied customers, suppliers, shareholders.
Use consultants to force more relevant & honest appraisals
Bombard people with information on future opportunities, rewards for
capitalize on those opportunities, & potential lost opportunities.

Source: Leading Change, John P. Kotter, 1998

Creating Major Change

Creating a Guiding Coalition
Putting together a group with enough power to lead the
change
Getting the group to work together like a team

4 Key Characteristics of Guiding Coalition:

Positional Power: Are enough key players on board, especially the

main line managers, so those left out can not easily block progress?
Expertise: Are the various points of view, relevant to the tasks at
hand, adequately represented so that informed, intelligent decisions
can be made?
Credibility: Does the group have enough people, with good
reputations, that its pronoucements will be taken serious by the other
employees?
Leadership: Does the group include enough proven leaders to be
able to drive the change process?

Source: Leading Change, John P. Kotter, 1998

Creating Major Change

Developing a Vision & Strategy
Creating a vision to help direct the change effort
Developing strategies for achieving that vision

Characteristics of an Effective Vision

Imaginable: Conveys a picture of what the future will look like

Desirable: Appeals to the long-term interests of employees,
customers, stakeholders.
Feasible: Comprises realistic, attainable goals
Focused: Is clear enough to provide guidance in decision making
Flexible: Is it general enough to allow individual initiative &
alternative responses in light of changing condition.
Communicable: Is easy to communicate, can be successfully
explained within 5 minutes.

Source: Leading Change, John P. Kotter, 1998

Creating Major Change

Communicating the Change Vision

Using every vehicle possible to constantly communicate the new vision &
strategies
Having the guiding coalition role model the behavior expected of employees

Key elements in communicating the vision:

Simplicity. All jargon & technobabble must be eliminated.
Metaphor, Analogy & Example. A verbal picture is worth a thousand
words.
Multiple Forums. Big meetings & small, memos, newspapers, formal
and informal meetings.
Repetition. Ideas sink in only after they have been heard many times
Leadership by Example. Behavior by important people that is
inconsistent with the vision overwhelms other forms of
communication.
Explanation of Seeming Inconsistency. Unaddressed
inconsistencies undermine the credibility of all communications.
Give & Take. Two way communication is always more powerful and
one-way communication.

Source: Leading Change, John P. Kotter, 1998

Creating Major Change

Empowering Broad-Based Action
Getting rid of obstacles
Changing systems or structures that undermine the change vision
Encouraging risk taking & non-traditional ideas, activities & actions

Empowering People to Effect Change

Communicate a sensible vision to employees.

Make sure structures are compatible with the vision.
Provide the training employees need.
Align information and personnel systems to the
vision.
Confront supervisors who undercut needed change.

Source: Leading Change, John P. Kotter, 1998

Creating Major Change

Generating Short-Term Wins
Planning for visible improvements in performance, or wins
Creating those wins
Visibly recognizing & rewarding people who made the win possible

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Provides evidence that sacrifices are worth it.

Reward change agents.
Helps fine-tune vision & strategies.
Undermine cynics and self-serving registers.
Keep bosses on board.
Build Momentum.

Source: Leading Change, John P. Kotter, 1998

Creating Major Change

Consolidating Gains & Producing More Change

Using increased credibility to change all systems, structures & policies that
dont fit together and dont fit the transformation strategy
Hiring, promoting, & developing people who can implement the change vision
Reinvigorating the process with new projects, themes & change agents

More change, not less. The guiding coalition uses the credibility afforded by
the short-term wins to tackle additional and bigger change projects
More Help. Additional people are brought in, promoted and developed to
help with all the changes
Leadership from Senior Management. Senior people focus on maintaining
clarity of shared purpose, keeping urgency levels up.
People management & leadership from below. Lower ranks in the
hierarchy provide both leadership & management for specific projects.
Reduction of unnecessary interdependencies. To make change easier in
both short/long-term, managers identify and eliminate unnecessary
organizational interdependencies.

Note: Resistance is always waiting to reassert itself!

Source: Leading Change, John P. Kotter, 1998

Creating Major Change

Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture

Creating better performance through customer- & productivity oriented

behavior, more and better leadership, & more effective management
Articulating the connections between new behavior & organizational success
Developing means to ensure leadership development & succession

Concepts:

Culture changes come last, not first. Most alteration in norms & shared values
come at the end of the transformation process
Results matter. New approaches usually sink into a culture only after it is very
clear that they work and are superior to the old methods.
Requires a lot of talk. Without verbal instruction and support, people are
reluctant to admit the validity of new practices.
May involve turnover. Sometime the only way to change a culture is to change
key people.
Makes decision on succession crucial. If promotion processes are not
changed to be compatible with the new practices, the old culture will reassert
itself

Source: Leading Change, John P. Kotter, 1998