For more than four decades, John Kotter observed leaders and organisations as they tried to transform or execute their strategies. From this came his model for leading change: eight steps for carrying out a change in an organisation successfully. It is important to go through the steps in this order.
This is one of the tools you learn to apply in the Green Belt training.
Kotter’s eight-step model
The eight steps fall into three phases: creating a climate for change (steps 1 to 3), engaging and enabling the organisation (steps 4 to 6), and implementing and sustaining the change (steps 7 and 8).
1. Create a sense of urgency
For change to succeed, everyone involved needs to feel that it is necessary. Why do we have to change, and which problems will it solve? Generate energy by appealing to emotions such as hope, trust, optimism and enthusiasm. Emotions are the engine of change.
According to Kotter, at least 75 percent of management needs to buy into the change for it to succeed. So work hard on this first step, and put a lot of time and energy into building urgency before you move on.
Don’t jump in too quickly either. Starting without proper preparation risks unnecessary short-term losses and a bumpy ride.
2. Form a guiding coalition
First who, then what. Leaders need the support of a group of enthusiastic people from across the whole organisation. These are people with formal and informal influence, who are well rooted in the organisation and able to keep a critical distance.
3. Develop a vision and strategy
Make the change vision concrete, realistic and simple. Look for the essence: what is the change about, and why does the outside world ask it of us (the why)? Look for shared values and underlying assumptions that form the basis for the behaviour needed to make the change happen. Draw up a plan based on shared goals and the desired behaviour.
4. Communicate the vision and create safety
Communicate the change vision. To limit uncertainty, fear and mistrust, people need to know where they stand. Inform them clearly and credibly about the changes.
Feeling safe is an important condition for being able to discuss behaviour openly. Management plays a crucial role here by being vulnerable and open. That is where the dialogue begins.
5. Empower people to change
Build support for the change. The most important condition for this is commitment from the top: without unconditional, long-term support, any (cultural) change is doomed to fail. Also remove the obstacles that get in the way of people changing.
The effect of a change is the quality of the solution multiplied by its acceptance in the organisation: E = Q × A. A technically strong solution that nobody embraces therefore achieves less than a slightly less perfect solution that people designed together.
6. Create and celebrate quick wins
Go for early successes, quick wins, and make them visible to everyone. This strengthens belief in the new vision and strategy.
7. Keep going, don’t let up
According to Kotter, many change projects fail because victory is declared too early. Real change runs deep. Quick wins are only the start of what is needed for long-term change.
After the first successes, it is important that the organisation does not become overconfident and think the change process is finished. In this phase the emphasis is on persevering, aligning and fine-tuning. One condition for this is that the sense of urgency stays high.
Find out what works, refine the approach and roll it out to other parts of the organisation. In other words, look for best practices.
8. Anchor it in the culture
Make the new situation last by anchoring the changes in the organisation. This is mainly about the discipline and perseverance to really do things differently and see them through. The anchoring is complete when progress is measured and evaluated periodically and systematically.
This is often skipped, and it is an important reason why changes peter out. After all, what is not measured is not seen as important. Think not only of hard results such as lead time, quality and cost, but also of soft results such as employee satisfaction.
In the end, it is the people who make the change a success.
Source
Kotter, J. P. Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1996.