Kotter’s Eight Step Change Management Model. Approximately Seventy percent of major change efforts fail. John Kotter’s eight step model offers a roadmap for successful change. Steps one, three and four de freeze an organisation’s existing culture. One. Establish a sense of urgency Create a burning platform, unarguable reasons why your organisation must change. [1] Remember the urgency rate. Seventy five percent of managers must believe that the status quo is unacceptable in order to kick start change. [2] Make the status quo more dangerous than launching into the unknown. Two. Form a powerful coalition Put together a group of people with the position, power, expertise, credibility, proven leadership and trust in one another to lead change. To create your dream team Identify individuals who support change, i.e. trusted, influential people. As well as the CEO, include people from key functions, e.g. HR, Finance and Customer Service. Three. Create a vision Your change needs an inspiring vision for the future which people will believe in and want to work towards. However Only thirty percent of a leader’s time is spent on ‘envisioning’ and preparing for the future. [4] Only fifty eight percent of leaders think they are ‘highly effective’ at inspiring others towards a challenging future vision. [5] Make your vision more powerful by ensuring that it [6] Can be communicated in one minute or less. Is intellectually sound yet has a strong emotional appeal. Four. Communicate the vision How well you communicate the vision determines the success of your change. Consider Sixty six percent of employees say they don’t receive enough information during change. [7] Seventy one percent of employees feel their managers don’t spend enough time explaining change plans and goals. [8] Getting it right Don’t underestimate how much time you will need to communicate change. Leaders and managers need to ‘walk the talk’ and demonstrate the behaviours needed for change. Steps Five, Six and Seven are about making things happen to drive long lasting change. Five. Removing obstacles Breaking down barriers empowers people to make change a reality. Consider that Seventy one percent of executives rank employee engagement and empowerment as ‘very important’ to achieving organisational success. [9] But only twenty four percent of executives say that employees in their organisation are highly empowered and engaged. [10] To boost employee engagement you can [11] Help people understand how their work contributes to the bigger picture of change. Promote collaboration and information sharing. Show people you have confidence in them and trust them to make decisions. Six. Plan and create short term wins Early successes help the change effort gather momentum. This can be achieved by [12] Choosing projects which are unlikely to face resistance, perhaps by building on something which is already working. Targeting projects which are achievable quickly and at low cost. Rewarding people who help secure early wins. Seven. Consolidate improvements Kotter says that change can take up to ten years to become embedded, so don’t declare victory too soon. Keep looking forward by Changing systems, processes and structures which don’t fit the vision. Offering regular proof that the ‘new way’ is working effectively (e.g. improved performance, cost savings, market position etc.). Step eight is about refreezing the new culture. Eight. Making the change stick The last step is about making the change ‘the way we do things around here’. Use the change vision in your attraction and recruitment processes. Use stories to share success and examples of change in action. Create a change leadership pipeline so that the change continues to be led by people with the bigger picture in mind.

References
[1] Aoife Cunningham, ‘Creating a Burning Platform for Change’, 2degrees (16 January 2013). Available at https://www.2degreesnetwork.com/groups/2degrees-community/resources/creating-burning-platform-change/ (accessed 23 December 2014).
[2] John Kotter, Leading Change (Harvard Business School Press, September 1996).
[3] Sir John Harvey-Jones, former Chairman ICI, quoted in Jeremy Tozer, Leading Through Leaders Driving Strategy, Execution and Change (Kogan Page, 2012) p118.
[4] James Kouzes and Barry Posner, To Lead, Create a Shared Vision, Harvard Business Review (January 2009). Available at https://hbr.org/2009/01/to-lead-create-a-shared-vision (accessed 23 December 2014).
[5] ‘Ready Now Leaders Meeting Tomorrow’s Business Challenges’, DDI Whitepaper, Global Leadership Forecast 2014/2-15. Available at http://www.ddiworld.com/resources/library/trend-research/global-leadership-forecast-2014 (accessed 23 December 2014).
[6] John Kotter, ‘How to Create a Powerful Vision for Change’, Forbes (6 July 2011). Available at http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkotter/2011/06/07/how-to-create-a-powerful-vision-for-change/#51e5802b2a3c (accessed 23 December 2014).
[7] ‘Cost of Poor Internal Communications 2014’, PDP Solutions Slideshare Presentation. Available at http://www.slideshare.net/ldickmeyer/cost-of-poor-internal-communications-912 (accessed 23 December 2014).
[8] Carla Perrotta, ‘Communication Starts With the Leader’ , LinkedIn Pulse (23 June 2014). Available at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140623163422-78001201-communication-starts-with-the-leader (accessed 23 December 2014).
[9] ‘The Impact of Employee Engagement on Performance’, Harvard Business Review Analytics Services Report (2013). Available at https://hbr.org/resources/pdfs/comm/achievers/hbr_achievers_report_sep13.pdf (accessed 23 December 2014).
[10] Ibid.
[11] Peter Block, The Empowered Manager Positive Political Skills at Work (Jossey-Bass, 1987).
[12] PG Foster Fishman et al. ‘Mobilizing Residents for Action The Role of Small Wins and Strategic Supports’, American Journal of Community Psychology (December 2006). Available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17006773 (accessed 23 December 2014).

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