Kotter’s theory of change management

The eight-step model

John Kotter’s highly-regarded books Leading Change (1995) and the follow-up The Heart Of Change (2002) describe a popular and helpful model for understanding and managing change. Each stage acknowledges a key principle, identified by Kotter, relating to people’s response and approach to change, and in which people see, feel and then change.

For change to happen, it helps if a sufficient number of people within an organisation want it. John Kotter suggests that at least 75% of people wanting it creates a critical mass. So developing a sense of urgency around the need for change may help you spark the initial motivation to get things moving.

Kotter introduced his eight-step change process in Leading Change, summarised below.

1. Create urgency

A key early task is to develop a sense of urgency around the need for change. This involves extensive internal dialogue regarding the market and competitor environments.

This can involve a full SWOT analysis, scenario planning and full deployment of all the strategic planning tools. Results of analysis and early conclusions should be thoroughly tested with informed third party opinion and a wide cross section of all stakeholders.

2. Form a guiding coalition

Managing change is not enough – change has to be led. Building the momentum for change requires a strong leadership and visible support from key people within your organisation. The coalition will involve a wide representation of the formal and informal power-base within the organisation.

By working as a team, the coalition helps to create more momentum and build the sense of urgency in relation to the need for change. Kotter recognises the importance of the emotional dimension and the energy that is generated by a ‘mastermind’ group all working together.

3. Develop a vision and strategy

A drive for change without a clear focus will rapidly fizzle out unless you develop a clear vision of the future that is accompanied with a clear description about how things will be different in the future. The vision needs to be defined in such a way that it is capable of expression in a short ‘vision speech’ that conveys the heart of the change in less than five minutes.

This then needs to be encapsulated in a powerful one- or two-sentence summary. All members of the coalition need to be fluent in both of these vision statements. You need to work with the coalition to develop the strategies that will deliver the vision.

4. Communicating the vision

Communication is everything, and Kotter maintains that as change leader you need to use every means at your disposal to constantly communicate the new vision and key strategies that support that vision. This goes beyond the ‘special announcement’ meetings and involves frequent and informal face-to-face contact with your people – by you and by all individual members of the coalition.

Email is not the appropriate communication vehicle – except in support of prior face-to-face contact. But it goes further than talking – you and the coalition have to ‘walk the talk’ visibly and at all times be available and accessible to your people. Be open and honest and address the emotional dimension of your people’s fears and concerns.

5. Enabling action and removal of obstacles

This is the stage where your change initiative moves beyond the planning and the talking, and into practical action as you put supportive structures in place and empower and encourage your people to take risks in pursuit of the vision.

This is where you, as change leader, identify and remove obstacles and obstructions to change. These may arise in processes or structures that are getting in the way. This may also involve addressing resistant individuals and/or groups and helping them to reorient themselves to the requirements of the new realities.

6. Generating short-term wins

Success breeds success. Kotter advises that an early taste of victory in the change process gives people a clear sight of what the realised vision will be like. This is important as a counter to critics and negative influencers who may otherwise impede the progress of your initiative. It is also important to recognise and reward all those people who make these early gains possible. As change leader you need to be looking for – and creating – opportunities for these early wins.

7. Hold the gains and build on change

Kotter argues that many change initiatives fail because victory is declared too early. An early win is not enough. This is the time to increase the activity, and change all systems and structures and processes that don’t fit with the change initiative, and bring ‘new blood’ into the coalition. This is now all about continuous improvement and each success (and failure) is an opportunity for analysing what worked (or didn’t) and what can be improved.

8. Anchor changes in the culture

Kotter says that for any change to be sustained, it needs to become embedded in the new ‘way we do things around here’ – that is the culture. A major part of this is for you, as change leader, to articulate the connections between new behaviours and organisational success. This is where you – and your coalition team – talk about progress every chance you get. Tell success stories about the change process, and repeat other success stories that you hear. As change leader, this is all about your continuous efforts to ensure that the change is seen in every aspect of your organisation.

Evolution of the model

In Heart of Change, Kotter, with the help of co-author Dan Cohen, a partner at Deloitte Consulting, illustrates how his famous eight-step approach to change management has worked in over 100 organisations. He says that the single biggest challenge facing leadership in a change process is just getting people to change their behaviour: ‘All through our lives we have been taught to over-rely on what you might call the memo approach – the 19 logical reasons to change – and we’ve under-relied on what Dan Cohen and I found is much more effective, which is presenting something that is emotionally compelling. People change their behaviour when they are motivated to do so, and that happens when you speak to their feelings.’

Three key points emerge from their review of companies which have followed John Kotter’s eight-step approach to change management and succeeded with their change initiatives.

1. Great change leaders are great at telling visual stories with high emotional impact

Martin Luther King did not stand up in front of the Lincoln Memorial and say ‘I have a great strategy’ and illustrate it with 10 good reasons why it was a good strategy. He said those immortal words: ‘I have a dream,’ and then he proceeded to show the people what his dream was – he illustrated his picture of the future and did so in a way that had high emotional impact.

2. The leader’s example is a powerful method of communicating feeling and facilitating change

To paraphrase one of the sayings of Jesus: ‘Why do you look at the speck of dust that is in the other guy’s eye, but not notice the log that is in your own eye?’ According to John Kotter this is a big issue. He feels that as people climb further up the corporate ladder they become increasingly out of touch with the impact of their own performance until they cannot see that they have become a part of the problem.

As he says: ‘I suspect a lot of people just haven’t been taught, always start with yourself. It is a great rule of thumb for so many things. Start with yourself first!’

3. Organisations need heroes at every level

As one of David Bowie’s greatest singles puts it: ‘... I will be king and you, you will be queen ... we can be heroes, just for one day.’ Kotter believes that buried very deep within everyone is the desire to be a hero [even if for only one day]:

‘... today’s organisations need heroes at every level. To truly succeed in a turbulent world, more than half the workforce needs to step up to the plate in some arena and provide change leadership.’

In echo of Bowie’s lyric he suggests that this might only mean being a hero for one day, but he stresses that the cumulative effect of many such small actions is a significant factor in enabling organisations to change.

When asked, in a recent interview, about the importance of leadership in successfully unleashing ‘the heart of change’, Kotter said: ‘Crucial. Only leadership can blast through corporate inertia and motivate people to change in a meaningful way.’