Leading Change

When I went through Harvard Business School’s General Management Program, I was lucky enough to spend a day with John Kotter.  John was one of the most inspirational presenters on change and demonstrated that to be a great leader you need to be able to drive change within a corporation.  Here is my condensed view of John Kotter’s 8 steps to change.

Establish a Sense of Urgency

Examine market and competitive realties for potential crises and untapped opportunities

Convince at least 75% of your managers that the status quo is more dangerous than the unknown

Form a Powerful Guiding Coalition

Assemble a group with shared commitment and enough power to lead the change effort

Encourage them to work as a team outside the normal hierarchy

Create a Vision

Create a vision to direct the change effort

Develop strategies for realizing the vision

Communicate the Vision

Use every vehicle possible to communicate the new vision and strategies for achieving it

Teach new behaviors by the example of the guiding coalition

Empower Others to Act on the Vision

Remove or alter systems or structures undermining the vision

Encourage risk taking and nontraditional ideas, activities and actions

Plan For and Create Short Term Wins

Define and engineer visible performance improvements

Recognize and reward employees contributing to those improvements

Consolidate improvements and produce more change

Use increased credibility from early wins to change systems, structures and policies undermining the vision

Hire, promote and develop employees who can implement the vision

Reinvigorate the change process with new projects and change agents

Institutionalize New Approaches

Articulate connections between new behaviors and corporate successes

Create leadership development and succession plans consistent with the new approach

Related articles

• Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model (martindavis01.wordpress.com)
• Our Iceberg is Melting is NOT about Global Warming (whatwearereading.typepad.com)
• Change Management – Kotter on Steriods (tudleadership.wordpress.com)