Lead Change with Kotter's 8-Steps

JWI 555 Org Change & Culture, Week2 Lecture1, 4/21/13

Superb week. Helped me internalize Kotter's 8 step process for leading change. So far I was leading change with a gut feel about how to do it. Now with Kotter's 8 step process that draws from GE's change methdology, I am equipped with a solid, clear and proven framework. I feel more empowered as a change agent.

Dr DP

JWI 555 Org Change & Culture, Week2 Lecture1, 4/21/13
************************************************
I. History of Organizational change & management
*****************************************
In an uncertain future participatory management, adaptability to change are key. Strictly hierarchical organizations that assume people would do as they are told no longer work.
Technology and Globalization are major forces of change.
Decentralization is not a panacea. Important changes in marketplace need to be watched carefully and if necessary rebuild systems, processes, structures, and management culture. Orchestrate the change effort. Manage communication. Mobilize political support. Align measurements and rewards.
Major change does not happen easily. Lead rather than manage - use Kotter's 8 steps framework.
Management: Set of processes that can keep a complicated system of people and technology running smoothly.
Leadership: Set of processes that creates organizations in the first place or adapts them to significantly changing circumstances.

II. John Kotter 8 Steps for Leading Change (kotterinternational.com)

(1) Establish a sense of urgency:
**************************
Help others feel the need to move and win now
Make the case for change and help others see the need for change and the importance of acting immediately

Get the pulse of the organization and see where it stands:
Complacency: "everything is fine" attitude and failure to react to signs
False Urgency: busy work does not translate to results that matter
True urgency: gut level determination to move, win now

How to create urgency?
Guaranteed to fail: appeal just to the head with a compelling business case
Guaranteed to succeed: aim for the heart; connect to the deepest values of people and inspire them to greatness
 make the business case come alive with human experience, engage the senses, create simple/imaginative messages, call people to aspire

(2) Create the guiding coalition:
*********************************
Put together a group with enough power to lead the change
Mobilize commitment to change and fight forces of inertia
Effective Guiding Coalitions must have:
(i) Right composition - Position power, expertise, credibility, proven leaders with ability to drive change
(ii) Significant level of trust - this is the glue that makes teams function well; team-build in an off-site activity; connect hearts & minds of members
(iii) Shared objective

(3) Develop a change vision
****************************
Clarify how the future will be different from the past
Clear vision inspires and guides action by serving important purposes:
- simplify decisions by making sense of things to both mind and heart
- motivate people to take action in right direction though first steps are painful
- coordinate actions of people in fast and efficient way
- demand sacrifices to create a better future for all stakeholders
Vision undergirded with strong credible strategy, plan, budget makes it evident to stakeholders the vision is not a pipe dream
Vision must be communicable - must quickly make intuitive sense

Clear vision does more than an authoritarian decree or micromanagement
Effective visions are
(i) Imaginable: convey clear picture of what the future will look like
(ii) Desirable: appeal to long-term interest of stakeholders
(iii) Feasible: contain realistic and attainable goals
(iv) Focused: clear enough to provide guidance to decision making
(v) Flexible: allow individual initiative and alternate responses in changing conditions
(vi) Communicable: easy to explain and communicate

(4) Communicate the change vision for buy-in
*********************************************
Ensure as many people as possible understand and accept the vision
Undercommunication and inconsistency stall transformations.
Communicate in hour-by-hour activities, refer in emails, meetings, presentations.
Turn ritualistic, tedious meetings into lively transformation discussions.

Effective communication means:
Keep it simple - no jargon or techno babble; fewer words are better
vivid - use pictures, metaphors,analogy, examples
repeatable - ideas should be spreadable by anyone to anyone
invite - two way communication is more powerful than one way monologue
model - actions speak louder than words; eliminate inconsistent actions; be the change and motivate/inspire


(5) Empower employees for broad-based action
*********************************************
Structural conflict issues:
customer focus vs fragmented resources and responsibilities for products & services
local responsiveness vs layers of management that second guess and criticize regional decisions
increase productivity for low cost vs costly procedures and programs

Realign incentives and performance appraisals.
Improve Management Info Systems (MIS) - up to date competitive information and market analysis; close feedback loop with key info efficiently
Confront troublesome supervisors with honest dialog - explain how their style inhibits change

(6) Generate short-term wins (6-18 months):
*******************************************
Create visible, unambiguous success as soon as possible.
Carefully plan and direct the effort - Overcome political forces.
Wins must be clearly related to change effort.
Provide evidence that sacrifices of people is paying off.
Increase sense of urgency and optimism. Boost morale & motivaiton.
Gain support from bosses, board, shareholders.
Turn neutral people intosupporters.
Early successes build momentum and learning

Lack of short term wins can be due to
- insufficient management expertise in the guiding coalition
- lack of commitment by managers to the change initiative


(7) Consolidate gains and produce more change
*********************************************
Beware - resistance will reassert itself.
Don't let down the guard and keep up the sense of urgency.
Managers tend to think short term; Leaders must steer for long term.
If successful you will see
- launch more projects  to drive change deeper into the org
- additional people brought to help with the changes
- senior leadership focused on giving clarity to an aligned vision and shared purpose
- employees empowered at all levels to lead projects
- reduced interdependencies between areas
- constant effort to keep urgnecy high
- consistent show of proof that the new way is working
- firmly ground the new practices in org culture

(8) Make it stick
******************
Anchor new approaches in the culture for sustained change
Culture = norms of behavior + shared values

Cultural change comes last, not first
You must prove that the new way is superior to the old
Success must be visible and well communicated
Lose some people
refinforce new norms and values with incentives and rewards - promotions
reinforce culture with every new employee
Anchor new approaches in the culture

                   
III. President Obama's Change Agenda
Defense, Foreign Affairs, Economic Recovery (Jobs), Healthcare, Environment, Education.
Effective Coalition building may be the toughest challenge faced.