The Eight-Step Process of Creating Major Change
I have total confidence, after 15 years, that the Eight-Step Process is the way change works when it works best. It has been tested worldwide, and I continue to receive thousands of e-mails thanking me for developing it.
- Professor John Kotter
Here's an overview of the process. . . (more)
Gaining ground
Leading change: An action plan
This article is based on an interview with Professor John Kotter and on information from his book Leading Change, Harvard Business School Press, 1996. Order now at Amazon.com.
AWARE: Your work focuses on successful change and the forces that drive it. How did that focus evolve?
KOTTER: For more than 15 years, I've been in the field, doing research and talking with people about initiatives that produce significant, useful change. Over the years, I discovered that change within organizations and the external world was occurring faster than it did in previous decades. I began documenting this trend and thinking about its implications.
The majority of the organizations with whom I talked needed to change but they had not tried to change, had tried and failed, or didn't do it as well as they wanted - in fact, fell woefully short. Then I looked at the 5 percent of organizations that had successfully changed to see what they had done differently and I discerned a pattern. I based the Eight-Step Process of Creating Major Change on that pattern. (See sidebar.)
AWARE: In what way is your process a departure from previous strategies?
KOTTER: Traditionally, the focus has been on managing incremental change using a methodical and controlled process. You take one step, then a second and third. But in a rapidly changing world, taking one careful step after another and minimizing risk doesn't work. In such an environment, you have to deal with leaps not just methodical steps. Faced with large-scale change, you can't simply soup up the change management process. You must use an entirely different approach.
AWARE: You speak of leading as opposed to managing change. How do people lead change?
KOTTER: Leading - which is not the same as managing - is essential when trying to produce organizational change in a rapidly changing environment. The Eight-Step Process can help. You first set the stage by establishing a sense of urgency, convincing people that there is a problem that needs addressing. This will get things moving. People need to feel the change is not just good, but essential. You then assemble a guiding coalition and create a vision of how you want the future to look. To sustain the change, you need to pay particular attention to these first steps. All too often, people want to skip to step four and begin communicating the vision. But you need a solid footing, because throughout the process you will build on that foundation.
AWARE: What are the barriers?
KOTTER: People resist for different reasons throughout the process. If they are complacent, they might think the status quo is fine. If they don't have faith in the group driving the change or if the vision isn't communicated in a way that makes sense, they might be fearful and hold back.
AWARE: How can leaders address resistance?
KOTTER: In the early stages, if you put together a team that clearly knows what it's doing and you achieve some short-term wins, people will trust your leaders and commit to the change. Short-term wins validate change and help to counter the resistance. But if you shortcut the first four steps, the change effort begins to collapse and creates frustration.
AWARE: Are there other issues to consider?
KOTTER: Yes. When making a big change, you're asking people to think and act differently. It's not an engineering problem - you're not just dropping in a bunch of hardware. Traditional management techniques might work if you're making small changes. With large-scale change, you need many people helping. Change of such magnitude demands energy and commitment and the process has to be quite different.
In The Heart of Change, I note that change is not just an intellectual process. It's a head, hand and heart process. Traditional approaches don't attend to the heart, but it is a huge factor. By winning over the hearts and minds of people, great leaders produce a lot of change.
John P. Kotter is the Konosuke Matsuhita Professor of Leadership Emeritus at Harvard Business School. He is widely regarded as the world's foremost authority on how the best organizations "do" change. Professor Kotter's international bestseller Leading Change has become the change bible for managers around the world. He is a renowned speaker and the author of 17 books, a collection that has garnered him more honors and awards than any other writer on the topics of leadership and change. Professor Kotter can be reached at jkotter@hbs.edu.
