The 8 Steps Process for Change

Step 1: Create A Sense Of Urgency

In order to build the business case internally and build momentum within the entire organization, a Change Agent must appeal to and influence both Thinking (our new Rational brains) and Feeling (our older Reptilian brains).

• Make a compelling story.
• Use of metaphors, analogies, and imagery.
• Use simple language and avoid jargon and acronyms.
• Frequent, consistent, and aligned communication.
• Energy and enthusiasm are infused throughout.
• Careful use of data – don’t overuse it.
• Do your homework to understand what people are feeling.
• Rid the channels of communication of junk so that important messages come through.
• High level of visibility.
• Bring the outside in.
• Communicate with what you DO not just what you SAY.

Step 2: Build A Guiding Coalition

This step involves pulling together a group with enough power to lead change. 

• It must have the right composition, a significant level of trust, and a strong shared objective. 
• The elimination of the individualistic ego, and the fortitude to work through ongoing inertia.
• The Guiding Coalition should feature the following four qualities:
• Position Power:  Enough key players should be on board so that those left out cannot block progress.
• Expertise:  All relevant points of view should be represented so that informed intelligent decisions can be made.
• Credibility:  The group should be seen and respected by those in the firm so that the group’s pronouncements will be taken seriously by other employees.
• Leadership:  The group should have enough proven leaders to be able to drive the change process.

Step 3: Form A Change Vision

In this step, the Guiding Coalition needs to clarify how the future will be different from the past. This is achieved through an organizational vision. 

Kotter outlines six characteristics of effective visions:

• Imaginable: They convey a clear picture of what the future will look like.
• Desirable: They appeal to the long-term interest of those who have a stake in the enterprise.
• Feasible: They contain realistic and attainable goals.
• Focused: They are clear enough to provide guidance in decision-making.
• Flexible: They allow individual initiative and alternative responses in light of changing conditions.
• Communicable: They are easy to communicate and can be explained quickly.

Step 4: Communicate The Vision For Buy In

In this step, the guiding coalition needs to ensure that as many people as possible understand and accept the vision. A good rule of thumb is to amplify communication of the vision by a factor of ten.  A single memo or series of speeches by the CEO will not cut it - it needs to be communicated in hour-by-hour activities and anywhere and everywhere - referred to in emails, meetings, and presentations.

Kotter outlines some guidelines for communicating the vision. These are:

• Simple: No techno babble or jargon.
• Vivid: A verbal picture is worth a thousand words – use metaphor, analogy, and example.
• Repeatable: Ideas should be able to be spread by anyone to anyone.
• Invitational: Two-way communication is always more powerful than one-way communication.
• Again, keep the Golden Circle in mind as a reference point.
• Actions definitely speak louder than words. An entire team of senior managers who do this sends a powerful message which can inspire confidence, decrease cynicism and change internal cultures.

Step 5: Empower Broad-Based Action

After the vision has been defined and communicated, the organization needs to remove as many barriers as possible and unleash its employees to do their best work.

• Structural Barriers. 
• Internal structures within an organization can often be at odds with the change vision. 
• This again is manifested as bloated middle management, siloed departments, and an over-emphasis on managers over makers.
• Two strategies work here. 
• First, realign incentives and performance appraisals to reward and reflect the thing you most value as a business. 
• Second, concentrate on improving management information systems. 
• The goal is to speed up feedback loops and provide the information necessary for employees to do their jobs more efficiently.
• Supervisory Barriers
• This basically refers to troublesome supervisors. 
• They are often defined by locked, one-sided mental models or a large number of interrelated habits that add up to an inability to accept change.

Step 6: Generate Short-Term Wins

This step is predicated upon generating and making visible unambiguous success as soon as possible. It is critical to driving short-term wins in any long-term change effort.

• The Guiding Coalition should be tasked with identifying significant improvements within 6 to 18 months. 
• Experience significant short-term wins by fourteen and twenty-six months after the change initiative is much more likely to complete the transformation.

Step 7: Sustain Momentum - Don’t Give Up!

Consolidating gains and producing more incremental change. This stage is vastly improved with strong leadership. Transformational leaders will strive to launch more and more projects to drive change deeper into the organization, and more importantly, become part of the organization’s culture. A lack of consistent and sufficient leadership runs the risk of stalling plans.

Kotter outlines a good checklist that appears at this stage in a lot of successful change organizations:

• More projects are being added.
• Additional people are being brought in to help with the changes.
• Senior leadership is focused on giving clarity to an aligned vision and shared purpose.
• Employees are empowered at all levels to lead projects.
• Reduced interdependencies between areas.
• Constant effort to keep urgency high.
• Consistent show of proof that the new way is working.

Step 8: Institute Culture Change - Make It Stick

Kotter outlines a checklist for Culture:

• Cultural change should come last, not first.
• You must be able to prove that the new way is superior to the old.
• The success must be visible and well communicated.
• You will lose some people in the process.
• You must reinforce new norms and values with incentives and rewards – including promotions.
• Reinforce the culture with every new employee.

References 

• Kotter 8 Step Process for Change — MATTYFORD