Leading Change

John P. Kotter is Professor of Leadership at the Harvard Business School. He has written several books and articles on general management and leadership issues. This particular book builds on his 1995 Harvard Business Review-article 'Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail'.The book is split up into three parts. In the first part - The Change Problem and Its Solution - Kotter discusses the eight main reasons why in many situations the improvements have been disappointing, with wasted resources and burned-out, scared, or frustrated employees. Each of these eight errors are discussed in detail, using simple, clear examples. "Making any of the eight errors in common to transformation efforts can have serious consequences." But Kotter argues that these errors are not inevitable. And this is why Kotter has written this book. "The key lies in understanding why organizations resist needed change, what exactly is the multistage process that can overcome destructive inertia, and, most of all, how the leadership that is required to drive that process in a socially healthy way means more than good management." In Chapter 2, Kotter discusses the reasons why organizations (can) need changes and improvements. Although some people suggest otherwise, Kotter believes that organizations can implement change successfully. "The methods used in successful transformations are all based on one fundamental insight: that major change will not happen easily for a long list of reasons." Kotter introduces an eight-stage process for creating major change.This eight-stage process is discussed in Part Two of this book:(1) The first stage of the process involves the establishment of a sense of urgency, which is required to overcome complacency. The nine sources of complacency are discussed, whereby Kotter emphasizes that "a good rule of thumb in a major change effort is: Never underestimate the magnitude of the forces that reinforce complacency and that help maintain the status quo." He further discusses methods for raising urgency levels, the role of crises, and the role of middle and lower-level managers.(2) The second stage involves the creation of a guiding coalition. "A strong guiding coalition is always needed - one with the right composition, level of trust, and shared objective." According to the author the four key characteristics to effective guiding coalition are position power, expertise, credibility, and leadership. And he emphasizes that management and leadership must work in tandem, teamwork style. (3) The third stage requires the development of a vision and strategy. Good vision clarifies the general direction for change, motivates people to take action in the right direction, and it helps coordinate people's actions. The characteristics of an effective vision are imaginable, desirable, feasible, focused, flexible, and communicable. But vision alone is not enough. "This is where strategy plays an important role. Strategy provides both logic and a first

"Over the past decade," John P. Kotter writes, "I have watched more than a hundred companies try to remake themselves into significantly better competitors. They have included large organizations (Ford) and small ones (Landmark Communications), companies based in United States (General Motors) and elsewhere (British Airways), corporations that were on their knees (Eastern Airlines), and companies that were earning good money (Bristol-Myers Squibb). Their efforts have gone under many banners: total quality management, reengineering, right-sizing, restructuring, cultural change, and turnaround. But in almost every case the basic goal has been the same: to make fundamental changes in how business is conducted in order to help cope with a new, more challenging market environment. A few of these corporate change efforts have been very successful. A few have been utter failures. Most fall somewhere in between, with a distinct tilt toward the lower end of the scale. The lessons that can be drawn are interesting and will probably be relevant to even more organizations in the increasingly competitive business environment of the coming decade."In this context, John P. Kotter lists the most general lessons to be learned from both (I) the more successful cases and (II) the critical mistakes as follows:I. Lessons from the more successful cases:1. Establishing a sense of urgency* Examining market and competitive realities* Identifying and discursing crises, potential crises, or major opportunities2. Forming a powerful guiding coalition* Assembling a group with enough power to lead the change effort* Encouraging the group to work together as a team3. Creating a vision* Creating a vision to help direct the change effort* Developing strategies for achieving that vision4. Communicating vision* Using every vehicle possible to communicate the new vision and strategies* Teaching new behaviors by the example of the guiding coalition5. Empowering others to act on the vision* Getting rid of obstancles to change* Changing systems or structures that seriously undermine the vision* Encouraging risk taking and nontraditional ideas, activities, and actions6. Planning for and creating short-term wins* Planning for visible performance improvements* Creating those improvements* Recognizing and rewarding employees involved in the improvements7. Consolidating improvements and producing still more change* Using increased credibility to change systems, structures, and policies that don't fit the vision* Hiring, promoting, and developing employees who can implement the vision* Reinvigorating the process with new projects, themes, and change agents8.Institutionalizing new approaches* Articulating the connections between the new behaviors and corporate success* Developing the means to ensure leadership development and successionII. Lessons from the critical mistakes: 1. Not establishing enough sense of urgency - A transformation program requires the aggressive cooperation of many indi

Transforming organizations is tough! It is more difficult than many people realize. Generally, leaders attempt change efforts that are too mild and then give them too little time to succeed. As a result, many transformations fail.Even though this book was published four years ago, it is still on the cutting edge of modern, linear change in organizations. In my own consulting work I see this book--more than any other--used as a reference point when dicussing change strategies.Kotter's ideas of establishing a sense of urgency and creating a guiding coalition brought great insight to the part of the change process known as readiness. Another great contribution is the idea that culture--being the most difficult thing to change--is generally the last change tackled, and the capping change that must take place for true lasting change to occur.John Kotter begins this book by sharing why transformation efforts fail. He then takes the reader on a journey through an eight stage process of creating major change. He concludes this three-part book with a look at the implications for the twenty-first cnetury related to organizations and leadership.Any facilitator or recipient of change efforts who has not read this book, has missed one of the mandatory books about the change process in North American culture. Buy it today!

The leaders of some organizations have no idea how to make successful changes, and are likely to waste a lot of resources on unsuccessful efforts. Professor Kotter has done a solid job of outlining the elements that must be addressed, so now your organization will at last know what they should be working on.On the other hand, if you have not seen this done successfully before, you may need more detailed examples than this book provides or outside facilitators to help you until you have enough experience to go solo. I suspect this book will not be detailed enough by itself to get you where you want to go.Here's a hint: The Harvard Business Review article by Professor Kotter covers the same material in a much shorter form. You can save time and money by checking this out first before buying the book.I personally find that measurements are very helpful to create self-stimulation to change, and this book does not pay enough attention in that direction. If you agree that measurements are a useful way to stimulate change, be sure to read The Balanced Scorecard, as well, which will help you understand how to use appropriate measurements to make more successful changes. If you want to know what changes to make, this book will also not do it for you. I suggest you read Peter Drucker's Management Challenges for the 21st Century and Peter Senge's Fifth Discipline. Good luck!

This invaluable reading helped me navigate through the numerous challenges encountered when establishing a long term direction for my organization. Kotter does an excellent job in breaking down the basic elements to developing a success vision. Most importantly, his book leads you into a self evaluation of your personal traits, skills , and leadership style and how they support or encumber your goal achieving process. I believe "Leading Change" is a must read for those of us who think we are high performers and certainly recommend it for pre-interview brush ups.