Leading Changeby

John P. Kotter

Basic Premise

• The amount of significant, often traumatic, change in organizations has grown tremendously over the past two decades (www = 1991)

• Powerful macroeconomic forces are at work here, and these forces will grow even stronger

• A significant amount of the waste and anguish associated with change is avoidable

8 Errors in Leading Change

1. Allowing Too Much Complacency (Rotary’s #1 Enemy)

2. Failing to Create a Sufficiently Powerful Guiding Coalition

3. Underestimating the Power of Vision(or the vacuum if one is lacking)

4. Undercommunicating the Vision by a Factor of 10 (or 100 or even 1,000)

8 Errors in Leading Change

5. Permitting Obstacles to Block the New Vision (including elder naysayers)

6. Failing to Create Short-Term Wins

7. Declaring Victory Too Soon

8. Neglecting to Anchor Changes Firmly in the Organizational Culture

Error #1 - Allowing Too Much Complacency

1. Insufficient sense of urgency

2. Lack of visible crises

3. Low expectations

4. Acceptance of mediocrity

Error #1 - Allowing Too Much Complacency

Providing Excuses

Error #2 - Failing to Create a Sufficiently Powerful Guiding Coalition

1. Not including influential “thought leaders” from the membership

2. Getting hijacked by group dynamics vs. conversations with individuals

Error #3 - Underestimating the Power of Vision

1. Plans, programs and procedures in lieu of Vision

2. A Vision that takes more than 5 minutes to describe

3. A Vision that isn’t sufficiently compelling to excite and inspire the membership

Error #4 - Undercommunicating the Vision by a Factor of 10 (or 100 or 1000)

1. Making only a few announcements or sending out only a few emails• Surprised when people don’t seem to

understand

2. President making speeches – Board silent • Not enough reinforcement

3. Visible members’ behavior is counter to the Vision

Error #5 - Permitting Obstacles to Block the New Vision

1. Lack of organizational support (an effective membership committee)

2. Lack of recognition systems

3. Lip service (or worse) from influential members

4. Elder naysayers

Error #6 - Failing to Plan for & Create Short-Term Wins

1. Don’t plan for achievable short-term results

2. Doesn’t boost the credibility of the change initiative

3. Fail to establish intermediate goals

4. Ignore those who achieve the objectives

5. Fail to reward those involved

Error #7 - Declaring Victory Too Soon

1. Confusing short-term wins with victory – initiators go overboard

2. Resisters breathe a sigh of relief

3. Failure to maintain the sense of urgency

4. Failure to have follow-on projects planned and ready

Error #8 - Neglecting to Anchor Changes Firmly in the Culture

1. Failing to show people how changes have improved things – make the connections for them

2. Letting changes be perceived as a 1-time “program”

3. Making succession decisions that don’t support the new culture

8- Stage Process for Change

1. Establishing a sense of urgency

2. Creating the guiding coalition

3. Developing a Vision and Strategy

4. Communicating the change Vision

8-Stage Process for Change

5. Empowering (expecting) a broad base of members to take action

6. Generating short-term wins

7. Consolidating gains and producing even more change

8. Institutionalizing new attitudes in the culture

Stage 1 – Establishing a Sense of Urgency

1. Recalibrate expectations – Status Quo is not an acceptable future

Doing more of what we’re doing will get us more of what we have

2. Eliminate “happy talk” – Don’t end with “but we’re OK”

3. Create a crisis

My Change Leadership Challenge

1. Describe the most pressing change leadership challenge in your life right nowa) Situation or problem in a group of which

you’re a member that you could influenceb) The change you’d like to make – how would

you like this situation to be different?

2. Pair off3. Person on left – explain your challenge4. Person on right is the coach – asks

clarifying questions

My Change Leadership Challenge

• Questions: – What convinces you this is a problem that needs

changing? – What happens if you don't get this changed?– Is this really the best solution to this problem - are

there other options? – What's the biggest benefit of getting this done? – How will you create a crisis? What crisis?

5. Switch roles

Stage 2 – Creating a PowerfulGuiding Coalition

1. Assemble a small (2-3) group of like-minded thought leaders

2. Create trust

3. Develop a common goal

My Guiding Coalition

1. Name members of your Guiding Coalition

2. Identify their roles

3. Describe how you’ll ask them to help

Stage 3 – Creating a Vision

VERSION #1: Our goal is to reduce our mean time to repair parameters so that they are perceptually lower than all major competitors inside the United States and out. In a similar vein, we have targeted new-product development cycle times, order process times, and other customer-relevant processes for change.

VERSION #2: We are going to become faster than anyone in our industry at satisfying customer needs

Stage 3 – Creating a Vision

VERSION #1: Our Rotary club will continue its legacy of community service, utilizing our influential membership to assist agencies in our community to achieve their missions

VERSION #2: Our Rotary club will be the growing, effective, vibrant force in our community, making it a better place to live

Stage 3 – Creating a Vision

Or: More Rotarians, doing

more projects, in

more of the world

The clubs of Rotary District 7750 will grow in membership, leadership depth and financial support, accelerating our pace of doing good in

both our local communities and the world

Stage 3 – Creating a Vision

Characteristics of an Effective Vision 1. Imaginable -- A picture of the future 2. Desirable -- Appeals to the long-term

interests of stakeholders 3. Feasible -- Realistic, attainable goals4. Focused -- Guides decision making5. Flexible -- Allows initiative 6. Communicable -- Can be successfully

explained within five minutes

My Vision

1. Take your first pass at describing your Vision for this change challenge

2. Same coaching partner3. Person on right – describe your Vision4. Person on left is the coach – help your

partner make it:– More inspiring– More compelling– Crisper– Tighter

Stage 4 – Communicating the Vision

Stage 4 – Communicating the Vision

Key elements in the effective communication of vision1. Simplicity -- All jargon and technobabble eliminated2. Metaphor, analogy, and example -- A verbal picture 3. Multiple forums -- Big meetings and small, memos and

newsletters, formal and informal interaction4. Repetition5. Leadership by example -- Behavior from important

people 6. Explanation of seeming inconsistencies7. Give-and-take -- Two-way

KEYS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

– Situation• Explain current facts

– Problem• “The problem with that is…..”

– Implication• “That means……”

– Need• “Therefore, we need to……”

Stage 4 – Communicating the Vision

SPIN Example

– Situation“Our club has been on a steady downward membership trend, losing an average of 2 members per year for the past 5 years.”

– Problem“The problem with that is the club has learned to accept membership decline as a natural occurrence and has forgotten that growth, not attrition, is the goal.”

Stage 4 – Communicating the Vision

SPIN Example

– Implication“If we stay on this track, we’re going to find ourselves with steadily smaller meetings and potential members asking, “Is this really a group I want to be a part of?”“Once we lose the ability to attract members, it’s only a matter of time until we all age out together and the club goes out of business.”

Stage 4 – Communicating the Vision

SPIN Example

– Need“Therefore, we need to help the members understand that growing the club is essential to our survival. “We need to help them understand that attracting more members is in everyone’s best interest, including the new members.“We need to provide a compelling VISION of a growing, vibrant club and inspire them to make it that way”

Keys to Effective Communication

SPIN ExampleYour Vision Communication Plan

– Situation• Explain current facts

– Problem• “The problem with that is…..”

– Implication• “That means……”

– Need• “Therefore, we need to……”

Communicating the Vision

1. Build your SPIN script

2. Change partners – person on the left end moves around the table

3. Partner on right delivers SPIN script

4. Partner on left makes excuses for the status quo – suggests obstacles you can anticipate

5. Switch roles

Stage 5 -- Empowering Others to Act

1. Communicate a sensible vision to members -- If members have a shared sense of purpose, it will be easier to initiate actions to achieve that purpose

2. Provide the training members need -- Without the right skills and attitudes, people feel disempowered

3. Provide data and scorecards to track progress

4. Confront members who undercut your vision -- Nothing disempowers people the way a bad example can

Stage 6 – Planning & Creating Short-Term Wins

The role of short-term wins1. Provide evidence that the effort is worth it2. Reward achievers with a pat on the back3. Help fine-tune vision and strategies -- Short-

term wins give the guiding coalition concrete data

4. Undermine cynics and self-serving resisters -- Clear improvements make it difficult to block change

5. Keep believers on board -- Provide evidence 6. Build momentum -- Turns neutrals into

supporters, reluctant supporters into active helpers, etc.

Short-Term Wins

1. List ideas for short-term wins

2. Share with your partner

3. Partner – Suggest others you can think of

4. Switch roles

Stage 7 -- Consolidating Gains and Producing Still more Change

1. More change, not less -- Use credibility from short-term wins

2. More help -- More people drawn into the process of improving the club

3. Leadership from senior management – Club leaders focus on maintaining clarity and keeping urgency up

4. Leadership from below – Invite newer or less-engaged members to take part

5. Reduce Impediments – Ask “What’s getting in the way?” and fix that

Stage 8 -- Institutionalizing New Attitudes into the Culture

1. Culture comes last, not first2. Depends on results – Proof that new

approaches work and are superior to old3. Requires a lot of talk4. May involve turnover – May need to drop

members to change culture