Leading Change - John Kotter (2012)

Leading Change was first published in 1996 and quickly became a best seller.  The 2012 edition included a new preface where the author highlighted how the need for agile and change-oriented organizations is even more essential today.  Kotter noted that the ability to lead change was needed at every level within an organization, not just at top management.

Kotter began by identifying eight mistakes that change leaders often make.  These mistakes can lead to disappointing results, if not absolute failure.  The mistakes include:

1.  Allowing too much complacency.

2.  Failure to establish a sufficiently powerful guiding coalition.

3.  Underestimating the power of vision.

4.  Under communicating the vision.

5.  Permitting obstacles to block the new vision.

6.  Failing to create short-term wins.

7.  Declaring victory too soon.

8.  Neglecting to anchor change firmly in the corporate culture.

Some of the consequences of these mistakes can lead to:

1.  New strategies not being implemented well.

2.  Acquisitions not achieving expected synergies.

3.  Re-engineering taking too long and costing too much.

4.  Downsizing not getting costs under control.

5.  Quality programs not delivering hoped for results.

Kotter distinguished Management and Leadership.  

Management: "a set of processes that can keep a complicated system of people and technology running smoothly."

Leadership: "a set of processes that creates organization in the first place or adapts them to significantly changing circumstances."

Quote: "Inwardly focused employees can have difficulty seeing the very forces that present threats and opportunities."

The Eight Step Process

1.  Establishing a sense of urgency.  Fight complacency while avoiding panic.

2.  Creating the guiding coalition.  Must have members with real power.

3.  Developing a vision and strategy. Needs to be simple and jargon-free.

4.  Communicating the change vision.  Repetitive.

5.  Empowering employees for broad-based action.  Simply stating that they are empowered is not sufficient.  They must be prepared.

6.  Generating short-term wins.  Visible, unambiguous and clearly related to the change effort.  Note: People do not plan adequately for these wins because they are overwhelmed.

7.  Consolidating gains and producing more change.

8.  Anchoring new approaches in the culture. This comes at the end of a transformation, not at the beginning.