Kotter's 8 Steps - An epiphany.

Yesterday I listened to a webinar by John Kotter and colleagues from Kotter International ( Click for webinar ) on "leading change through turbulent times". It talks about his experience and insights into how leading companies have successfully achieved transformational change and offers a 8 step process. ( Leading Change ).

I first encountered this work at a previous employer where although not explicitly stated it was clear the new(!) CEO was trying to use it with his new (!) executive team. Not only was a Harvard Business Review article used at an executive offsite, one could, with a little knowledge, spot the attempts to address each step. It was as if the hope was that if one could do a little of each, tick all the boxes so to speak, then it would work.

Personally I would say that history will judge that it did not work and it was certainly an uncomfortable ride for those who experienced it. I sensed that something was missing, but could not put my finger on what - the webinar has now provided that insight, but I will come to that later.

I will confess to being critical of the book as I felt it allowed the reader to gain the impression that transformational change is easy, something of a predictable formula. This sense of ease has contributed to the poor results. One correspondent on a discussion board stated that they found Kotters 8 steps useful, but primarily to assess what was missing / went wrong after the fact; not before.

The parable version of the book ( Our Iceberg Is Melting ) looks at how a community of penguins reacts when it finds that the iceberg that is its home is melting. It shows how they deal with the change, individually and collectively, and has proved useful in my work by providing a new vocabulary or language to talk to and influence leaders of change.

Now I am sure I won't do full justice to John Kotter's words, so I will try and summarise here and commend that you listen to the webinar; an hour well invested for those leading change.

My summary is that the 8 steps are the sythesis of what Kotter discovered successful companies did to deliver transformational change in an environment where the pace of change, by any number of measures, is increasing exponentially. Kotter however recognises that the eight steps needs something other than the typical hierarchical organisation structure of business. While this structure has grown and been very effective in running and changing business until now, it reaches what he calls a "wall" beyond which it fails to deliver effective change. The "hardware" or structure that is needed is one of linked networks of committed people. These break traditional strata and work outside traditional control mechanisms.

This was the insight I needed. It makes a lot of sense, but still lacks the "how" in relation to creating the new structure. Indeed I wonder how well it can be effected in a regulated line of business where there is an ever increasing focus on control Typically I am thinking about financial services where I work and am very interested in how the FSA or indeed SEC would react to a regulated firm that embraced Kotter's thinking.

I am feeling re-interested in Kotter's ideas and will look at how this new structure can be created and sustained in the type of firms I work with/in. I will also look at my own behaviours in relation to leading change, I am sure I can embrace the new ways.