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Why do so many major change projects fail?
Leading Change by John Kotter has become a classic among management books because it clearly answers this question. Kotter starts by listing eight reasons why major organisational change initiatives fail. These are:
Allowing too much Complacency
Failing to Create a sufficiently powerful Guiding Coalition
Underestimating the Power of Vision
Under communicating the Vision (by a factor of 10 or 100)
Permitting Obstacles to block the Vision
Failing to Create Short-Term Wins
Declaring Victory too Soon
Neglecting to Anchor Change in the Corporate Culture
Kotter says that the most important obstacles to major change are structures, systems, skills and supervisors. He then proceeds very logically to give his eight point plan for leading change based on overcoming each of the mistakes above. The process he recommends is:
Establish a Sense of Urgency
Create a Guiding Coalition
Develop a Vision and Strategy
Communicate the Change Vision
Empower Employees for broad-based Action
Generate Short-Term Wins
Consolidate Gains and Produce more Change
Anchor the New Approaches in the Corporate Culture
He clearly explains the why and how for each point and stresses the importance of following this procedure in sequence and of not omitting any steps. Both leadership and management is needed in the process and he shows their different roles. The book is easy to read and the arguments are cogent. There are many examples and stories – though no proper case studies. Overall it is a highly valuable guide to the tough challenge of leading large-scale change.
Paul is a professional keynote conference speaker and expert facilitator on innovation and lateral thinking. He helps companies improve idea generation and creative leadership. His workshops transform innovation leadership skills and generate great ideas for business issues. His recent clients include Airbus, Microsoft, Unilever, Nike, Novartis and Swarovski. He has published 30 books on lateral thinking puzzles, innovation, leadership and problem solving (with over 2 million copies sold). He also acts as link presenter at conferences and facilitator at high level meetings such as a corporate advisory board. He has acted as host or MC at Awards Dinners. Previously, he was CEO of Monactive, VP International of MathSoft and UK MD of Ashton-Tate. He recently launched a series of podcast interviews entitled Insights from Successful People.
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