As one of David Bowie's greatest singles puts it:
John Kotter believes that buried very deep within everyone is the desire to be a hero [even if for only one day]:
In echo of Bowie's lyric he suggests that this might only mean being a hero for one day, but he stresses that the cumulative effect of many such small actions is a significant factor in enabling organisations to change. According to Kotter the strategy network and the hierarchy co-exist equally.Core to the strategy network are eight 'accelerators' which enable the network to function, and which you'll recognize from the 8-step process originally proposed by Kotter in 1996.John Kotter still refers to these on the Kotter International website as the 8-step process for Leading Change.Kotter continues to recognize the importance of creating a sense of urgency in order to avoid complacency regarding change. John Kotter suggests, that for change to be successful, at least 75% of a company's management needs to "buy into" the change. John Kotter believes that one reason for the catastrophic 70% failure rate of all change initiatives is the leaders do not create a positive sense of urgency around what they are doing. Donât declare victory too soon. … High risk change that requires speed, agility and innovation to deal with threats or to take advantage of opportunities is dealt with by the network using the eight accelerators.John Kotter describes three main differences between the eight steps and the eight accelerators:Kotter introduces the concept of the Big Opportunity in Accelerate (2014) as the core around which the 8-step process is focused.Focusing action on a big opportunity helps attract the 'volunteer army' of those employees who are motivated to make a difference in this area and sustains the sense of urgency needed to accomplish the vision.Leave your thoughts below and keep in touch by visiting our If you purchase a product or service through a link on this site we may receive a small commission atAs an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. His catchphrase in the 2012 HBR article 'Accelerate' is "Never let up. He cites the example of a company installing a new software system and suggests that the leader should be saying:
Ultimately, Kotter believes that (a) outward focused "good" urgency energizes people and enables to generate positive emotions and (b) it is the responsibility of the leader to model this by example. 1. Harvard professor John Kotter changed the way we first looked at “change” in organizations back in 1996. John Kotter introduced his eight-step change process in his 1995 book, "Leading Change." This is not a case in which new realities mean that old ideas are no longer valid.
"The basic structure is self explanatory: hierarchy on one side and network on the other. Feelings are a powerful motivator.The penguin metaphor worked well and you'll still see pictures of penguins associated with John Kotter's material and on his website.Kotter's model is a leading model of change, so why update it? Now 16 years later, he has republished the book with updates.
… It needs to be normalized in the culture of the organization and the link made between the change and organizational success. Known as the father of change management, Kotter’s research developed an 8-step process to help leaders face the challenge of change. This then needs to be encapsulated in a powerful one or two sentence summary. This may be accurate over long time spans of hundreds of years, but in the present the rate of change is continually increasing. As change leader, this is all about your continuous efforts to ensure that the change is seen in every aspect of your organisation. John Kotter addresses a major challenge facing modern business leaders - how to act quickly and remain relevant in highly competitive environments. The network side mimics successful enterprises in their entrepreneurial phase, before there were organization charts showing reporting relationships, before there were formal job descriptions and status levels." Methods to ensure leadership development and succession need to be integrated in the organization.The 8-step process continues to be used within the hierarchy to manage 'normal' change processes. Here he develops the theme from the first step of "Leading Change" and highlights the 2 types of urgency:
This is the urgency born of the "knee jerk" reaction and is fear based. As Kotter says:
Good leaders will, with the greatest sense of urgency, pay attention to the internal metrics of their business but they are much more focused and much more interested in what's happening on the outside:
John Kotter believes that all meetings should reference what is happening in the external world - or not take place! John Kotter, thought-leader in the fields of business, management and change, outlined an 8-Step Change Model to create lasting transformations within an organisation. Each stage acknowledges a key principle identified by Kotter relating to people's response and approach to change, and in which people see, feel and then change. This is where you - and your coalition team - talk about progress every chance you get. The the concept of the 'Big Opportunity' is introduced as a focus that the organization should align with and constantly reinforce.The Guiding Coalition is central to the network and consists of volunteers representing all levels, departments and skills in the hierarchy. When asked, in a recent interview, about the importance of leadership in successfully unleashing "the heart of change", John Kotter said:
In his seminal 1995 book "Leading Change" John Kotter introduced his eight-step change process, the first of which is to create urgency. They dive straight into a low level project based attempt at
This "good" urgency is all about a constant focus on the external risks and opportunities.