The name John Kotter is frequently mentioned in discussions about change management. This is well-deserved, as Dr. Kotter—an author, Professor of Leadership Emeritus, and CEO of Kotter International—is recognized as a leading expert in leadership and change management. He is particularly known for his 8-step model, a proven methodology for embedding change within organizations. Many organizational leaders utilize this model to ensure long-term success and stability during periods of change. Product Managers who aspire to become successful Product Leaders should definitely consider understanding and applying Kotter’s 8-step model in their practices.
The eight stages of the model are as follows:
- Establish a sense of urgency.
- Form a powerful guiding coalition.
- Create a vision.
- Communicate the vision.
- Empower others to act on the vision.
- Plan for and create short-term wins.
- Consolidate improvements and produce more change.
- Institutionalize new approaches.
In the following sections, we will explore these eight steps in greater detail by reviewing their objectives and discussing the barriers that may be encountered at each stage.
Establish a sense of urgency – Step 1
The first step in initiating a transformation program is to establish a sense of urgency. This step is crucial for developing a strong understanding of the need for change and motivating individuals within the organization. As Kotter (2007) stated, “This first step is essential because just getting a transformation program started requires the aggressive cooperation of many individuals. Without motivation, people won’t help, and the effort goes nowhere.” Change often involves others, and if they do not recognize the need for it, your efforts are likely to stall before they even begin. The objective of this stage is to clearly outline the problem and highlight the pain and frustration associated with the current status quo.
As you navigate this stage, it’s important to collect facts and data to support your observations. Encourage people to step out of their comfort zones and foster a sense of urgency for change. Be careful not to rush through this step or assume it is already complete, as it can be challenging to motivate individuals to leave their comfort zones. Remember that change inherently requires the development of new systems, which calls for strong leadership. A sense of urgency is essential; if the urgency level is not sufficiently raised, the transformation process is unlikely to succeed.
Form a powerful guiding coalition – Step 2
The second step is to form a powerful guiding coalition. This involves creating a team of influential people who will support the change initiative. This team will help facilitate the change and ensure it spreads throughout the organization. It’s crucial to have the right individuals on board. The ideal team members should believe in the change, understand its importance, and be able to inspire others to embrace the change.
Successfully completing this step requires forming a team that maintains a strong sense of urgency. In addition to having members from various departments, the team should include individuals from different organizational levels, as well as those who have direct or indirect influence. While senior managers typically form the core of the group, it can also be beneficial to include board members, representatives from key customers, or even influential union leaders who can significantly contribute to the cause.
Barriers to this step include: 1. Underestimating the challenges of implementing change and the importance of having a coalition. 2. Misidentifying the wrong people for the team, such as those who do not support the initiative or who lack a team-oriented mindset. Lastly, product leaders aiming to drive change should not expect others to help them build their coalition; they need to take the initiative themselves if they want to achieve their desired outcomes.
Create a vision – Step 3
The third step is both enjoyable and important, as it involves creating a clear and compelling vision for the future. This step focuses on formulating that vision and identifying the specific actions needed to achieve it. A strong vision is essential for driving change because it represents what people can rally around and aspire to achieve. If the vision is unclear, it can leave people confused and disconnected from the change initiative. A confusing or vague vision often leads to a series of incompatible projects that steer the organization away from its objectives. Therefore, the vision must be easy to understand and communicate.
When envisioning the future, it’s crucial to recognize that developing a vision takes time. Collaborate with your team to thoroughly understand all the variables and implications impacted by the change initiative. One common pitfall in this step is rushing to develop a vision without fully understanding these implications. This often results in a vision that lacks conciseness and is burdened with excessive detail. As Kotter states in his article “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail,” “If you can’t communicate the vision to someone in five minutes or less and obtain a response that indicates both understanding and interest, you aren’t finished with this phase of the transformation process” (2007).
Communicate the vision – Step 4
In the fourth step, we focus on communicating the vision. This goes beyond simply announcing it; it’s about embracing and embodying that vision. It requires us to repeat it daily and utilize every available communication channel. Successful change leaders actively strive to serve as a living symbol of the new corporate culture (Kotter, 2007). They represent change and motivate others to follow their example.
The goals of this step are to effectively communicate the vision to all stakeholders—everyone impacted by the change—and to encourage people to step out of their comfort zones. It’s essential to use every possible communication channel.
One of the greatest challenges in this step is undercommunication. If communication is infrequent, it diminishes the sense of urgency and allows influential opponents to voice their objections more loudly, potentially overshadowing your change initiatives. The success of this step relies on conveying the vision in a simple yet effective way. Regardless of how incredible the vision may be, without proper communication, it will struggle to take off.
Interlude
Before we move on to the final four steps of Kotter’s eight-step process, I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on change initiatives you’ve witnessed or participated in. Consider which of these processes were successful and analyze the reasons behind their success. Did they establish a sense of urgency by helping people understand the root of the problem? Were there feelings of pain or discomfort associated with the status quo?
Think about the size of the change team and the diversity of the group involved. What did the vision for the future look like? Did the Product Leader or Change Leader embody this vision?
It’s also crucial to recognize that these steps must occur in sequence. Skipping a step can hinder the success of the change process.
Empowering others to act on the vision – Step 5
The fifth step focuses on taking action. It is crucial to empower others to act on the vision, allowing those most connected to the change to move towards it in their own way. This step requires removing obstacles and barriers that hinder the implementation of the change. If people are instructed to pursue change but face barriers that inhibit their progress, the change will not be effective. Individuals leading the change must have the authority to eliminate these barriers for themselves and for others.
The goal of this stage is to motivate people to take action towards the change and to enable them to remove obstacles that impede the adoption of the change. Barriers may include mental blocks within the individuals tasked with executing the change, structural or organizational obstacles, or issues in the existing systems. Additionally, some people may be resistant to the change initiative and might attempt to sabotage efforts.
Product leaders often find this step challenging. The phrase “responsibility without authority” often arises when change needs to be implemented. In such cases, you may encounter competing commitments—while the change may be your top priority, it may not be the top priority for others. This is where the sense of urgency established earlier becomes important. Individuals without the power to remove barriers or overcome obstacles are likely to give up easily. Furthermore, those in positions of power must address concerns promptly; otherwise, their teams may quickly lose confidence in the new direction.
Simply, motivating others can be difficult, especially when guiding change without formal authority. Support from others, particularly senior leadership, is essential to help advance the change initiative.
Plan for and create short-term wins – Step 6
Now that we’ve empowered others to act on this vision, the next step is to build momentum. Planning for and creating short-term wins is crucial for generating early success, which is necessary to maintain motivation throughout the change process. The key idea is to establish short-term targets instead of focusing solely on one long-term goal.
As a Product Leader, it’s essential to systematically plan for and achieve these small wins, then celebrate them. It’s important to demonstrate that the changes being made are beneficial. Without short-term wins, many people become discouraged and may side with those resisting change (Kotter, 2007).
Short-term wins are vital for sustaining momentum. The challenge is that many people struggle to recognize and plan for these wins. As the Product Leader managing the change, you must be aware of this and strategically plan for wins. Additionally, it’s important to communicate and celebrate these achievements. Remember, without short-term wins, people can become fatigued, lose focus, and question the change initiative. Also, the need to produce short-term wins can help maintain a sense of urgency.
Consolidate improvements & produce more change – Step 7
By this point, we have successfully navigated steps one through six. We began by identifying a problem and creating a sense of urgency, and now we have progressed in our change effort to the point where several small wins have occurred. However, the problem arises when people mistake these wins for the finish line. This brings us to our seventh step: consolidating improvements and producing more change, or as I like to say, “Don’t quit before the game is over.”
Until these changes become deeply embedded in the company culture—a process that can take five to ten years—new approaches remain fragile and vulnerable to regression. It is crucial not to declare victory too soon. In this step, Change Leaders should leverage the credibility gained from earlier wins to implement further changes, eliminate unnecessary processes, and address any remaining resistance.
After a series of short-term wins, celebrations are important, but a quick refocus is necessary to direct efforts toward larger opportunities and bigger wins. Use the momentum created by past achievements to propel forward. If you notice momentum slipping, it could be because steps one, two, or three were not intense enough. Alternatively, it may be that leaders have become complacent and allowed change resistors to reemerge.
What differentiates a Product Leader from a Product Manager is that a Product Leader will not declare victory prematurely. Instead, they will use the credibility gained from short-term wins to tackle even bigger challenges and continue creating positive change within the ecosystem.
Institutionalize new approaches – Step 8
After weeks, months, or even years of effort, we have now reached our final step: institutionalizing new approaches. The eighth step focuses on integrating these changes into the organization’s culture, ensuring they become lasting elements of how we operate. There are three key objectives within this final stage:
- Embed the change initiative into the company culture for all existing and new employees.
- Demonstrate how the activities, attitudes, and behaviors adopted by each individual have contributed to the positive outcomes of the change.
- Ensure that the new generation of change leaders understands the history of what happened and embraces the ongoing change initiative.
A significant amount of work has been accomplished, and failing to anchor these changes in the organization’s culture creates opportunities for old habits to resurface. One effective strategy to address this is to consciously show people how the new approaches, behaviors, and attitudes have improved performance (Kotter, 2007). Regularly reviewing the positive outcomes from the change initiative during monthly or quarterly meetings is an excellent way to communicate success and foster a new culture. Additionally, to solidify buy-in, it is essential for individuals to make connections between their actions and the results achieved. After weeks, months, or years we are now onto our final step – institutionalizing new approaches. The eighth step involves incorporating the changes into the organization’s culture and ensuring they become lasting parts of the way things are done. There are three key objectives within this final stage. They are: 1. to embed the change initiative into the company’s culture for all existing and new employees. 2. To demonstrate how the activities, attitudes, and behaviors adopted by each individual contributed to the positive aspects of the change. And 3. To ensure that the new generation of change leaders understands the history of what happened and buys into the already initiated change initiative.
A great deal of work has taken place and failure to anchor the change in the organization’s culture leaves openings for old ways to re-emerge. One way to navigate this is to “make a conscious attempt[s] to show people how the new approaches, behaviors, and attitudes have helped improve performance” (Kotter, 2007). Reviewing the positives gained out of the change initiative at monthly or quarterly meetings is a perfect way to communicate success and instill a new culture. One additional consideration is to solidify buy-in, people need to build connections between their activities and the results achieved.
Conclusion
Leading a change initiative is not simple, and very few people would describe it as easy. The various factors involving people, processes, and systems create a complex ecosystem that must be navigated strategically. Fortunately, Dr. Kotter has developed a framework that helps individuals create, navigate, and implement change after years of research.
A key advantage of Kotter’s model, compared to others, is its ability to provide a structured yet flexible approach to understanding change. Kotter’s model breaks down change into eight well-defined stages, each of which is necessary for understanding and facilitating change. The flexibility of the model lies in its eight steps; there are enough stages to differentiate essential activities without being overly complicated.
This article briefly explores these eight steps, highlighting their objectives and potential barriers encountered at each stage. If you found this information intriguing, I encourage you to continue your educational journey by exploring Kotter’s books, Leading Change (2012) and Our Iceberg is Melting (2006).
Lastly, it is important to remember that time is an ally when dealing with change. While working with Kotter’s model, it’s crucial that we do not skip or rush through the steps. All steps must be acknowledged, embraced, and executed sequentially for the change to be successful.