8 Steps to Manage Change

John P. Kotter, Harvard Business School professor and author of Leading Change and The Heart of Change, describes an 8-step framework involving energy, strategy, commitment, planning, and process design.

Step 1) Establish a Sense of Urgency - What’s the critical need for change?

Step 2) Form a Powerful Guiding Coalition - Who will lead the change effort?

Step 3) Creating a Vision - What’s the ideal outcome of the change?

Step 4) Communicating the Vision - How can you spread the message and get buy-in most effectively?

Step 5) Empowering Others to Act on the Vision - What can each person do to plan for and enact change?

Step 6) Creating Short-Term Wins - How can change be in stages to provide intermediate successes?

Step 7) Consolidating Improvements & Producing Still More Change - What has been learned from changes to date, and what can be even better?

Step 8) Institutionalizing New Approaches - What can be done to make these changes a central part of the way business is done?

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MANAGING CHANGE

Change is all around us in organizations – whether planned or unplanned, voluntary or involuntary. In this context of change, many people feel lost and seem to resist the changing reality around them. But people don’t resist change as much as they resist loss: loss of security, competence, territory, power or direction.

To overcome this resistance, be truthful and share as much information about the change as you can. Explain why change is happening. Help establish a need for, even an urgency for, change. People are more apt to participate in a change effort if the pain of change is less than the pain of maintaining things as they are.

Identify people who can help champion the change. Get your team involved in affecting change by involving them in the planning of the change and design of new processes and procedures that affect them.

People often are overwhelmed by large-scale change, so break down a large initiative into smaller, more manageable steps. Create the possibility of small wins. This can help avoid the common situation when employees are engaged with the idea of change but lose momentum when change appears to take hold slowly. Segmenting the change initiative into multiple steps helps signal progress too.

Keep in mind: people with certain behavior styles are more resistant or fearful of change than others. When introducing change in your team, keep an eye out for those who are concerned about the change and try to get them involved in shaping the new reality as much as possible.

Most people journey through stages of change – Denial, Resistance, Exploration, and Commitment – and there are particular signs you can watch for as you help your team embrace the changes taking place:

Signs of Denial… Expressions of anger, fear, sadness. Extreme skepticism: “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Oversimplification of the change required: “This will be easy.” Focus on how good things used to be. Withdrawal from the team.	How to help… Confront people with information about the need for change. Explain what to expect and things they can do to adjust. Give time to let the reality of the change sink in, then schedule meeting to talk things over.
Signs of Resistance… Expressions of blame, anxiety, anger, depression, loss. Accusations about the company’s intentions: “This company doesn’t care.” Refusal to engage in new ways of business: “They can’t make me do it.” Negative attitudes about the potential for change: “This will never work.”	Avoid letting resistance derail the change by… Listening, and acknowledging employees’ feelings about the changes taking place. Don’t try to talk people out of their feelings or tell them to change. Keep talking, so they’ll tell you how they are feeling; get feelings out. Provide information and be patient.
Signs people have moved out of denial and resistance into the Exploration stage… Attention shifts to the future. Lots of energy but lack of focus: “Let’s try this….” Over-preparation, confusion, chaos. Buy-in to the new way of doing things: “This isn’t so bad….”	Harness and leverage the renewed energy by… Focusing on setting priorities and planning simple steps for success and training. Praising and supporting leaders. Holding brainstorming, visioning, and planning sessions.
Signs that change is being committed to, accepted and embraced include… Better teamwork, focus and cooperation. Positive energy. Focus on the future.	To help solidify the team’s commitment… Set longer term goals, beyond 6 months. Concentrate on team building. Celebrate success. Recognize those who have changed. Learn from experience by reflecting on what worked well and what could have been improved.

Remember, people don’t resist change - they resist loss: loss of security, competence, territory, power or direction. As a manager, there are 5 essential things you can do to help colleagues through a period of change.

1. Tell people the truth.
2. Involve everyone in planning.
3. Explain “why” and instill a sense of urgency
4. Break it into steps.
5. Be patient.