The phrase “There are only two certainties in life, death and taxes” is widely used and whilst I’m not sure where it originated, I would like to bring it up to date for the 21^st century and add a third certainty – CHANGE.  

 It is fair to say that the world we live in presents us all with change on a daily basis.  Think about how your recycling habits have evolved as a result of a changing environment, and how as a consumer shopping habits have changed with the internet transforming so many aspects of our community.

So if we live in a world where change appears to be an accepted part of every day life, why does is cause so many issues in the business environment? 

In business we are constantly asked to improve the infrastructure we work within and yet in my experience change management is the one area guaranteed to strike equal measures of fear and exhilaration into the heart of an organisation.

Organisations know that change is necessary and yet so many fall at the first hurdle of structuring a change requirement successfully. The reality is that change brings choices and the responsibility of making the right one can sometimes be overwhelming.

Much has been written on the subject of change, and various models of change proposed, and in all honesty it is difficult to choose a model that stands out head and shoulders from the rest, but from my perspective I know that the theories introduced by John Kotter, a professor at Harvard Business School, in his 1996 book “Leading Change” have saved me many a sleepless night when I have been asked to implement a programme of change and have not had a clue where to start.  

Kotter has introduced an eight-step process of successful change, outlining a framework that is easily adapted to fit most organisations.  After criticism that “Leading Change” was heavily geared towards change introduced from a “top-down” perspective, Kotter turned his eight-step process into an allegory titled Our Iceberg Is Melting making it accessible to a broad range of people.

To whet your appetite I have attached a summary of the 8-Step Process of Successful Change extracted from John Kotter’s website:  www.ouricebergismelting.com

I hope you enjoy the insight the 8-Step Process provides and that it helps you build your armoury against the change challenges you can be sure will present themselves to you all!

Yours sincerely, but ever changing

 The Change Agent (licensed to transform)

Email : thechangeagent@coachingcosmos.com

  SEE JOHN KOTTERS GREAT BOOKS HERE : KOTTER AND CHANGE

The 8-Step Process of Successful Change

SET THE STAGE
1. Create a Sense of Urgency.
Help others see the need for change and the importance of acting immediately.
2. Pull Together the Guiding Team.
Make sure there is a powerful group guiding the change—one with leadership skills, bias for action, credibility, communications ability, authority, analytical skills.

DECIDE WHAT TO DO
3. Develop the Change Vision and Strategy.
Clarify how the future will be different from the past, and how you can make that future a reality.
MAKE IT HAPPEN
4. Communicate for Understanding and Buy-in.
Make sure as many others as possible understand and accept the vision and the strategy.
5. Empower Others to Act.
Remove as many barriers as possible so that those who want to make the vision a reality can do so.
6. Produce Short-Term Wins.
Create some visible, unambiguous successes as soon as possible.
7. Don’t Let Up.

Press harder and faster after the first successes. Be relentless with instituting change after change until the vision becomes a reality.

MAKE IT STICK

8. Create a New Culture.

Hold on to the new ways of behaving, and make sure they succeed, until they become a part of the very culture of the group.