Heart Of Change!

This long weekend [Nov 22-25,2007] had a great opportunity to read [completed:-)] - The Heart of Change by John P. Kotter - [Harvard Biz School prof]. Infact, the book, lying on my manager's desk got my attention at a last minute on eve of long weekend when we were about to leave the office.

Atleast one minimum guarantee of reading management books is - just a feel of optimism -

How "change" (anything,anywhere,anytime) can successfully happen?

1. Increase urgency
2. Build the guiding team
3. Get the vision right
4. Communicate for commitment
5. Empower Action
6. Create Short Term wins
7. Don't Let up
8. Make Change stick

Step 1 -- Increase Urgency
Raising a feeling of urgency is the first and most critical step in a successful change effort. Reports and spreadsheets are not enough, you need to demonstrate actions that shock people into understanding the need for change. An example from the book was a supply chain project where the group leader collected all of the 424 different types of rubber gloves that the company regularly purchased and marked their various prices. They were then prominently displayed throughout the company. This created a buzz and had people saying, "We must do something!"


Core Challenge: Get people out of the bunker and ready to move.

What Works: Create dramatic presentations with compelling objects that people can actually see, touch, and feel; provide evidence from outside the organization that change is required; find cheap and easy ways to reduce complacency

Example: Show employees a videotape of an angry customer rather than handing out a two-page memo filled with negative "customer data"

Desired New Behavior: People start telling each other, "Let's go, we need to change things!"

Step 2 -- Build the Guiding Team
In the past, change was smaller in size and moved slowly. Today, a single individual cannot effectively handle large scale, fast-paced change alone. Step 2 explains how every good change initiative needs a group of influential, effective leaders. It is important to get the right people in place who are fully committed to the change initiative, well-respected within the organization, and have power and influence to drive the change effort at their levels.


Core Challenge: Get the right people in place with the trust, emotional commitment, and teamwork to guide a very difficult change process

What Works: Attract key change leaders by showing enthusiasm and commitment; model the trust and teamwork needed in the group; structure meeting formats that minimize frustration and increase trust

Example: Draft a large, diverse team made up of individuals at all levels and with different skills-rather than bowing to political pressures to leave the task of change in the hands of a small, like-minded "executive group"

Desired New Behavior: A group powerful enough to guide a big change is formed and they start to work together well.

Step 3 -- Get the Vision Right
Urgency is up and leaders are ready to lead…but in what direction? People often have the mistaken perception that a vision is not related to business realities, and is a waste of time. While creating a shared need and urgency for change may push people into action, it is the vision that will steer them into the new direction. Step 3 is all about demonstrating how to provide a relevant vision, and making it work for your change effort.


Core Challenge: Get the guiding team to create the right vision and strategies to guide action in all of the remaining stages of change. This requires moving beyond number-crunching to address the creative and emotional components of vision.

What Works: Literally seeing/visualizing possible futures; visions that are moving; visions that are so clear they can be articulated in one minute or written up on one page; bold strategies that can be executed quickly enough to make the vision a reality.

Example: Marshal people around a compelling service vision that can only be realized by drastically streamlining costs-rather than delivering emotionally depressing and anxiety-producing mandates about slashing expenses.

Desired New Behavior: The guiding team develops the right vision and strategy for the change effort.

Step 4 -- Communicate for Buy-In
It has been said before -- communicate, communicate, communicate! Step 4 is all about communication. Once a vision and strategy have been developed, they must be communicated to the organization in order to gain understanding and buy-in. Sending clear, credible, and heartfelt messages about the direction of change establishes genuine gut-level buy-in, which sets the stage for the following step: getting people to act. This step should be revisited throughout the change effort.


Core Challenge: Get as many people as possible acting to make the vision a reality.

What Works: Keep communication simple and heartfelt; find out what people are really feeling and speak to anxieties, confusion, anger and distrust; rid communication channels of junk so important messages can get through; use new technologies to help people see the vision

Example: Create tools that help people tailor information to their specific needs-rather than forcing more generic memos and reports into over-stuffed email and in-boxes

Desired New Behavior: People begin to buy into the change, and this shows in their behavior.

Step 5 -- Empower Action
Step 5 is all about empowering a broad base of people to take action. Rather than viewing empowerment as handing out power, it should be seen as removing barriers to those whom we want to assist in pushing the change effort. This removing of obstacles should inspire, promote optimism and build confidence around the change effort. Change is not just about the motive, but also the opportunities to achieve change.


Core Challenge: Remove key obstacles that stop people from acting on the vision.

What Works: Bring in experienced change leaders to bolster confidence that the job can be done; create recognition and reward systems that inspire, promote, optimism, and build self-confidence; give constructive feedback; help disempowering managers to powerfully experience the need for change.

Example: To recognize and reward excellence, stage an emotion-filled competition in Hawaii rather than a dry, cerebral event in a New York conference room.

Desired New Behavior: More people feel able to act, and do act, on the vision.

Step 6 -- Create Short-Term Wins

Short-term wins nourish faith in the change effort, emotionally reward the hard workers, keep the critics at bay, and build momentum. Companies often tackle large-scale projects with a view to a big final payoff. Progress is communicated to stakeholders, but a disparity develops between the wins reported and the stakeholder's perception of progress, which undermines the credibility of the communication. By creating short-term wins, and being honest with feedback, progress is achieved and people are inspired.


Core Challenge: Produce enough short-term wins fast enough to energize the change helpers, enlighten the pessimists, defuse the cynics, and build momentum for the effort.

What Works: "Cheap and easy" wins that are visible, timely, unambiguous, and meaningful to others.

Example: Focus publicly on four goals instead of fifty-and make sure no new initiatives are added until one of those goals is achieved and celebrated.

Desired New Behavior: Momentum builds as people try to fulfill the vision, while fewer and fewer resist change.

Step 7 -- Don't Let Up

Don't let up! You're not done until the change has been entrenched in the very fiber of the organization. You need to make wave after wave of change until the vision is a reality. In successful efforts, people build on this momentum to make the vision a reality by keeping urgency up, and a feeling of false pride down; by eliminating unnecessary, exhausting work and by not declaring victory prematurely.


Core Challenge: Continue with wave after wave of change, not stopping until the vision is a reality-no matter how big the obstacles.

What Works: Eliminate or delegate non-priority work; show people powerful reasons to keep urgency up; use new situations opportunistically to launch the next wave of change

Example: Replace a time-consuming and painstakingly detailed monthly activity report with a one-page summary that highlights only major milestones and key financial metrics

Desired New Behavior: People remain energized and motivated to push change forward until the vision is fulfilled.

Step 8 -- Make Change Stick
Now you feel as if you're at the end of the change process. The urgency was there, the vision was met, the short-term wins celebrated and the changes consolidated…now what? Frequently, leaps into the future slide back into the past when the new behavior does not become tradition, the typical way 'things get done around here.' By creating a new, supportive, and sufficiently strong organizational culture, the change should remain. A supportive culture provides roots for the new ways of operating.


Core Challenge: Create a supporting structure that provides roots for the new ways of operating.

What Works: Refuse to declare victory too soon; use new employee orientation, the promotions process, and vivid stories to visibly and compellingly reinforce the vision.

Example: When introducing new hires to the organization, use videos that contain heartfelt messages from customers whose lives the company has changed and touched-rather than the usual dry speeches and boring handbooks

Desired New Behavior: New and winning behavior continues despite the pull of tradition, turnover of change leaders, etc.

Refer:
http://www.theheartofchange.com/home.html