Leadership and change are two words that many of us hear frequently over the course of our daily lives, but how seriously are these two terms taken in business and HR? John Kotter, professor of the Harvard Business School, has written extensively on how leadership and change must be prepared for, thought through and desired before either can actually occur.
To this end, Kotter created 8 Steps in Leading Change (1995) to illustrate how organisation change must take place in order to be successful:
- Create Urgency
- Form a Powerful Coalition
- Create a Vision for Change
- Communicate the Vision
- Remove Obstacles
- Create Short-term Wins
- Build on the Change
- Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture
These steps may seem rather daunting, but this is where Effectory can help. An Effectory employee survey will reveal where change is needed, thus creating urgency. Effectory will identify the people that your organisation needs for change to be successful. It is essential for a neutral party to select the coalition as the wisest choices may at first seem to be unlikely ones. From this point on, Effectory can help to develop the vision of change, what it could be, how it could happen etc. Effectory will help to find ways to communicate this change, as it is absolutely essential that each and every employee recognises the need for it and wants change too.
One of the hardest stages is point 5, removing obstacles. This can include anything from legislation to colleagues, and so naturally this is a stage that requires delicate handling. An obvious choice for this is a neutral third party, such as Effectory, who can remove the stress and angst from dealing with difficult obstacles. However the succeeding stage is much easier, as finding the smallest improvement within the organisation can be classed as a short term win. It is crucial that all employees at every level see that their hard work has been rewarded.
From this point on, change becomes gradually more rooted in the organisation. The foundations have been laid, and now developments will be progressing. The final stage is to anchor these changes within the culture of your organisation, and this is where Effectory can help once more. In order to really see if change has thoroughly taken place, it is important to do a follow up survey regularly. These “temperature checks” will detect if change is being reversed or if your employees have really responded to organisational change.
So, sign up for our free checklist today!
