The
Eight Steps Necessary to Bring About Change
Establishing a sense of urgency is the first step
to bringing about change. It is crucial to gaining needed cooperation.
A higher than normal sense of urgency will lower the complacency
level of team members. Complacency is defined by The American
Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition,
as a feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, especially when
coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, or controversy.
Defining and overcoming complacency is a vital component of establishing
a sense of urgency.
The second step is creating a guiding coalition.
John Kotter states that the first step in putting together the
kind of team that can direct a change effort is to find the right
membership. The new leader will need to ensure that there are
enough power players on board. He or she must make sure there
is a high level of relevant expertise on hand so that informed,
intelligent decisions are made. The team members should all have
good reputations in order for group to be taken seriously. The
membership should include enough proven leaders to be able to
drive the change process. After ensuring that you have these qualities
present, there is one last trait that is needed in order for the
team to work effectively.
As discussed previously, developing a vision and
strategy is vital to team building and to bringing about change.
Vision and strategy are third step in the transformation process
and are essential to overcoming resistance to change.
Communicating the change vision is the fourth step in the change
process. Getting the word out embodies several forms of communication.
From large formal meetings to memos, announcements, and newsletters
to less formal methods including casual talk around the water
cooler or in the cafeteria. Places away from the workplace such
as the golf course can present opportunities to casually get the
word out. New leaders have to realize how much data their team
members encounter each day. If the message is not repeated over
time it can get lost in the hustle and bustle of the day. A few
good ideas to keep in mind about communicating the vision are
to keep it simple, use metaphor, analogy and example for the best
result. Leading by example is an influential form of communication.
Please remember it is important to listen carefully to feedback.
Empowerment is making it possible for those people doing the work
and bringing about change to get it done. Blockages to accomplishing
the vision must be dealt with. These may be people or procedures.
These obstacles must be analyzed, realigned or possibly removed.
If necessary to complete the vision, proper training is to be
implemented. A greater number of empowered individuals results
in a proportionally greater force striving to complete the change.
A change process should be broken up with planned, noticeable
short-term gains. This is the sixth step of change. Working toward
a short-term win can add more stress during the pursuit of the
greater, longer-term goal of the attaining the vision. Stress
is useful in producing results and the value of short-term wins
are numerous. They provide a reward for work accomplished and
are evidence that sacrifices are worthwhile. They help fine tune
the vision and build momentum. Short-term wins also undermine
the forces of resistance to the change progression. Finally they
show results to higher-ups that the vision is working.
Consolidating gains and anchoring new approaches in the culture
are the sixth and seventh steps in a transformation. All the hard
work, progress and accomplishments (short-term wins) made during
a period of time can all be for naught if effort is halted and
praise given before the vision is complete. The notion of “it
has been a long haul and now it is time to rest” can be
a death sentence to completing the vision. Consolidating gain
refers to making sure the effort continues even after great success
because progress can slack very easily. John Kotter writes, "Whenever
you let up before the job is done, critical momentum can be lost
and regression may follow." Strong resolute leadership is
needed to consolidate gain and continue on until the vision is
attained. Once change has been brought about it must be anchored
into the culture of the organization and team. New practices,
values, attitudes and behaviors need to be seriously addressed.
Understanding the importance of culture is key to the anchoring
change. Alterations in norms and shared values come at the end
of the transformation process, never in the beginning. The leader
has to understand that these are the last and final stages of
successful transformation. The new way of doing things are dependent
on the results of the change process, and it will take a lot of
talk to embed the new practices. There may be some turnover. Finally
succession decisions are critical to ensure the old culture does
not reassert itself.
The design driven, ever changing organization of the 21st century
will need motivated leadership to build creative teams. You are
now familiar with how to create vision and direct change. Knowing
what a vision is, how to create one and the eight steps in a transformation
process are a few basic tools for the developing new leader. To
accomplish the task of creative team building, a leader needs
other qualities as well. Burt Nanus defines leadership as “leaders
take charge, make thing happen, dream dreams and then translate
them into reality”.
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