Resources - Change Management

Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail

Key ideas from the Harvard Business Review article
by John P. Kotter

The Idea in Brief

Most major change initiatives, whether intended to boost quality, improve culture, or reverse a corporate death spiral, generate only lukewarm results. Many fail miserably. Why? Kotter maintains that too many managers don't realize transformation is a process, not an event. It advances through stages that build on each other. And it takes years. Pressured to accelerate the process managers skip stages. But shortcuts never work.

Equally troubling, even highly capable managers make critical mistakes - such as declaring victory too soon. The result? Loss of momentum, reversal of hard-won gains, and devastation of the entire transformation effort.

By understanding the stages of change, and the pitfalls unique to each stage, you boost your chances of a successful transformation. The payoff? Your organization flexes with tectonic shifts in competitors, markets, and technologies leaving rivals far behind.

The Idea in Practice

To give your transformation effort the best chance of succeeding take the right actions at each stage and avoid common pitfalls.

Reference: http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2007/01/leading-change/ib/pr