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Leading Change
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Themes
The Nature and Challenges of Change
In approaching the subject of change, Kotter acknowledges its complexity, building his guidance based on his deconstruction of how change functions and what undermines it. Leading Change opens with Kotter’s summary of common errors companies make in trying to enact change. Each error reflects a basic challenge inherent in any effort to implement change. Kotter thus does not overlook the discomfort and frustration of effecting change. Rather, he insists that his eight-stage process can minimize that friction. For example, inertia, or the tendency for complacent employees to remain complacent, as well as the default reliance on existing company culture and processes, make upheaval of old methods and traditions difficult for those leading a change effort. In identifying those challenges and outlining how to respond to them, Kotter makes clear that human nature and psychology play a substantial role.
In discussing the communication of vision, Kotter continues his emphasis on how the nature of change, as well as its challenges, tie into psychology. For example, he notes the importance of frequent repetition. Collective, brief restatement of the vision “is generally what is needed to win over both hearts and minds” (95). The concept of “hearts and minds” relies on a two-part perception of psychology, in which the employee needs to be both rationally and emotionally convinced of the efficacy and necessity of the change process. Convincing someone’s “heart” entails making the person feel that the change is both good and important. Convincing someone’s “mind” requires helping the person see how data and strategy provide a path to success. Regarding the importance of short-term wins, Kotter acknowledges that “zealous believers” in a change effort will dedicate themselves regardless of evidence, but “the rest of us expect to see convincing evidence that all the effort is paying off” (119). This need for evidence highlights yet another major challenge to the change process: “[T]he rest of us,” or the bulk of employees and management, need to be convinced that change is worth the struggle and cost.
The eighth stage of Kotter’s process most directly speaks to the challenge of convincing the majority, as a changing company culture reinforces the attitudes and norms needed to sustain a change effort. Kotter comments here, though, on how the previous stages are necessary to build a change to this point:
Culture changes only after you have successfully altered people’s action, after the new behavior produces some group benefit for a period of time, and after people see the connection between the new actions and the performance improvement (156).
Kotter’s conclusion underpins the necessity of influencing both “hearts” and “minds.” The vision and the communication of the vision need to succeed. Simultaneously, the change effort needs to target the group psychology of the company, molding the culture of the company to fit with the aims of the change effort. The text frames this cultural shift as a momentous effort but one that will make any individual task in the change effort easier.
The Difference Between Leadership and Management
Throughout the work, Kotter emphasizes the importance of both leadership and management, detailing how each role involves different needs, goals, and attitudes. Leaders embrace and push for change, looking at the broad scope of their company’s prospects and potential. Managers focus on a shorter time horizon, specializing in making a specific group, department, or team work as efficiently as possible within given constraints. Kotter broadly identifies leaders as those who favor progress and managers as those who ensure success in stagnation. Though Kotter spends more time emphasizing the necessity and importance of leadership, he makes clear that leadership is not necessarily superior to management in a broad sense. Strong management, he notes frequently, is also necessary to keep a company functioning well during periods of change.
Kotter frames leaders as often being the visionaries of a change process. Given this relationship between leadership and vision, as well as the importance of vision to change, leadership is essential: “Without sufficient leadership, change stalls, and excelling in a rapidly changing world becomes problematic” (144). The “rapidly changing world” demands individuals who can rapidly change their mindset and disperse that change across an organization. Kotter comments that leaders “are willing to think long term” (144). This capacity for long-term thinking allows them to take a broader view of their firm. Kotter adds that leadership, much like management, is a capacity that can be developed through learning and practice. He ends the book on a note of hope that more people will refine and develop leadership skills moving into the 21st century. Leadership is crucial to the change process in part because leaders are more willing to suffer discomfort and push through barriers than managers; this degree of grit and dedication is what makes them key to leading the charge toward a new method of running a business.
Kotter frames managers, in turn, as practical components essential to the daily functioning of business. He regularly returns to the reminder that change requires “both management and leadership skills on the guiding coalition” (57). He makes clear that while leaders “drive the change,” managers keep “the whole process under control” (57). Kotter argues that managers are not likely to develop change independently, even including managers as potential barriers to change. However, he also points out that they are the individuals in an organization who ensure short-term stability, even during a change process. Including managers in the guiding coalition can balance the aggressive, forward-thinking leaders, as managers will call for attention to feasibility, morale, and statistics. Leaders alone are a destabilizing force in an organization; managers are a steadying force, preventing leaders from moving too quickly or becoming too disruptive.
Overall, Kotter reminds the reader of the importance of collaboration: “In a fast-moving world, teamwork is enormously helpful almost all the time” (163). Both managers and leaders are needed in a successful team. While leaders push for change, managers keep the leaders’ ideas grounded. Both leaders and managers alike should have the company’s best interests in mind. The difference between them lies more in their methodology than in their relevance to the change process.
The Importance of Vision and Direction in Organizational Dynamics
Vision, as well as the direction that it provides to a change process, is a fundamental component of Kotter’s description of how change is enacted within an organization. The development of a vision begins with picturing a future in which certain goals are met or operations are conducted in a desired way. The vision then needs to be grounded in feasible, desirable objectives. Certain organizational dynamics, such as common practices, methodology, and interdependencies, can pose as barriers to change; the implementation of a strong, feasible, and communicable vision can help alleviate these barriers. Kotter emphasizes how a clear vision can save time and energy in discussions about finer details in a change process by clarifying the needs and goals of the project at hand. Creating a strong vision is challenging. It requires clarity, efficacy, and believability. However, once the vision is refined, it can clear a direct path toward change.
With the “clarity of direction” provided by a good vision, Kotter notes that “inappropriate projects can be identified and terminated, even if they have political support” (69). Kotter’s inclusion of “political support” as a barrier to refining a change process is crucial. Politics in an organization can often become an obstacle to even the most beneficial projects. Accordingly, a strong vision is necessary in resolving conflicts with executives, managers, and other leaders who might disagree with certain elements of the change process. In discussing interdependencies, Kotter points out that many interdependencies developed from a specific instance in the past; from that one instance emerged a pattern, and many managers and employees then came to rely on that interdependency as a tradition. Strong vision has the capacity to persuade those executives and employees to forego their reliance on tradition in favor of the alternatives posed by the change process.
Additionally, a strong vision is needed to avoid damaging morale and mindset among employees. Kotter comments that with a weak vision, “employees can become deeply cynical about transformation” (83). That cynicism can do permanent damage to change efforts. However, Kotter describes the development of a strong vision as key: It’s “an important investment […] in creating a better future” (83). In short, a strong vision can overpower dissent and push forward necessary change. It persuades and inspires employees and managers alike. A weak vision, in contrast, succumbs to any amount of resistance; the change effort collapses, often before it can even get started. Organizational dynamics can be a hurdle for a change effort to overcome, but communicating an effective vision often encourages the individuals behind those dynamics to reconsider their positions, helping them to see a new possible future.
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