Imagine you are a manager of an organization. You want to implement changes, but time and again, you fail to actually carry them out. You have already tried various methods with largely disappointing results. Changes often fail for various reasons, such as poor planning, inadequate management, or insufficient knowledge. To successfully implement changes, Professor John Kotter developed the 8-phase model for change. With these 8 phases, you ensure that changes succeed from now on. Curious about how to successfully implement changes? Then read on. Successful change management is essential in this regard.
1. Create a sense of urgency and make change management successful
According to John Kotter, the first step is the most important. When making changes, it is important that you create a sense of urgency among everyone involved. Why does the company need to change? Make employees understand the necessity and urgency of the change. Ensure an open, honest and convincing dialogue, because this will create support. It is important that you talk to employees about possible threats and solutions. According to Kotter, emotions are the driving force for change. Therefore, emphasize emotions such as hope, confidence, optimism and enthusiasm rather than just reason.
2. Form a guiding coalition
The second step is to form a guiding coalition. The guiding coalition leads all efforts surrounding the changes and encourages employees to think along and participate. According to Kotter, you need a guiding coalition that supports the changes. This guiding coalition consists of a group of enthusiastic people from different layers of the organization. It is important that these are people from different functions and positions, so that everyone can identify with them.
3. Develop a new vision and strategy
The next step is developing a new vision. The new vision must clearly explain why the change is necessary. Make the vision concrete, realistic, understandable, and appealing so that it is clear to everyone what you want to achieve within the organization. Next, create a strategy that aligns with the new vision. By linking the strategy to the vision, you can implement the changes step by step. Elaborate on the strategy in a change plan so that it is clear exactly what needs to be changed.
4. Communicate the change vision
In this fourth phase, it is important to communicate the change vision. By communicating this vision clearly , your employees know where they stand. Good communication can largely eliminate uncertainty, fear, and mistrust regarding the changes. Moreover, this also increases employee involvement in the changes. To further increase involvement, it is important that an open dialogue about the changes takes place. How do you ensure an open dialogue? Managers play an important role in this by being vulnerable, revealing, and open. As a result, stakeholders also feel invited to become more personally involved in the change process.
5. Remove obstacles
The fifth phase is to remove barriers that stand in the way of employee changes. “What are such barriers? This could include changing systems and structures to make changes easier, such as rearranging work spaces. It is important for this step that you create support and this requires full commitment from management.
6. Make short-term successes visible
During the sixth phase it is important that you make the short-term successes visible to everyone in the organization. According to Kotter, this is important because it creates belief in the success of the new vision and strategy. It is also a reward for those who work hard to implement the new vision and strategy.
7. Continue the changes
The seventh step is about pushing through the changes. According to Kotter, many changes are unsuccessful because employees believe the change process is already complete. Compare it to a marathon race: if you are just before the finish line, you don't just stop, do you? It is the same with changes; therefore, continue pushing through the changes in this phase. It is also important to look for improvements. Investigate what works, refine your approach, and implement it in other areas.
8. Give the changes a permanent place
This final phase is about ensuring that the changes are given a permanent place within the organization. How do you ensure that it gets a permanent place? You do this by periodically and systematically measuring and evaluating the progress of the change. By measuring and evaluating, you know exactly what the changes are like. It is not without reason that they say "Measuring = knowing". That's how it is! Discipline and perseverance to continue the changes is therefore very important in this phase.
Change management
We have briefly explained the phases you need to go through if you want to successfully change your company. In practice, the phases will flow seamlessly into one another. It is important to maintain communication with your employees throughout all steps. Would you like to discuss change management with one of our trainers? Or would you like more information about Business Improvement first? We are happy to help you change successfully!
Read also
You can find more background information on successful change management at successful change management (Wikipedia).
