The results of an IBM Global Study, The Enterprise of the Future, show organizations are flooded with change and many are finding it hard to keep up. Like many organizational realities, the flood of change organizations face brings both good and bad news. The bad news is that the rapid rate of change will not subside. It will only increase over this decade as we emerge into new business realities that result from the Great Recession. The good news is that John Kotter’s Eight Step Model for Leading Change remains a viable approach—even in these difficult times. I will address each of his eight steps in separate blog posts. Today, I start with the first step of Kotter’s model, Creating a Sense of Urgency.
Meaningful organizational change cannot occur without the cooperation of the affected stakeholders. As a result, creating a sense of urgency for a needed change is the first step senior leaders must take to gain the cooperation of management and employees. Creating a sense of urgency alerts the organization that change must occur and it begins the preparation for change. It must be done well for a change effort to have a meaningful organizational impact.
Senior leaders create a sense of urgency by both selling the value of a future state to organizational stakeholders and making the status quo a dangerous place for the stakeholders to remain. In effect, senior leaders create a compelling narrative that tells stakeholders why it is not in their best interest for the organization to stay in its current state. This is often done through frank discussions about the current market and competitive realities, sharing relevant financial and customer data, and discussing opportunities and crises facing the organization. Communication is critical and the communications about the urgent need for change must be honest. A manufactured sense of urgency will soon be seen for what it is and this will doom a change effort to mediocrity.
There are several steps senior leaders can take to create a sense of urgency and gain the commitment of managers, employees, and other stakeholders. They include:
- Showing the seriousness of senior leadership commitment to the coming change by eliminating obvious waste;
- Sharing bad news with the organization;
- Requiring managers and employees to talk regularly to unhappy suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders to understand their concerns directly;
- Sharing data throughout the organization that supports the claim that change is necessary; and
- Ensuring organizational decisions and management actions are in agreement with change communications (walk the talk).
To lead a change effort and gain the cooperation of necessary stakeholders, the first step senior leaders must take is to create a sense of urgency. It requires clear and honest communications that create a sense of urgency rather than a sense of doom. By creating both a compelling picture of a desired future and the danger of accepting the status quo, senior leaders greatly improve their chances of gaining the commitment of organizational stakeholders for a necessary change effort.
A chart of John Kotter’s Eight Step Model for Leading Change follows:
Chart Source: John P. Kotter, Leading Change, Harvard Business School Press
In my next blog post, I will address Step 2 of the model: Creating the Guiding Coalition.
About the Author
Robert Tanner is the founder of the Management is a Journey Blog and Principal Consultant at Business Consulting Solutions LLC. He is a certified change management consultant, management mentor, trainer, and an Adjunct Professor of Management. Robert has a passion for helping managers and leaders fulfill their potential. Connect with Robert on Google+ and Twitter. To join the mailing list, subscribe here.
Revisiting Colin Powell’s 13 Rules of Leadership 
Leading Change (Step 2) – Create the Guiding Coalition 
Organizational Change: 8 Reasons Why People Resist Change 
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