There are few outcomes that are worse for an organization than devoting significant resources and time to an institutional change effort only to have the enterprise revert back to its old way of doing things. These outcomes hurt employee morale and breed cynicism. It also makes employees and lower level managers less committed to the next great organizational initiative that senior leadership wants to sponsor. The failure to implement lasting change frequently occurs because senior leaders underestimate the difficulty of changing an organization’s culture. As anyone knows who has lived through a merger, changing an organizational culture is a long and difficult process. The eighth and last step of John Kotter’s, Eight Steps for Leading Change Model, is a critical activity for making sure that the new changes the organization has achieved are lasting. Step eight anchors change in the organizational culture.
One of the biggest temptations in leading a change effort is for senior leadership to eliminate or minimize step eight. This often occurs because, frankly, everyone is worn from the complexity and effort spent implementing the prior seven steps. Some feel that the new changes are in place and working so the effort is done–end of story! It can be difficult to convince an organization that they have not finished the effort when many want to move on to other priorities. In reality, however, the new changes will not last unless senior leadership makes adjustments to the organization to align the culture with the changes they sponsored. For this reason, making changes in the organization to align with the new change effort (anchoring change) comes at the end of the model.
To anchor change in the culture, the change effort itself must have brought positive results to the organization. With a successful change effort, senior leadership can then anchor change by discussing the superiority of the new changes and clearly explaining the benefits they bring. Once senior leadership has endorsed the accomplishments of the change efforts, they must work with the guiding coalition and other managers on the following:
- Identifying the norms and values that support the changes;
- Ensuring selection, promotion, and succession processes screen talent according to the new norms and values;
- Modifying reward programs to align with the new norms and values;
- Supplementing training and development activities to include the skills and competencies associated with the changes; and
- Modifying and eliminating organizational processes and procedures that do not support the changes.
Finally, anchoring change in the culture may require employee and managerial turnover or reassignment to remove individuals who are barriers to progress. With the evidence of the value of the change effort now so apparent to the organization, it is unlikely that those who are still resisting the change will actually alter their ways. Turnover or reassignment is an unfortunate result but sometimes it is needed if senior leadership wants to ensure that “the changes stick” in the organization.
Leading change in an organization is similar to running a marathon! It is not quick or easy. It requires preparation and perseverance. It also requires the runner to stay engaged until he crosses the finish line. Step 8 of the leading change model is the final leg of the change journey. Senior leaders must anchor change if they want the change effort to become a lasting part of the organizational culture.
More articles on change management including the other steps of John Kotter’s model are available here.
* Photo of anchor by Gwyn Winter [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.
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.
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