Change Management Series - Kotter's 8 steps. Make them work for you!

Step 3 ‘Developing a vision and strategy’

The third step in Kotter’s change model is all about ‘Developing a vision and strategy’.

A vision has to be compelling, appealing to the hearts and minds of the people in the organisation. It cannot be authoritarian or too detailed. Kotter argues that, if done well, a compelling Vision achieves 3 things: It sets the general direction of change, simplifying hundreds of more detailed decisions. Secondly it motivates people to take action in the right direction, even if the initial steps are personally painful. Thirdly, it helps coordinate the actions of people across the business in a fast and efficient way.

By developing a clear vision statement, a picture of the future, there is a natural cascade into the strategies needed to deliver the vision supported by plans and budgets. The Vision has to address both hearts and minds of the people in the organisation, a theme that Kotter reiterates in subsequent publications on leading change.

It’s important to stress that the vision and strategy of the business needs to be integral to the regular communication to all employees. It isn’t just something to insert into the Company’s Annual Report or a statement posted on the Company website. To have credibility it needs to be at the centre of the ongoing communication process and referenced by the leadership team to reinforce management alignment to the vision.

Having a well-articulated vision has allowed Companies that I have worked with address challenging change plans which have included: divesting of a division that is no longer part of the core business, prioritising capital investment into factories producing priority branded products rather than secondary/support brands or closing factories as part of a rebalancing of the manufacturing footprint to support global customers. In each of these examples, having a clear well-articulated vision created a clear sense of direction for the business and helped to explain ‘Why’ change was needed.

The implementation of the changes was still challenging but with a vision already clearly communicated in the business the discussions with employees and their representatives moved on to what, when and how questions. What are the proposed changes? When will they take effect? How do they impact me and my role?

If you’d like to discuss this article with me in more detail or a specific issue in your business, contact me via my website, www.hr-changeconsultancy.com or email me tim.ellis@hr-changeconsultancy.com

John Kotter is a Harvard Business School professor and world-renowned change expert. Launched in 1996, his 8-Step Change Model from his book, “Leading Change” remains one of the most popular and well-established change approaches.