The Tribune

Change is happening all around us. COVID-19 has exacerbated corporate changes, and what might have taken years to realise is happening right before our eyes. The test of true leadership is how we manage in the midst of these rapid changes.

Today we present the research work of Dr John Kotter on steps to effectively facilitate the changes happening all around us.

Step One: Create Urgency

For change to happen, it helps if the whole company really wants it. Develop a sense of urgency around the need for change. This may help you spark the initial motivation to get things moving. Open an honest and convincing dialogue about what is happening in the marketplace and with your competition. If many people start talking about the change you propose, the urgency can build and feed on itself.

Step Two: Form a Powerful Coalition

Convincing people that change is necessary takes strong leadership and visible support from key people within your company. You can find effective change leaders throughout your company - they do not necessarily follow the traditional company hierarchy. To lead change, you need to bring together a coalition, or team, of influential people whose power comes from a variety of sources, including job title, status, expertise and political importance.

Step Three: Create a Vision for Change

When you first start thinking about change, there will probably be many great ideas and solutions floating around. Link these concepts to an overall vision that people can grasp easily and remember. A clear vision can help everyone understand why you are asking them to do something. When people see for themselves what you are trying to achieve, then the directives they are given tend to make more sense.

Step Four: Communicate the Vision

Communicate the vision clearly, frequently and powerfully, and embed it within everything that you do. It is also important to "walk the talk". What you do is far more important - and believable - than what you say. Demonstrate the kind of behaviour that you want from others.

Step Five: Remove Obstacles

Resistance and other varied obstacles are always to be expected when facing the realities of change. Removing obstacles can empower the people you need to execute your vision, and it can help the change move forward.

Here are some of the barriers:

• Formal structures that make it difficult for employees to act

• A lack of needed skills

• Personnel or information systems

• Supervisors who discourage actions toward implementing the new vision

Step Six: Create Short-Term Wins

Nothing motivates more than success. Give your company a taste of victory early in the change process. Within a short time, you will want to have some "quick wins" that your staff can see. Without this, critics and negative thinkers might hurt your progress.

Step Seven: Build on the Change

Each success provides an opportunity to build on what went right and identify what you can improve. Until major changes are embedded in a company's culture (which could take up to a decade), they remain vulnerable to resistance and regression. Keep pushing.

Step Eight: Anchor the changes in Corporate Culture

Finally, to make any change stick, it should become part of the core of your company. Your corporate culture often determines what gets done, so the values behind your vision must show in day-to-day work.

NB: Ian R Ferguson is a talent management and organisational development consultant, having completed graduate studies with regional and international universities. He has served organsations, both locally and globally, providing relevant solutions to their business growth and development issues. He may be contacted at tcconsultants@coralwave.com.