PROFESSOR JOHN KOTTER

For leaders of organizations, managing change is an important strategic task. In the last  ten years, there have been numerous studies which all confirmed that between 60-80% of  all change projects fail fully or partly: either the objectives of the project are not achieved  or the projects cannot be completed in time or on budget. Usually, a lot is at stake: money,  personal reputation, and the health of the organization. John Kotter, one of the leading  management thinkers and writes has given his answer to this question by providing an  eighth step model for leading change.

WHO IS JOHN KOTTER?

John P. Kotter is internationally known and widely regarded as the foremost       speaker on the topics of Leadership and Change. John Paul Kotter (born 1947) is   a professor at the Harvard Business School and an author, who is regarded as an  authority on leadership and change. He graduated from MIT with an S.B. in EECS and an S.M. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1968 and 1970 respectively and a D.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1972. Kotter has been on the Harvard Business School faculty since 1972. In 1980, at the age of 33, he was given tenure and a full professorship, making him one of the youngest people in the history of the University to be so honored.

His is the premier voice on how the best organizations actually achieve successful transformations. Recently, Kotter has been involved in the creation and co-founding of Kotter International, a leadership organization that helps Globally 5000 company leaders develop their practical skills and implement methodologies required to lead change in a complex, large-scale business environment.

When speaking to groups, Kotter draws on the history of recent successes and failures in the business world. He explores the new rules of leadership and the importance of lifelong learning in the post-corporate world. Kotter offers the leadership tools necessary to achieve success in a business world that reinvents itself every day.

KOTTERS WRITING:

Kotter has authored 17 books, twelve of them bestsellers. In addition to Our Iceberg is Melting (2006) and Leading Change (1996), Professor Kotter is the author of The Heart of Change (2002), John P. Kotter on What leaders Really Do (1999), Matsushita Leadership (1997) (which won first place in the Financial Times, Booz-Allen Global Business Book Competition for biography/autobiography, Corporate Culture and Performance (1992), A Force for Change (1990), The Leadership Factor (1988), Power and Influence (1985), The General Managers (1982), and five other books published in the 1970s. He has created two executive videos; one on "Leadership" (1981), and one on "Corporate Culture" (1993), and an educational CD-ROM (1998) based on the Leading Change book. His works have been printed in over 120 languages and total sales exceed two million copies. His latest book, Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down (October 2010), focuses on how to spot common attacks on your proposals and how to most effectively respond. John Kotter’s international bestseller Leading Change—which outlines an actionable eight-step process for implementing successful transformations—has become the change bible for managers around the world. His books are in the top 1% of sales on Amazon.com.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION:

The many honors won by Professor Kotter include an Exxon Award for Innovation in Graduate Business School Curriculum Design, a Johnson, Smith & Knisley Award for New Perspectives in Business Leadership, and a McKinsey Award for Best Harvard Business Review Article. Professor Kotter's Leading Change was named the No. 1 Management Book of the Year by Management General. In 1998, his Matsushita Leadership won first place in the Financial Times, Booz-Allen Global Business Book Competition for biography/autobiography. In 2003, a video version of a story from his book The Heart of Change won a Telly Award. In 2006, Kotter received the prestigious McFeely Award for "outstanding contributions to leadership and management development." In 2007, his video "Succeeding in a Changing World" was named best video training product of the year by Training Media Review and also won a Telly Award.

JOHN KOTTER’S CONCEPT FOR SUCCESS

Dr. Kotter has proven over his years of research that following this 8 Step Process will help organizations succeed in an ever-changing world.

1. Acting With Urgency

· Examine market and competitive realities.

· Identify and discuss crises, potential crises or major opportunities.

2. Developing the Guiding Coalition

· Assemble a group with enough power to lead the change effort.

· Encourage the group to work as a team.


3. Developing a Change Vision

· Create a vision to help direct the change effort.

· Develop strategies for achieving that vision.

4. Communicating the Vision Buy-in

· Use every vehicle possible to communicate the new vision and strategies.

· Teach new behaviors by the example of the Guiding Coalition.

5. Empowering Broad-based Action

· Remove obstacles to change.

· Change systems or structures that seriously undermine the vision.

· Encourage the risk-taking and non-traditional ideas, activities and actions.

6. Generating Short-term Wins

· Plan for visible performance improvements.

· Create those improvements.

· Recognize and reward employees involved in the improvements.

7. Don't Let Up

· Use increased credibility to change systems, structures and policies that don't fit the vision.

· Hire, promote, and develop employees who can implement the vision.

· Reinvigorate the process with new projects, themes, and change agents.

8. Make Change Stick

· Articulate the connections between the new behaviors and organizational success.

· Develop the means to ensure leadership development and succession.

What happens when organizations have different amounts of management and leadership?

When organizations have high competencies in management & leadership, they’re able to meet challenges today as well as tomorrow. However, most organizations are usually lacking one or the other. When management exists without leadership, the company is often unable to change. And when leadership exists without management, the company is only as strong as its charismatic leader. Most of the time, organizations are overstaffed with managers, but lack enough leadership to help them deal with constant change.

Management – makes systems of people and technology work well day after day, week after week, year after year. Management includes: Planning & budgeting, Organizing and staffing , Controlling & problem solving, taking complex systems of people and technology and making them run efficiently and effectively, hour after hour, day after day .

Leadership – creates the systems that managers manage and changes them in fundamental ways to take advantage of opportunities and to avoid hazards. It includes: Creating Vision & Strategy, Communicating & Setting direction, Motivating action, Aligning people, Creating systems that managers can manage and transforming them when needed to allow for growth, evolution, opportunities and hazard avoidance.

KOTTER INTERNATIONAL

Kotter International is a change company that helps leaders build the capacity to drive transformation in their organizations. Headquartered in Boston with offices in Chicago and Seattle, Kotter International works with large, complex organizations that are undertaking major change at an accelerated rate. Kotter International walks alongside the leaders of these organizations as they navigate through a major change, and leaves behind the competency within the organization to adapt and lead change in the future. Kotter International was founded in order to improve leaders’ ability to successfully achieve big with important transformations in organizations. All around us change is accelerating, but the ability to lead change has not kept pace. Managers are trained to make incremental, programmatic improvements. They are not trained to lead large scale change. Kotter International’s goal is to provide organizations and their leaders with a foundation for meaningful, sustained and transformative change that aligns with the vision and goals of the enterprise.

Kotter International brings the personal involvement of Dr. John Kotter together with world-class practioners to transform the way leaders guide organizations through change. Coupling deep business acumen and experience with Kotter’s body of work, Kotter International offers a suite of advisory services, executive coaching, training, and other tools to help leaders move organizations faster, smarter, and more efficiently to enable success no matter the obstacles.

Advisory Services includes. Walk alongside engagements where we work closely with your leadership team and guiding coalition to transfer competencies, Advising the leadership team and transferring competencies at the senior level, Developing competencies in a larger group or division of the organization and Learning about the entire 8-Step Process for Leading Change journey.