Leading Change, With a New Preface by the Author Hardcover – November 6, 2012

What does it mean to be a change leader? In times of fiscal upheaval, can a state agency stay true to its mission and vision? Or, must these be sacrificed on the altar of efficiency to the (presumably) lean God of Economy? These are the challenges that confront our elected representatives, agencies that serve the public, unions that represent the workforce, and their constituencies.In "Leading Change," John Kotter reveals his Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major Change:1. Establishing a Sense of Urgency2. Creating the Guiding Coalition3. Developing a Vision and Strategy4. Communicating the Change Vision5. Empowering Broad-Based Action6. Generating Short-Term Wins7. Consolidating Gains and Producing More Change8. Anchoring New Approaches in the CultureIn Kotter's experience, neglecting any one stage undermines and imperils the entire change effort.So it is clear that change is coming. It always does. Particular change can be envisioned in an instant but implementation can take some time. This is especially true in large, complex organizations like government bureaucracies, with highly interdependent structures and systems. Serving the public is a process and jobs are maintained to provide the service. Nearly every process in one system is connected to many other systems, and one change will, of necessity, affect changes to hundreds or thousands of processes. To say that change requires hard work and sacrifice in this environment is an understatement.Change in a government bureaucracy requires a seismic shift in thinking by those who have been working at the same agency for decades, especially those who really believe they have made a difference for the public good. "We have always done it this way so why change now?" Their contributions provide valuable lessons but time marches on. Not only are policies and procedures not cast in stone, but future generations deserve the right to have them evolve. Whether they evolve for the better -or not--is the responsibility of the change agent... basically, you and I.By definition, government services "serve" the public. The way government serves the public today could not have been envisaged at its founding. America has had some time to think about and see some good ideas become reality. We have codified them, managed them, regulated them, raised revenue from them, underwritten, audited, overseen the audit, re-codified, re-managed, re-regulated, created increasingly complex financing mechanisms, then audited everything again.... It is only natural that before long, the original idea... the "mission" and "vision" becomes lost in the risk averting, litigious-avoiding (though interconnected) world of bureaucratic government. How do you empower interdependent agencies with different functional missions to work seamlessly together? What can a workforce do when it is saddled with legally mandated interconnected systems that do not fulfill the mission or vision of the agency but are relics of an earlier era, or simply symptoms of jurisdictional overreach?For change to really happen and take hold in a governmental bureaucracy, with organizational structures and personnel performing different functions and serving different (sometimes opposing) constituencies, and systems of supports and services serving a large and growing base of populations, the change must produce benefits and personal satisfactions that are superior to the way things are today.Today it will take more than the desire to "do more with less," or even to "do more, better." Indeed, the organizational culture itself must be changed. Purging unnecessary interconnections can ultimately make a transformation not only possible, but easier. It may not be necessary to consolidate agencies when it would be more efficient to coordinate them instead. Streamline procedures and approval processes by putting systems in place that satisfy regulatory requirements and align with the agency's mission. Government and unions can be powerful allies to responsibly empower a highly trained public workforce. The wins must be real, and they must come soon. Paraphrasing Kotter, "Truly adaptive governmental bodies with adaptive cultures are awesome competitive machines."At a visceral level, you have to appreciate change, respect it, embrace it... lead it. "Leading Change" reminds us that change starts with you and me.

What happens when an organization needs to change (if it hopes to be successful in the future) but hasn't put much thought into what the process of change itself looks like? More than likely: failure.John Kotter outlines here a critical difference between change efforts that have been successful, compared to change efforts that have failed. Drawing on decades' worth of experience consulting with firms and coaching leaders, and attentive to ever-increasing globalization of markets and competition, Kotter offers an eight-stage change process. The eight stages are:1. Establishing a sense of urgency2. Creating the guiding coalition3. Developing a vision and strategy4. Communicating the change vision5. Empowering broad-based action6. Generating short-term wins7. Consolidating gains and producing more change8. Anchoring new approaches in the cultureSuccessful change, Kotter argues, "is 70 to 90 percent leadership and only 10 to 30 percent management. Yet for historical reasons, many organizations today don't have much leadership." Kotter articulates what effective leadership -- not management -- actually looks like.Kotter provides a helpful, clear, and concise chapter devoted to each of the eight stages. He articulates precisely what is needed at each critical moment in the transformation process. He provides numerous examples of what happens when any stage is ignored (basically, he suggests that to ignore any of the eight stages will likely lead to failure). Specific guidance and steps are offered at every point along the way. A useful summary of the whole process is provided on page 21.The final couple chapters provide a glimpse into the organizations and leaders of the future. "The rate of change in the business world is not going to slow down anytime soon. . . . The typical twentieth-century organization has not operated well in a rapidly changing environment. . . . If environmental continues to increase, as most people now predict, the standard organization of the twentieth century will likely become a dinosaur." The winning enterprise of the twenty-first century will have a persistent sense of urgency, teamwork at the top, people who can create and communicate vision, broad-based empowerment, delegated management for excellent short-term performance, no unnecessary interdependence, and an adaptive corporate culture. Leaders of the future are going to be people with high standards and a strong willingness to learn. Arguing that leadership traits can be learned, Kotter provides examples of people he has known over an extended period of time who once upon a time showed little promise, but who developed superlative leadership skills and have become highly effective, successful, influential leaders. Just as organizations need to continue to continue to change and grow, so too will organizations' future leaders.Overall, this is a highly readable, useful book. It is obviously useful for leaders in the corporate world. I would argue that it is also highly useful for leaders in ANY organization that is trying to thrive in the twenty-first century. I wish I had read it years ago!