Where Kotter's 8 Steps Gets it Wrong

by Admin

Kayleigh O'Keefe a research analyst of CEC Insider - the blog of the Communications Executive Council - suggests that there are Three Primary Flaws of Kotter's 8 Steps for Leading Change and these can be summarised as:

(1) Kotter's 8 Step Change Model positions change as a one-off event with a defined beginning and a successful end that is reached by adherence to each of the 8 steps. Whereas O'Keefe makes the very valid point that in the current environment of global uncertainty continuous change is now the order of the day.

(2) She challenges Kotter's view that significant change can only come from organisational leaders and says that employees get disillusioned as "leaders make changes to the change they've just touted as the most significant in the company's history!"

(3) Leader instigated - topdown - change disempowers employees who feel increasingly like pawns on the C-suite's chess board and become stressed as they lose more control of their lives.

This is well researched piece that is deeply thought provoking and is followed by a number of equally well considered comments - I commend it to you:

Three Primary Flaws of Kotter's 8 Steps for Leading Change

And to ensure complete balance, O'Keefe followed with an interview with Kathy Gersch, CMO at Kotter International to discuss these points:

Change Leadership: Taking Another Look at Kotter's 8 Steps

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