Rosabeth Moss Kanter (2002) highlights the need for keeping going in the change process, even when it gets tough. She says that too often executives announce a plan, launch a task force and then simply hope that people find the answers. Kanter’s emphasis is different from Kotter’s. She says the difficulties will come after the change is begun.
Kanter says that leaders need to employ the following strategies to ensure that a change process is sustained beyond the first flourish:
- Tune into the environment. Create a network of listening posts to listen and learn from customers.
- Challenge the prevailing organizational wisdom. Promote kaleidoscopic thinking. Send people far afield, rotate jobs and create interdisciplinary project teams to get people to question their assumptions.
- Communicate a compelling aspiration. This is not just about communicating a picture of what could be, it is an appeal to better ourselves and become something more. The aspiration needs to be compelling as there are so many sources of resistance to overcome.
- Build coalitions. Kanter says that the coalition-building step, though obvious, is one of the most neglected steps in the change process. She says that change leaders need the involvement of people who have the resources, the knowledge and the political clout to make things happen.
- Transfer ownership to a working team. Once a coalition is formed, others should be brought on board to focus on implementation. Leaders need to stay involved to guarantee time and resources for implementers. The implementation team can then build its own identity and concentrate on the task.
- Learn to persevere. Kanter says that everything can look like a failure in the middle. If you stick with the process through the difficult times (see box), good things may emerge. The beginning is exciting and the end satisfying. It is the hard work in the middle that necessitates the leader’s perseverance.
- Make everyone a hero. Leaders need to remember to reward and recognize achievements. This skill is often underused in organizations, and it is often free! This part of the cycle is important to motivate people to give them the energy to tackle the next change process.
STICKY MOMENTS IN THE MIDDLE OF CHANGE AND HOW TO GET UNSTUCK:
Forecasts fall short. Change leaders must be prepared to accept serious departures from plans, especially when they are doing something new and different.
Roads curve. Expect the unexpected. Do not panic when the path of change takes a twist or a turn.
Momentum slows. When the going gets tough it is important to review what has been achieved and what remains – and to revisit the mission.
Critics emerge. Critics will emerge in the middle when they begin to realize the impact of proposed changes. Change leaders should respond to this, remove obstacles and move forward.