Change communication: 8 lessons inspired by John Kotter

My podcast guests mention one book on change more than any other. First published in 2012, Leading Change by John P Kotter remains a seminal text on organisational transformation. His eight steps have become a blueprint for those spearheading change.

On re-reading the book this summer, eight lessons emerged for how internal comms professionals can play their part in delivering change today – a time when, even before we introduce change, workplace stress is reportedly at an all-time high.

#1 Management is not leadership

Management and leadership are not synonymous, writes Kotter. As a comms professional, align yourself and your work with the leaders – not merely the managers – of change. How do you tell the difference? Managers plan, budget, organise and control. Leaders set direction. They align, motivate and inspire. Managers make systems work. Leaders build or transform them.

“Only leadership can blast through the many sources of corporate inertia,” advises Kotter, and anchor change in the corporate culture.

Seek out the architects of your organisation’s change agenda

So, your first task is to seek out the architects of your organisation’s change agenda. Initially, this may be just one or two individuals charting a course through the “terrible hazards” and “wonderful opportunities” of today’s globalised economy.

Consider not only how to serve this group, but how to grow it. While change can begin with the leadership of a few, in anything but the smallest of organisations, this number must increase, says Kotter.

A handful of transformations are associated with alone charismatic leader. But Chrysler’s Lee Iacocca, Wal-Mart’s Sam Walton and IBM’s Lou Gerstner are exceptions that prove the rule. Most corporate transformations require what Kotter calls a “guiding coalition” – a group of individuals with the right composition, level of trust and shared vision. Your job is to serve this group, but also to inform, inspire and equip others to join it. A great example is LEGO Group’s Leadership Playground – a model which promotes leadership for all.

#2 Beware the overmanaged, underled organisation

This lesson from Leading Change is simply good career advice. Many of us have experienced the frustration of an overmanaged, underled organisation where even the most dynamic individuals must wade through treacle to achieve anything of significance. (I worked in one such organisation where a senior colleague told me trying to get anything done felt like “pushing water uphill with a fork”.)?Inside these organisations, bureaucracy and internal politics abound. Innovation and initiative are stifled. People are controlled rather than empowered.

These businesses have an insular rather than external gaze. They do not obsess about customers or the competition. As Kotter explains, people’s attention is focused on narrow goals, not broader business performance. So, when even the most basic, obvious measures of corporate performance begin to slide, virtually no one feels responsible. Kotter writes: “The average manager can work for months without ever being confronted by a dissatisfied customer”.

Organisations get the communication professionals they deserve

I have long believed organisations get the communication professionals they deserve. Ambitious, creative comms professionals may do well to sidestep the underled, over-managed organisation altogether. Your efforts to establish open, honest dialogue will likely be thwarted. Attempts to encourage active listening or constructive challenge will probably fall on deaf ears. Helping to lead such an organisation through change is often an exasperating, thankless and ultimately futile task.

#3 Create a sense of urgency

I once worked for a CEO who lamented the fact there was no “burning platform” that made transforming his 150-year-old banking institution as necessary and logical as rushing for the exits in a fire. He knew instinctively that complacency is the nemesis of transformation.?

Complacency is the nemesis of transformation.

Kotter tells his readers not to wait for a fire to break out. Instead, “defrost” the status quo by creating a sense of urgency. Without this, employees will not give the extra effort needed to transform. They will not make the necessary sacrifices. Instead, they cling to what has always been. Studies suggest the global pandemic prompted new agility inside our organisations, which may mean some businesses are more able and willing to embrace new practices.

As comms pros, we must explain the rationale for change by bringing in the view from the outside. We must clarify why change is not only required but essential for long-term survival. Once the need for change has been firmly planted in employees’ minds, they will be more likely to make the sacrifices needed to deliver the change. After all, organisations do not change; people change.?

How can comms professionals raise the urgency level?

1. Increase the volume of data about customer satisfaction and financial performance.
2. Feature the actual words and feelings of dissatisfied customers, unhappy suppliers or disgruntled shareholders.
3. Encourage the open, honest discussion of the organisation’s problems. Advise senior management against “happy talk” or PR puffery. The chances are employees will not buy these stories anyway.
4. Bring to life future opportunities and rewards while being explicit about the organisation’s current inability to capitalise on these opportunities.
5. Communicate your organisation’s most audacious goals that disrupt the status quo. As Kotter puts it, “blow up complacency”.
6. Involve outsiders – an industry commentator, analyst or sector expert.???

#4 Communicate a vision, not merely a plan

“In many failed transformations, you find plans and programs trying to play the role of vision,” Kotter explains. Plans are about goals, methods, processes and deadlines. The vision is a “clear and compelling statement” of where your organisation is heading and – crucially – why.

How will you know you have created a powerful enough vision? “If you cannot describe your vision to someone in five minutes and get their interest, you have more work to do in this phase of a transformation process,” writes Kotter.

The ‘why’ is essential – it makes the status quo seem dangerous and misguided. We can help overcome resistance to change by educating people about the marketplace, competitive treats, obstacles to success, how profit is made and even why profit is important.

A good vision acknowledges sacrifices will be necessary

Throughout Leading Change, Kotter reminds readers that transformation often requires employees to move outside their comfort zones. When this is the case, we need to say so. “A good vision acknowledges sacrifices will be necessary,” he explains.?

A question I like to ask when faced with a client’s transformation challenge is, speaking candidly, how will this change really impact the work, prospects, morale and daily life of ‘ordinary’ employees? Once this is clear, all subsequent change communication should address these issues head-on. Those up for the challenge – who may even be longing for it – will feel energised. Those unhappy with the change will not be lulled into a false sense of security.

How can comms professionals help create a powerful vision?

1. Convey a picture – tap into people’s imagination by being descriptive and illustrative. Use metaphors and analogies.
2. Make it simple – eliminate jargon and technobabble.
3. Appeal to the long-term interests of your audience.
4. Make it feasible by communicating realistic and attainable goals.
5. Ensure the vision can be explained in five minutes and is not conveyed by a 52-deck PowerPoint presentation.

#5 Play the vision on repeat

Kotter advises leaders not to underestimate the importance of embedding the change story in all their communication, ensuring it is not lost “in the clutter”.

How often should you advise leaders to reiterate where the organisation is heading and why? In my experience, it is way past the point at which leaders – and your comms colleagues – are royally bored with repeating it. At the very moment those closest to the change narrative are tired of regurgitating it, the audience starts to grasp it.

At the very moment those closest to the change narrative are tired of regurgitating it, the audience starts to grasp it

The “real work of change is done outside formal meetings”, writes Kotter. Similarly, I believe the most potent communication often occurs outside staged and set-piece events. “Employees pay far more attention to leaders when they are apparently ‘off duty’ than when standing on stage in a formal setting,” writes Bill Quirke in Making the Connections. As comms pros, we can guide and advise leaders on these unscripted, candid interactions by providing message frameworks, storytelling training, aide-mémoires and Q&As briefings.

Kotter reminds leaders that “communication comes in the form of both words and deeds”. Leadership behaviour must not contradict the vision. As a comms adviser, you must be alert to any behaviour that undermines the vision, even if you cannot squash or curtail it. Similarly, you must tie important decisions and key events back to the vision, thereby reinforcing and sustaining it.

How can comms professionals embed the change vision?

• Create opportunities for interaction and dialogue – allow employees to “wrestle” with the vision by asking questions, raising concerns, and even arguing with it.
• Use multiple forums – big and small meetings, a diverse mix of channels and informal and formal interaction.
• Play the message on repeat – weave the vision into the regular drumbeat of communications such as local team briefings, monthly sales calls or the all-hands townhall. Indeed, every event in your comms calendar is an opportunity to reinforce the vision.
• Use imagery – in the world of advertising, imagery, logos and icons provide a shorthand to convey feelings, concepts, and values. This works equally well internally too. ?
• Encourage the ‘guiding coalition’ to lead by example – explain how behaviour inconsistent with the vision will obliterate it.
• Address seeming contradictions and inconsistencies head-on – do not be tempted to sidestep them in your communication.

#6 Create short-term wins

“Transformation is a process, not an event," Kotter tells us. Therefore, we need ways to maintain the momentum. The celebration of short-term wins helps achieve this. Even small early successes can be helpful in recognising and celebrating those working hard to affect change, thereby building morale and motivation. Short-term wins undermine cynics and keep middle managers on board. They provide the evidence employees need to realise their sacrifices are worth it.

However, we should not hope for short-term wins. We need to create them. As comms pros, we must help the architects of change identify moments of achievement and progress, however small. This may be a new type of contract or customer, a new acquisition, the implementation of a new system or procedure.?

How can comms professionals share short-term wins?

• Actively seek them out or even help to create them.
• Celebrate these moments with personal, authentic storytelling.
• Tie these moments back to the vision.
• Use them to create shared excitement about where the organisation is heading and why.

#7 A new culture is the output of change

Kotter advises readers that cultural change comes at the end of a transformation, not the beginning.

Many of us have probably been involved in a transformation programme that started with an initiative to alter behavioural norms and values. “I once believed in this model. But everything I’ve seen over the past decade tells me it’s wrong,” writes Kotter.

New principles or behaviours become inculcated into an organisation once their worth has been proven

Culture is not something you can grab and manipulate. You cannot “teach” new values. Instead, new principles or behaviours become inculcated into an organisation once their worth has been proven. Employees need to see them working to realise they are indeed superior to their old ways of working.

Therefore, if your leadership team asks for a new set of values or behaviours to be instilled across the organisation before their worth has been proven, respectfully suggest you start with disrupting the status quo, creating a powerful vision, weaving this into everyday comms, and communicating short-term wins. Then, use these wins to showcase and celebrate the new values or behaviours in action. They will no longer be theoretical or unproven. Instead, they will feel real, exciting and necessary for survival.

#8 Face the future with anticipation, not fear

We cannot expect the rate of change to slow, advises Kotter. “More people, more often, will need data on customers, competitors, employees, suppliers, shareholders, technological developments and financial results.” All of which puts comms pros at the heart of change. Kotter adds that employees at all levels will need to be provided with “honest, unvarnished news, especially about performance.”

He suggests the “volume knob on the dishonest dialogue channel will have to be turned way down”. I would argue the Covid pandemic ushered in an era of more candid – even vulnerable exchanges – between people at all levels inside our organisations. We must strive to keep this open, honest dialogue alive.

Leaders who wish to thrive amid this constant climate of change must adopt a particular mindset, advises Kotter. They must listen with an open mind, try new things, and reflect honestly on successes and failures. This is equally good advice for comms professionals.

“As an observer of life in organisations, I think I can say with some authority that people who are making an effort to embrace the future are a happier lot than those who are clinging on to the past.”?

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Katie Macaulay is a leading voice in employee communication. She is an international public speaker, managing director of AB, author of From Cascade to Conversation, and host of The Internal Comms Podcast. Katie sits on the Board of The International Association of Business Communicators.