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February 15, 2007

Why change efforts (still) fail

I just got around to reading the January 2007 issue of the Harvard Business Review and discovered that the magazine has wisely reprinted John P. Kotter’s famous article, “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail,” which originally appeared in the magazine in 1995.

If you’re not familiar with Mr. Kotter and your job involves helping organizations change, I strongly urge you to read the article (available for purchase online at www.hbr.org or his terrific book, Leading Change.

Why is reading either the article or the book worth your time? Because Mr. Kotter knows exactly what makes change efforts in organizations succeed and what makes them fail. And more than 12 years since I first read the HBR article, I’m amazed that companies are still making the same mistakes Mr. Kotter warned against so long ago.

For example, in 2005 my firm worked with a Fortune 500 company to communicate a major change initiative (which I’ll call Transformation) designed to improve operational efficiency and lower costs. We helped develop messages, support senior leadership communication, provide information to managers, even design a special intranet site about the initiative. And for eight months, as the change teams did their work, there was a steady stream of communication about Transformation in a variety of vehicles and channels.

Then the CEO seemed to get bored. “I don’t want to talk about Transformation any more,” he said. “Transformation has already become part of what we do, so I don’t think we need to make it such a big deal anymore.”

That’s a classic mistake, says Mr. Kotter. In fact, it’s #7 on his list of why transformation efforts fail: “Declaring victory too soon.” Although we tried to counsel our clients and their senior management not to stop talking about Transformation, the CEO’s mind was made up.

And a month or so later, when I visited one of the company’s manufacturing sites, the local communicator, who knew I had been working on Transformation, asked a good question. “I thought Transformation was critical for helping our company succeed,” she said. “If that’s the case, why—just when we are starting to take action—is senior management acting like the job is done?”

In this situation, John Kotter couldn’t help me. But there have been many times over the past decade, this his advice has helped enormously. That’s why I urge you to read the article or get his book.

Posted by Alison Davis at February 15, 2007 01:38 PM