John Kotter's Steps to Change

This article discusses John Kotter's 8 Step Change Model and how it can help organizations implement successful changes. The author shares their personal experience of using the model in a telecommunication company to improve customer service and employee performance. The steps of the model, including creating a sense of urgency, creating a guiding coalition, creating a vision, communicating the vision, removing obstacles, creating short-term goals, consolidating improvements, and anchoring changes, are explained in detail. The article concludes with the positive impact of implementing the model and the importance of making necessary changes for the success and profitability of an organization.

Running head: JOHN KOTTER’S STEPS TO CHANGE
JOHN KOTTER’S STEPS TO CHANGE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1JOHN KOTTER’S STEPS TO CHANGE
The goal of every organization is to achieve the goals they have set for themselves.
With time the society changes and the structure of the organization changes to meet the
desired goals. Renowned American leadership guru John Kotter carried out a research and the
outcomes of that research was that there was about 30% chance of an organization to succeed
after making changes in an organization. John Kotter later introduced the Kotter’s 8 Step
Change Model that would enhance the ability of an organization to change and raise the
chances of success (Galli, 2018).
John Kotter’s Model has helped many organizations in implementing change
successfully. I worked for a telecommunication company where I was appointed as the team
leader of the customer service team. I had to look after the performance of the team and had
to keep a rack whether the problems of the customers are solved efficiently. When I joined
the organization the company was getting negative feedback that their customers were not
getting proper help from the customer service department and their problems were not getting
solved. This was not only affecting the reputation of the organization but was also affecting
the employees as there were deductions in their income as a part of penalty that led the
employees to resign.
After I was hired and I worked for about a week I saw that there was a problem in the
organizational structure and the workflow of the employees in this department and there
should be changes that helps in gaining success. I have studied the John Kotter’s 8 steps of
change that helps organization to make changes effectively that leads to the success of the
company. When I was studying this I thought that the points were very effective and I would
try to implement changes with the help of this model if I get an opportunity. I got the
opportunity to do it in this company.

2JOHN KOTTER’S STEPS TO CHANGE
The first thing I did that is the first step of the model is to create a sense of urgency
(Galli, 2018). I called all the under me, introduced myself and had an interaction with the
employees. I made my employees realize the problems that were arising and would be
detrimental for the organization. The employees were not working efficiently and they were
not being able to solve the problems of the customers. I asked them if they had any issues that
were leading to the low productivity. I motivated them and made them realize that their
performance is important to the company.
The next step of the model suggests creating a guiding coalition (Galli, 2018).. I
addressed the issue to the management and asked for their guidance. I told them about the
problems the employees are facing. I consulted with them for a few changes that will help in
motivating the employees and also to make certain changes in the customer service division.
The third step of the model suggests creating a vision (Galli, 2018). This is exactly
what I did here. I explained my employees that we are a part of the service industry and
providing services is the main job of our company. If that cannot be fulfilled effectively then
the company will lose its value that helped them once upon a time in generating sales. The
inefficiency of the employees suggested that they were not well equipped with the work. I
made the decision of training the employees properly with our company so that they
understand the job better. Happy employees give more productive outcomes. Thus I
introduced a flexible working hours for them and came up with incentive plans that would
motivate the employees to put in hard effort.
The fourth step of the model states to communicate the vision (Galli, 2018). I told my
employees about the benefits they will be receiving for the hard work they put in and the
training they will get that will help them to do the job efficiently. I told them that the
company was generating bad reviews because of their performance and I need their support

3JOHN KOTTER’S STEPS TO CHANGE
in helping me and the company gain profits and a positive reputation and for them I had come
up with those strategies that catered to the employees as well. These strategies had been taken
by consulting the management and the other departments of the organization. The new
strategies were appreciated and adopted by my employees from the very next day.
The next step is to remove obstacles (Galli, 2018). After a week of implementing the
new strategies and change in the structure of my division I called my employees to ask how
they are taking the new change and the problems they are facing due to this are. I asked for
suggestions if they needed something else which they found better.
The next step was to create short-term goals (Galli, 2018). I came up with certain
schemes that if an employee can fulfill the target of satisfying a number of customers in a
week then they get an incentive. The results of the implementation were that employees
worked hard in achieving their target and the company started getting positive feedback from
our valuable customers. The employees were happy and productive that made a positive
impact on the company’s reputation and garnered success financially as well.
The next step is to consolidate improvements (Galli, 2018). I continuously kept a
track of the performance and the feedback. I checked if there was room for improvement. I
told them when we get a report that 90% of the customers have given positive results then we
will agree that the company has succeeded.
The last step of the model suggests anchoring changes (Galli, 2018). The changes I
suggested had worked well with both the employees and the company. The employees
responded to the change positively and the company took my suggestions. The training
process and the incentive plans have become a permanent part of the organization and for the
customer service division. However, the incentive plans changed with the change in society

4JOHN KOTTER’S STEPS TO CHANGE
for motivating the employees later. The rate of the resignation placed by the employees also
reduced and contributed to the success of the company.
John Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model had helped me a lot in making successful changes
in the organization and has helped to garner appreciation for my work in bringing a positive
change. The steps are very helpful and help a company to make certain changes that they
require to contribute to the success and profits of the organization.

5JOHN KOTTER’S STEPS TO CHANGE
Reference
Galli, B. J. (2018). Change Management Models: A Comparative Analysis and
Concerns. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 46(3), 124-132.