Kotter's Eight-Step Model

John Kotter’s eight-step model is one of the most widely used frameworks for leading change. Originally published in his 1996 book Leading Change, it has been applied in businesses, governments, and schools worldwide.

The three phases

The broader structure groups the eight steps into three phases.

• Steps 1-4 help unfreeze the status quo.
• Steps 5-6 introduce new practices.
• Steps 7-8 ground the changes in a new culture to ensure sustainability.

1. Unfreeze (steps 1-4). Create the conditions for change. Make people willing to change.
2. Introduce (steps 5-6). Make the change happen. Get the new practices in place.
3. Sustain (steps 7-8). Lock in the change. Make sure it does not slip back.

Each phase has its own purpose. Skipping any phase often causes the change to fail.

Step 1: Create a Sense of Urgency

Help others see the need for change and the importance of acting immediately. Make the need felt, not just understood.

Identify the key stakeholders, groups, and individuals in the organisation who must feel the need for change. To make the case, talk about the need for change, the consequences of not changing, and the ways to solve the problems. A sense of urgency is central to getting cooperation.

A school head launching change needs to make the urgency real. Not “we should improve” but “we are losing parents to the school down the road and we have to act now”. Not “modern teaching is better” but “our grade-5 results are dropping for the third year”.

Urgency without panic is the right level. Panic produces poor decisions. Complacency produces no action. Urgency, properly calibrated, produces cooperation.

Step 2: Pull Together the Guiding Team

Make sure there is a strong group guiding the change. The principal cannot lead the change alone.

The team needs leadership skills, credibility, communication ability, authority, analytical skills, and a shared sense of urgency. One person cannot implement wide-scale change; a coalition is needed. When building the coalition, check that it has the right mix of skills, knowledge, and capabilities.

For a school, the guiding team usually includes the principal, the senior leadership team, perhaps a few influential teachers, and sometimes external stakeholders.

The guiding team has two functions.

1. It does the work. Designs the change, communicates it, troubleshoots.
2. It signals seriousness. A change backed by a coalition feels different from one backed only by the principal.

Step 3: Develop the Change Vision and Strategy

Decide what to do. The third step is articulating where the change is going.

Clarify how the future will be different from the past, and how the change will make that future a reality. Leaders need to create a compelling vision and a strategy to realise it. The vision must answer “What do we want to achieve?” and “Where do we want to be in the future?” The guiding coalition should be instrumental in creating the vision and strategy.

The vision and strategy together describe the future state and the path to get there. Both must be present. A vision without a strategy is a dream; a strategy without a vision is a plan without purpose.

The guiding team helps create the vision. Vision developed by the principal alone is owned by the principal alone. Vision developed by the team is owned by the team.

Step 4: Communicate for Understanding and Agreement

The fourth step is broad communication. After the vision and strategies are determined, they must be effectively communicated. Failure to implement change is often the result of under-communication or poor communication.

Make sure as many people as possible understand and accept the vision and strategy. Establish an environment where concerns can be brought forward and discussed without fear of retribution. Accept and plan for resistance; resisters help clarify the issue.

Communication must be:

1. Frequent. Not one announcement; many conversations over months.
2. Multi-channel. Meetings, written communications, one-on-ones, demonstrations.
3. Honest. Including about the challenges and what is uncertain.
4. Open to feedback. Concerns surface and get addressed.

A school head who communicates the change once and assumes the work is done has misread Kotter. Effective communication continues throughout the change.

Step 5: Empower Others to Act

Remove as many barriers as possible so that those who want to make the vision a reality can do so. The fifth step is removing the obstacles to action. Systems or structures that undermine the change vision must be changed or eliminated.

Specific moves at this step:

• Set short-term goals.
• Encourage people to speak up and disagree.
• Encourage people to take risks; give them freedom.
• Share as much as you know; do not hide.
• Encourage personal reflection and learning.
• Provide training and support.
• Encourage teamwork.

For a school: if the change is a new teaching approach, do the teachers have the training? The materials? The time? The freedom to try and fail? The principal’s backing when they take risks?

Empowering staff often requires changing structures that were not designed to support the change. The old appraisal system rewards old behaviours; it needs updating. The old schedule does not allow time for the new approach; it needs revising.

A school head who skips this step finds her staff wanting to change but blocked by the school’s own systems.

Step 6: Produce Short-Term Wins

Create some visible, unambiguous successes as soon as possible. The sixth step is generating visible early wins. Demonstrate the success of the initiative. Plan and create the wins, and visibly recognise and reward the people who made them possible.

Long change initiatives tend to lose energy without visible progress. Short-term wins give staff something concrete to point to. The change is working. The investment is producing returns.

Examples in a school:

1. After three months of new curriculum, a small visible improvement in test results in one section.
2. After two months of new parent engagement, a tangible increase in parent meeting attendance.
3. After one term of new teaching approach, a clear improvement in one class.

The wins do not need to be large. They need to be visible and connected to the change effort. They tell the staff: this is working.

Step 7: Don’t Let Up

Press harder and faster after the first successes. The seventh step is sustaining momentum after early wins.

Be relentless with change after change until the vision becomes a reality. Be ready to change systems, structures, and policies that do not fit the transformation vision. Hire, promote, and develop people who can implement the change vision. Strengthen the process with new projects, themes, and change agents.

After early wins, many change initiatives lose energy. Staff feel they have succeeded; the urgency drops. Leaders move to other priorities.

Kotter warns against this. Early wins are not the end. They are the foundation. The change is not complete until the new ways are embedded.

A school head who declares victory at step 6 sees the change slip back. A school head who keeps pushing through step 7 makes the change permanent.

Step 8: Create a New Culture

Hold on to the new ways of behaving and make sure they succeed until they become part of the group’s culture. The final step is embedding the change in the school’s culture.

Develop a means to ensure leadership development and succession. Changing culture comes last, not first. It is only after people change their actions that the culture can change.

Culture follows behaviour, not the other way around. A school head who tries to “change the culture first” tends to fail. A school head who changes behaviours and sustains them sees the culture shift to match.

This is why succession matters. The change is fully embedded only when the next generation of leaders has internalised it. If the change depends on the current principal, it is not yet in the culture.

Using the model in practice

Kotter’s model is a guide, not a rigid recipe. The chef-vs-cook framing in Resistance and Process applies here too. A school head should:

1. Understand the principle behind each step.
2. Adapt each step to her specific situation.
3. Move through the steps roughly in order but be willing to revisit earlier steps when needed.
4. Not skip any step.
5. Allow enough time for each step (changes typically take years, not months).

A school head running her first major change can use Kotter as a structured framework. As she becomes more experienced, she can adapt the framework more confidently.

Flashcard

What are the eight steps in Kotter's change model, and how are they grouped?

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Answer

Three phases: Unfreeze (1-4), Introduce (5-6), Sustain (7-8).

The eight steps:

1. Create a Sense of Urgency. Make the need felt.
2. Pull Together the Guiding Team. Build a coalition.
3. Develop the Change Vision and Strategy. Articulate where you are going.
4. Communicate for Understanding and Agreement. Multi-channel, frequent, honest.
5. Empower Others to Act. Remove barriers; give support.
6. Produce Short-Term Wins. Visible early successes.
7. Don’t Let Up. Sustain momentum; do not declare victory too early.
8. Create a New Culture. Embed the change in behaviour, then culture follows.

Many change initiatives stall at step 7 (declared victory too early) or step 4 (under-communicated). A school head should expect change to take years, not months, and should not skip any step.