John Kotter wrote a Harvard Business Review piece in 1995, over 25 years ago, entitled Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail. In it, he listed eight failure patterns or errors that often undermine organizational change and transformation efforts.
Now, at the time, agile ways of working were in their infancy and this was ~5-years before the writing of the Agile Manifesto. But when I came across it again, the article made me reflect on how many of these errors are still relevant and active today?
Error #1: Not Establishing a Great Enough Sense of Urgency
Error #2: Not Creating a Powerful Enough Guiding Coalition
Error #3: Lacking a Vision
Error #4: Under-communicating the Vision by a Factor of Ten
Error #5: Not Removing Obstacles to the New Vision
Error #6: Not Systemically Planning for and Creating Short-Term Wins
Error #7: Declaring Victory Too Soon
Error #8: Not Anchoring Changes in the Corporation’s Culture
Of course, these eight errors align directly with his 8-step process for leading change. But I feel all of them are alive and well in my (our) agile transformation and change efforts.
While all of them are relevant, I’m seeing errors #1, #2, #3, and #4 as being more beginning of a transformation missteps.
For example, in #2, I often see agile transformation “guiding coalitions” that consist of a lone agile coach or leader who is trying to change everyone by themselves. Clearly, they don’t have enough time, mass, or power to do it, but they are responsible for it.
And #4 is another common problem. Many leaders feel they only have to say things once in order to make it so. But when guiding a change or transformation, you may have to communicate your vision hundreds or thousands of times if that’s what it takes for it to become sticky!
Wrapping Up
What seems the most remarkable to me after revisiting the article and thinking of Kotter’s sound advice on change is how often we ignore it today. At a time in today’s VUCA world, when we are transforming at a high rate, but without following sound guidance.
It’s sad really. We have Kotter’s hard-earned wisdom and guidance if only we’d embrace it and follow it.
Stay agile my friends,
Bob.