The Heart of Change Field Guide

Tools And Tactics for Leading Change in Your Organization

Dan S. Cohen

• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
• Year: 2005
• ISBN:
  9781422148044
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

In 1996, John P. Kotter's Leading Change became a runaway best seller, outlining an eight-step program for organizational change that was embraced by executives around the world. Then, Kotter and co-author Dan Cohen's The Heart of Change introduced the revolutionary "see-feel-change" approach, which helped executives understand the crucial role of emotion in successful change efforts. Now, The Heart of Change Field Guide provides leaders and managers tools, frameworks, and advice for bringing these breakthrough change methods to life within their own organizations. Written by Dan Cohen and with a foreword by John P. Kotter, the guide provides a practical framework for implementing each step in the change process, as well as a new three-phase approach to execution: creating a climate for change, engaging and enabling the whole organization, and implementing and sustaining change. Hands-on diagnostics—including a crucial "change readiness module"—reveal the dynamics that will help or hinder success at each phase of the change process. Both flexible and scaleable, the frameworks presented in this guide can be tailored for any size or type of change initiative. Filled with practical tools, checklists, and expert commentary, this must-have guide translates the most powerful approaches available for creating successful change into concrete, actionable steps for you and your organization. Dan Cohen is the co-author, with John P. Kotter, of The Heart of Change, and a principal with Deloitte Consulting, LLC.

PART I

Creating a
Climate for
Change

A COMMON SCENARIO WHEN A LEADER OF an organization decides to undertake change is to begin planning immediately for the tactical implementation. Most leaders are quick to devote time, energy, and resources to redesigning new work processes or preparing new technology. However, little energy, if any, is spent getting the people within the organization ready for change.

Since the release of The Heart of Change, I have traveled around the world talking with top organizational leaders about transformation. Most agree that the most common reason their initiatives failed was that they did not address the people-related challenges—not that they didn’t get the processes right or that the technology was not ready. If leaders acknowledge that projects fail for people-related reasons, why don’t they do something about it from the beginning of their transformation effort? The answer is simple—it takes a lot of time and energy. So instead, they focus on the aspects that are more tactical and expect people to get on board. You’ve probably heard a leader say something like, “This is the direction we are going, and you just need to accept it and move on.” Rarely does this approach result in lasting change.

This is why the first three steps are so important in the eight-step model—they work collectively to create a climate for change within an organization. Without a high degree of energy and urgency for change at all levels, the workforce will never embrace change, and lasting transformation will be harder, if not impossible, to achieve. By moving beyond the typical project steering committee to building multiple guiding teams in all levels of the organization, you create momentum and build commitment. Finally, the third step helps create a climate for change by providing a vision that people can rally around.

If you fail to create a climate for change, you are putting your transformation at risk. You give those individuals who choose to resist the change effort a solid platform from which to recruit others—people who would have been supporters if the proper climate had been set. Furthermore, even if the change is achieved, it takes much longer and is more costly in terms of both budget and effort.

To help you understand how to move through the first three steps, I encourage you to read the next three chapters, which focus exclusively on creating a climate for change within your organization. As you read these chapters, keep in mind that maintaining a climate for change requires you to periodically revisit the principles from these first three steps throughout the transformation to ensure that people do see and feel a supportive ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Dedication
• FOREWORD
• INTRODUCTION
• PART I: Creating a Climate for Change
• PART II: Engaging and Enabling the Whole Organization
• PART III: Implementing and Sustaining the Change
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR