War Stories with Kotter, Part 4: Form a Strategic Vision

As we continue our deep dive into Kotter's 8-Step Process for Leading Change, let's begin with some of the notable recognition and awards his thinking has received.

Although originating in academia, Dr. Kotter’s impact as a bestselling author extends far beyond that field, providing practical insights that have shaped how organisations and practitioners approach change and transformation. In total, he has published 22 books, including 13 best sellers and many being placed on lists of best business or management books of the year. Leading Change has been translated into 26 languages and was chosen as one of the 25 most influential management books ever by Time magazine.

Dr. Kotter’s article titled Accelerate! won the 2012 McKinsey Award for the best article in Harvard Business Review. This award recognised Kotter's thinking as practical and groundbreaking in the field of business and management.

Dr. Kotter also personally received six lifetime achievement awards for his significant contributions to leadership, organisational behaviour, and change management. Information on exactly what these awards are has been difficult to find. However, recently they included the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Best Practice Institute in 2018, and earlier from the American Society for Training & Development, in 2009.

He also received international recognition through founding the management consulting firm Kotter International. In 2017, Kotter International won the Entrepreneur magazine’s Top Company Cultures award in the small business category, ranking first among management consulting firms.

Of Kotter's 8 steps or Accelerators, today we look at forming a strategic vision.

From the website https://www.kotterinc.com/methodology.

In Market Corrections in a Flexible Industry: Fine-Tuning Change Management I recounted the impact on my early career of observing a well-funded, strategic, and cultural change management program. It was so well executed, inclusive, and comprehensive—without being excessive—that I was inspired and 'wanted in'.

Form a Strategic Vision: Clarify how the future will differ from the past. Gain buy-in for initiatives directly linked to the vision

In years of working in change since then, I've rarely seen a corporate and strategic program executed as well. Yes, there's been programs with money, yes, there's been amazing technology and great teams of people. But what set this program apart was the strategic imperative that drove all management to align, enabling them to take tough decisions while clearly communicating the way forward.

The change program was put in place to deal with the demutualisation and modernisation of the business, which was necessitated by a credit rating downgrade that threatened its survival. It had previously operated as a wealthy, high-margin, high-commission business and was consequently flattened and aligned to operating in a new, more accountable world of financial services post-2000.

The organisation was divided up into lines of business. Initially the retail arm acquired banking assets and was later acquired by a larger bank. Other brands were prepared for sale and reorganisation, and one brand remains active in the marketplace. Ultimately the privatisation effort achieved success and ensured the continuity of the business and service provision to customers with significant financial stake in the business continuity.

The catch-cry for the change was 'all rowing in the same direction', as teams of employees from across the organisation were pulled into meetings to hear about changes, discuss their thoughts and understand the single direction we were all being asked to support.

In addition to broad employee engagement, all managers were whisked away on residential, week-long workshops that shared inspiration from other organisational cultures; encouraged thinking about one's humanity and purpose in life and work; and covered other general leadership topics.

Information was then disseminated not just from the C-Suite but also from leaders right across the organisation who were able to discuss concerns, ideas and opportunities with employees. Having attended residential workshops with other managers from across the group provided an experiential lens that empowered management to be compassionate leaders of change.

Conclusion on Kotter's Step: Form a Strategic Vision

From the birth of that catch-cry 'all rowing in the same direction' onwards, every initiative, correction, and move—large or small—was made with reference to alignment and whether it enabled us to 'all row in the same direction'.

The core business driver of this change ultimately drove extensive redundancies (of which I was one). However, undertaking the change saw the business survive, and quite simply not making the change would not have achieved this result. Not making the change would have caused greater upheaval and misfortune in the lives of vastly more individuals.

The strategic vision had been well established, it was complex beneath the surface, but rallied around a simple and effective catch-cry. Investments of time, effort and authenticity had been poured into helping employees understand the drivers of change, and asking them to support continuation of the business in its reborn form. Overall, this stands as a highly successful example of Kotter's advice to form a strategic vision in change leadership.

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