John Kotter’s Eight-Step Process for Change
In John Kotter’s book Leading Change, Kotter outlines an eight-step process for change. I thought it would be interesting to talk about the eight steps and apply them to changes you want to make in your life (for example, as part of a new habit or resolution).
The eight steps are:
- Establish a sense of urgency
- Create a guiding coalition
- Develop a vision and strategy
- Communicate the change vision
- Empower broad-based action
- Generate short-term wins
- Consolidate gains and produce more change
- Anchor new approaches in the culture
Let’s say we want to lose weight by eating smaller meals and being active.
The first step is to establish a sense of urgency. The idea behind the sense of urgency is to understand why you need to make the change now (and not say, next month or next year). Like all good habits anyone wants to develop, they compound over time so it is best to develop good habits earlier in life so they have the time to compound.
