Kotter's New 8 Accelerators for Strategic Change

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Kotter's New 8 Accelerators for Strategic Change

KOTTER'S ORIGINAL 8-STEP METHOD
John Kotter published his "Leading Change" article in the 1995 issue of HBR. He introduced a framework with 8 Change Phases which at the time resonated with many readers:

1. Establish a sense of urgency.
2. Create a coalition.
3. Develop a clear vision.
4. Share the vision.
5. Empower people to clear obstacles.
6. Secure short-term wins.
7. Consolidate and keep moving.
8. Anchor the change.

In 1996 he released a book version. In the book preface he states, "Unlike the article, the book has dozens and dozens of examples of what seems to work and what doesn't. In this sense, it is more hands-on and practical."
Kotter's original eight-step process (1996) is very much top-down and places heavy emphasis on getting the early steps right. Change is seen as linear rather than cyclical, which implies that an idealistic end state can be reached rather than iterated towards.

A CHANGED WORLD
Since 1996 the pace of change in the business world has sped up greatly. Leading Change was re-released in 2012 with a new preface. In this book, Kotter writes: "A globalized economy is creating both more hazards and more opportunities for everyone, forcing firms to make dramatic improvements not only to compete and prosper but also to survive."

Kotter eventually came to the conclusion that in uncertain times, linear change models don't serve leaders particularly well. A MODEL WAS NEEDED THAT ACKNOWLEDGED NON-LINEARITY AND COMPLEXITY and enabled leaders to navigate their way through evolution and adaptively dealing with whatever emerges as they go. After extensive research he introduced an alternate change process with 8 "Accelerators" in his 2014 book Accelerate.

KOTTER'S 8 ACCELERATORS
Kotter's new eight change accelerators are:

1. Create a sense of urgency around a single big opportunity.
2. Build and maintain a guiding coalition.
3. Formulate a strategic vision and develop change initiatives designed to capitalize on the big opportunity.
4. Communicate the vision and the strategy to create buy-in and attract a growing volunteer army.
5. Accelerate movement toward the vision and the opportunity by ensuring that the network removes barriers.
6. Celebrate visible, significant short-term wins.
7. Never let up. Keep learning from experience. Don't declare victory too soon.
8. Institutionalize strategic changes in the culture.

KOTTER'S 8 STEPS VERSUS KOTTER'S 8 ACCELERATORS
There are 4 main differences between the original 8 steps and the 8 "accelerators" on which the strategy system runs:

1. The steps are often used in rigid, finite, and sequential ways, in effecting or responding to episodic change, whereas the accelerators are concurrent and always at work.
2. The steps are usually driven by a small, powerful core group, whereas the accelerators pull in as many people as possible from throughout the organization to form a "volunteer army".
3. The steps are designed to function within a traditional hierarchy, whereas the accelerators require the flexibility and agility of a network.
4. The steps focus on one, single change objective in a linear fashion, whereas the accelerators are constantly seeking new opportunities and initiatives to capitalize on.

The chart illustrates these four key revisions.

The 1996 Process had leaders at the top unleashing an early burst of energy - 'urgency' and 'power' and 'vision'. Then after Step 5, it was a rather straight-forward process delegated to managers lower down the hierarchy - 'plan', 'consolidate' and 'institutionalize'.

The 2014 Process is different. It leverages how things really work in complex adaptive systems. The "volunteer army" is not top-down and self-organizes in networks that go beyond company boundaries. Betting on one big change idea in an uncontrollable world is high risk. The smarter play is to test many initiatives and monitor what positives and negative consequences emerge. Design the initiatives to be small to keep undesirable results from doing unrecoverable damage. Capture the desirable results by celebrating the wins. Accelerate change by non-linear 'scaling' not linear 'cloning'. That means 'One size does not fit all.' Diversity is acceptable and encouraged.

WHICH OF KOTTER'S CHANGE APPROACH IS BEST?
Does the 2014 change model replace the 1996 change model? Not necessarily. It depends on the situation. The 1996 process is applicable in a work environment that is stable, predictable, and repeatable. A sequence of events can be predesigned in which vision and strategy can be decided up front, leading to a plan that sets out key measures, which then dictates front-line activities.
If an initial assessment reveals elements of turbulence, confusion, novelty, and ambiguity, the 2014 process with 8 accelerators should be used.

		Comments by date▼ Comments by rating Rating
		5 Paramathmuni srinivas Kumar India
	Changes at Tendency Level Tendencies are more powerful than the individual or collective will. It is even more powerful than the nature of environment created. Does change at tendency level requires a new change approach?

		3 Joy S. Pillejera Manager, Philippines
	Change Phases Approach Depends a Lot on Created Sense of Urgency A lot depends on the leader's “created” sense of urgency. What if the opportunity seen is not correct?

		4 Gary Wong Consultant, Canada
	Strategic Change at the Organizational Level @Srinivas: The Inside-Out change model I use starts with Personal ⇒ Team ⇒ Organization ⇒ Community ⇒ Society. Kotter’s approach is designed for STRATEGIC CHANGE AT THE ORGANIZATION LEVEL. Can you further elaborate what you mean by change at the "Tendency" level?

		8 Gary Wong Consultant, Canada
	Crossing the Chasm (Geoffrey Moore) @Joy S. Pillejera: In Geoffrey Moore’s book Crossing the Chasm, he places Innovators and Early Adopters as people who see the opportunity as correct and prepared to move forward. On the other side of ...

		1 Paramathmuni srinivas Kumar India
	Exploring Further Into the Personal Being @Wong: You would agree we behave in a particular way, despite our likes and dislikes. However if we take an integrated approach and work on the tendencies at all layers the being is comprised of (phys...

		3 Gary Wong Consultant, Canada
	Personal Beings in a Complex Adaptive System @Srinivas: I agree that we have a tendency to behave a certain way based on past experiences. That is, “this has worked for me before” or “I’m good at doing this.” Every person in a complex adaptive s...

		1 Paramathmuni srinivas Kumar India
	Working on Tendencies @Gary Wong: It seems recent research corroborates the findings that 95% OF OUR BEHAVIOR IS SUBCONSCIOUS DRIVEN. It how we are wired in the being… However the experiential system states that 5% window ...

		0 Gregory Johnson Coach, United States
	Vision and Focus Having been a John Kotter follower for many years, these updated 8 Accelerators in addition to the great and historical work regarding organizational dynamics reinforce the discipline to become and to...

		1 Akuru Gabriel Entrepreneur, Nigeria
	Strategic Change - 8 Accelerators Thanks for sharing the article on 8 accelerators for strategic change. It is so insightful and apt for the dynamics of today's business and management. As a consultant focused on quality in the educat...

		9 Tamas Schauermann Career Consultant, Hungary
	Vision, Opportunity and Obstacles as Motivators of Organizational Change It was interesting to observe, that in the original version opportunity didn't play any role, and the 5th point only contained the “obstacle” element. As “opportunity got added to the model, the 5th p...

		2 Towlson CEO, South Africa
	Careful with #6. Quick Wins Be careful with number 6… Quick wins can sometimes have unintended consequences. Quick wins normally involve addressing and cashing in on quickly solving obvious issues. However, the results can be su...

		5 Jaap de Jonge Editor, Netherlands
	Careful with Quick Wins in Organizational Change Efforts @Towlson: I agree, quick wins are powerful motivational mechanisms, but they are double-edged swords that can be quite dangerous too. Don't let the word "quick" fool you: quick wins (should) involve ...

		1 Graham Williams Management Consultant, South Africa
	Credibility of Kotter's New 8 Accelerators for Strategic Change Perhaps fiddling with/ "updating" a model or paradigm to try and maintain its credibility in new circumstances is an example of not changing... And throws some doubt on the credibility of the model?...

		7 Gary Wong Consultant, Canada
	Models are Partial Representations of the Real World @Graham Williams: Models are designed to represent the real world. Kotter realized how the world has become more turbulent and uncertain due to complexity. Instead of throwing doubt on model credibil...

		2 Sihol Situngkir
	Kotter's New 8 Accelerators for Strategic Change are Important It is a critical time to elaborate on organizational change efforts in more detail, considering the substance of (external) changes today related to disruption due to the application of massive inform...

		6 Bjarni S. Jonsson Business Consultant, Iceland
	Transparency in the Change Process I agree with @Jaap de Jonge on quick wins. I think transparency is also very important. Making the progress of change transparent to all creates a feeling that the system is actually moving and in th...

		3 Jaap de Jonge Editor, Netherlands
	Transparency in the Change Process @Bjarni S. Jonsson: that's a very good point you are making… It also fits in our current informed world. Transparant communication of all actions, results and overall progress of the change effort, pr...

		1 Graham Williams Management Consultant, South Africa
	No Model can Represent the Real World in all Instances @Gary Wong: Someone once said that models are like lamp posts - a drunk may use them for support, but they are intended for illumination. No model can represent the real world in all instances. So I p...

		6 Gary Wong Consultant, Canada
	All Models are Wrong @Graham Williams: I like eminent statistician George Box’s quote: "All models are wrong but some are useful". Just like lamp posts come in various designs, so do change models such as ADKAR, AIM, Con...

		0 Ivan Kohlinsky Management Consultant, Guernsey
	This Approach Used to Work Well, But I don't Know How it Can Cope with the 'modern World I am familiar with this approach as it used to be the (undeclared) approach of management consultants in the 70s - 00s, recognising the behavioural science side of organisations with 'hot buttons'/'qu...

		5 Gary Wong Consultant, Canada
	Handling Negative Destructive Forces @Ivan Kohlinsky: I believe a modern day practitioner needs to understand how complexity adaptive systems (CAS) work. Our initial task as change practitioners is to map the CAS through the power of St...

		1 Maurice Hogarth Consultant, United Kingdom
	Kotter Any Real Change from Steps to Accelerators? No model provides one right answer (for there is no such thing in management); most managerial-management situations need some variation of or mixing and matching from more than one approach. How are...

		5 Gary Wong Consultant, Canada
	Use Accelerators for Speed, Agility and Innovation, Not for Stable Conditions @Maurice Hogarth: My understanding of "Run the steps concurrently” means at the same time you have a workforce keeping the existing business going, you also have a group exploring emerging opportuniti...

		2 Gregory Johnson Coach, United States
	Change 4 Change???? I am a Kotter fan for a long time and find the new 8 Step resource beneficial to accelerate a project of task to an outcome. From my perspective it is an ACCELERATOR. However, as an "old school" coac...

		1 Maurice Hogarth Consultant, United Kingdom
	Accelerators to Be Concurrent with Current Activities, no Kidding @Gary, I understand and accept the dual speeds aspect and am not criticising the model. Grammatically ‘…run the steps concurrently’ means that the steps are concurrent, not that they are concurrent w...

		4 Jaap de Jonge Editor, Netherlands
	How Kotter's New Accelerators Should be Run Concurrently and Continuously @Gary and Maurice. In my opinion: Kotter's original 8 "steps" are supposed to be run in a rigid, finite, and sequential way (first step 1, then, only after the step was performed successfully, pr...

		3 Molokanova Professor, Ukraine
	Old Models are Wrong Not long ago, the statement that the SPOD world (Steady, Predictable, Ordinary, Definite) has been replaced by the VUCA world (Volatile, Unstable, Complex and Ambiguous) was a surprise. But such a wor...

		1 Eddie Amanam Consultant, Nigeria
	J.Kotter's 8 Accelerators Organizations' change behaviours are dynamic and most of the times unpredictable. Situational change approaches could affect any of your planned methods, leading to you taking yet another change model...

		4 Gary Wong Consultant, Canada
	It's a VUCA, BANI, TUNA, DELA World @Molokanova: I wholeheartedly agree complexity is ever increasing. It seems to have a spawn a bunch of 4-letter acronyms. Two more I've come across are TUNA and DELA. The Oxford University Executive ...

		4 Jaap de Jonge Editor, Netherlands
	All Models Have Assumptions and Limitations @Molokanova: Thank you for your excellent contribution. You explained the essence of the current situation really well. You could have titled your comment: "Old Models are often Wrong", or: "Old Mode...

		1 Maurice Hogarth Consultant, United Kingdom
	How to Implement a Sequence Concurrently? @Jaap de Jonge: accepting the change accelerators as: 1. Create a sense of urgency around a single big opportunity. (Which will initiate someone to... 2. Build and maintain a guiding coalition. (Who...

		3 Gary Wong Consultant, Canada
	A Portfolio of Changes @Maurice Hogarth: The single big opportunity doesn't have to be one project. Regarding concurrence, think of a portfolio of initiatives all geared around exploring the big opportunity. Teams are assem...

		1 Maurice Hogarth Consultant, United Kingdom
	A Concurrence of Changes @Gary Wong: I agree that the single big opportunity does not have to be a single project. It can be several projects linked or un-linked or a major project with several separate but concurrent pathway...