John Kotter is an expert on leadership and transformation. He designed an 8-step organizational change model to help organizations successfully implement change. Kotter states that “70% of all major change efforts in organizations fail” due to several factors (Thomsen, 2013). I believe my organization utilizes Kotter’s change model when implementing change.
I work for an organization that is part of the Adventist Health Care System. When there is a change, it is corporate driven. Our organization seems to follow Kotter’s 8-step model because they always express the need for change and form a team of change leaders or champions to help facilitate change. These change leaders follow up with staff frequently to make sure they are implementing this change and answer any questions staff may have. My organization does create vision for change and communicates that vision. I have seen my organization remove obstacles and demonstrate the benefits of change and build on it.
There have been several changes in the past 5 years such as hourly rounding, bedside shift report, and medication scanning. These changes all have been proven to be beneficial, but it took a while for everyone to be compliant and accept the change. I have seen my organization anchor the change to make sure it sticks. When medication scanning was implemented, our scan rates were monitored and if were not scanning medications more than a certain percentage, we were written up. When hourly rounding went into effect, we had change leaders that would stand outside the patient’s room and listen to our conversation with the patient and family members to be sure that we were addressing specific things such as their pain, if they needed to use the bathroom, their IV pump, call light etc. We were scored quarterly on hourly rounding to assess improvement. Change is difficult to implement but with the right tools it is successful. I think Kotter’s 8-step change model is very beneficial, realistic, and has been proven successful.
References:
Thomsen, S. (2013, February 17). Kotter’s 8 Step Organizational Change Model FC. (video file). Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxtF4OXzhyI#action=share
That is great that you had change leaders monitoring the change to make sure that the implementations were successful. How long do you monitor the changes once they are implemented? When a change is implemented does the monitoring process lead to actual changes in your process or does it just ensure that your staff is following the new changes that have been made?
My organization monitored the change quarterly for about a year I think. The monitoring is more to make sure staff is complying to the change. So far the changes that have been implemented have stuck.
Excellent post! It is great to see real-life examples of Kotter’s 8-step model put into practice. In my opinion, Kotter’s model is different from many of the other organizational theories because, in his work, he is addressing how to effectively impose change in system rather than assessing/diagnosing the system or its followers. Unfortunately, as you mentioned in your post, it generally takes awhile for employees to accept change – no matter how it is implemented. However, Kotter’s model makes this a little easier by suggesting the designation of change leaders to help ease the transition of change into the workplace.
Steven Thomsen (2013, February 17). Kotter’s 8 step organizational change model fc. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxtF4OXzhyI#action=share
It is unfortunate that it takes time for employees to comply to change. It was unfortunate in our situation that you could get written up with you didn’t comply.
Your organization sounds like it is driven by transactional leadership. Your leadership works within the organization’s existing culture and is very task and policy oriented. Transactional leaders, which tend to think short-term, utilize reward and punishment and constantly re-evaluate for group and organization success. My organization as a whole is transactional as well. I think individual units operate with more transformational leadership. Culture is very important to units, so leaders at this level work to effect the work-place culture. These leaders work to keep worker’s satisfied and engaged in their work.
Great Post. I agree with you, at first everyone is resistant to the change but in the end it’s for the best. I think the objective is to get everyone talking and using critical thinking as to what the change could mean. Getting outside help to fight in the arguments is another good step in creating the urgency of change that may need to be explored. This brings to the table a un-bios view on the matter. Although the need for change as a critical weighing out all the pros and cons is important, creating the urgency and not rushing through it is an important first step.