Kotter 8 Steps for Leading Change: What Each Step Requires and Where It Stalls

Where did Kotter’s model come from?

John Kotter published “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail” in Harvard Business Review in 1995, after a ten-year study of more than 100 companies attempting transformation, and developed it further in his 1996 book Leading Change. ^{[1, 2, 4]} The article identified eight errors that recurred in efforts that faltered, and correcting those errors became the eight steps known today.

Note that the fourth step has changed: in the 1995 article the fourth error was undercommunicating the vision, whereas the version Kotter Inc presents today makes it enlisting a volunteer army. ^{[2, 3]} Communication has not disappeared, but it has become part of inviting people to take part rather than a publicity campaign.

Steps 1–3: lay the foundations before the announcement

Create a sense of urgency. Kotter reported that more than half the companies he followed failed in this first phase, and that urgency is high enough when about 75% of management is honestly convinced that business as usual is unacceptable. ^[2] In the updated version, urgency is built around a “big opportunity” that speaks to heads and hearts, not around threat alone. ^[4]

Build a guiding coalition. The coalition needs people with position, information, reputation and relationships. It may start with three to five people in the first year, but in large companies it needs to grow to between 20 and 50 before much progress is possible. ^[2] Kotter Inc recommends diversity across levels, functions and tenure. ^[4]

Form the vision. Kotter’s practical test: if you cannot explain the vision in five minutes or less and get a reaction that shows understanding and interest, this phase is not finished. ^[2]

Steps 4–6: turn the vision into movement

Enlist a volunteer army. The idea is that people take part because they want to, not because they have to. Kotter Inc’s eBook states that about 15% of the organisation is enough to build material momentum towards change. ^[4] Leaders’ behaviour remains the strongest message: according to Kotter, nothing undermines change more than important individuals behaving in ways that contradict their words. ^[2]

Remove barriers. The obstacles Kotter cited include rigid organisational structures, pay or appraisal systems that conflict with the vision, and managers who refuse to change, stressing that communication alone is never enough. ^[2] The updated eBook adds silos, legacy rules and limited access to leaders. ^[4]

Generate short-term wins. Kotter argued that results should appear within roughly 12 to 24 months to sustain commitment, and that wins must be deliberately planned and created and be unambiguous, because without them too many people give up or join those resisting change. ^[2] In the updated version, a good win is relevant to the opportunity, meaningful to people beyond those who achieved it, and unambiguous and tangible enough for others to replicate or adapt. ^[4]

Steps 7–8: prevent backsliding

Sustain acceleration. Kotter’s seventh error is declaring victory too soon, because change remains fragile until it is embedded in the culture, which can take five to ten years. ^[2] Early wins should therefore be used to tackle bigger problems, not to celebrate the end of the effort. The eBook warns that regaining momentum once urgency has dropped is much harder. ^[4]

Institute change. Change lasts when it becomes “the way we do things around here”. That requires explicitly linking new behaviours to better performance and choosing successors who embody the new approach. ^[2] The eBook reminds readers that cultural change comes deep into a transformation, not at the start. ^[4]

What changed in the updated version?

Kotter later developed the model in his 2014 book Accelerate, and Kotter Inc summarises the differences between the two versions as follows: ^{[3, 4]}

In practical terms: in a large, multi-initiative transformation, do not wait for one step to finish before starting the next, and do not confine leadership to a steering committee. For a tightly scoped change, such as moving a department onto a new system, the original sequence is still a workable planning framework.

Where does implementation stall?

Typical sticking points map onto the steps themselves:
– Manufactured urgency: alarming figures nobody believes, or urgency felt only by senior management.
– A coalition of titles only: a committee of senior managers without people who hold front-line knowledge and relationships.
– A long, vague vision: a multi-page document no one can explain in five minutes. ^[2]
– Compulsory participation: assigning staff to take part instead of giving them a real choice and permission to act. ^[4]
– Leaving systems untouched: incentives and appraisals that still reward the old behaviour. ^[2]
– Easing off after the first win: declaring success before the change has taken root. ^{[2, 4]}

There are also limits anyone adopting the model should know. A 2012 academic review found support for most of the steps but no formal studies testing the model as a whole in sequence; it attributed the model’s popularity more to its direct, practical format than to scientific consensus on its results, and recommended using it as an implementation planning tool alongside others that address context. ^[5] Avoid quoting the claim that 70% of change initiatives fail, too: a 2011 study concluded there is no valid and reliable empirical evidence for that figure. ^[6]

Hypothetical example: moving a government body’s services online

A government body decides to move most of its services to a digital channel within two years. Leadership builds urgency around a clear opportunity: fewer visits to service centres and faster processing. It forms a coalition of the transformation director, heads of the most-used services, front-line staff and a technology specialist.

The coalition writes a two-sentence vision and invites staff to volunteer for service-testing teams. The teams discover that the performance appraisal counts only transactions completed at the counter, so it is amended to include digital transactions. The body launches two digital services in the first six months and shares their results with every department, then uses that win to extend the transformation to more complex services instead of declaring the project complete.

Readiness questions before each step

Use these questions in a guiding coalition meeting before moving into a new phase. Any “no” means the step needs more work, even if later steps have already started in parallel:

These questions are a practical rendering of the conditions Kotter described for each step, not an official Kotter Inc tool. ^{[2, 4]}

Conclusion

The Kotter 8 steps are a list of the leadership errors that derail transformation, arranged as steps. Use them to plan implementation and test your readiness at each step, run them concurrently in large transformations, and supplement them with tools suited to your organisation’s context.