3.2.7.3 Innovating Step by Step
Unfortunately, transformation processes tend to be characterized by the same
cardinal errors. John P. Kotter, an American professor and bestselling author,
therefore recommends the following seven steps for successful innovation (see
Kotter 1999b, p. 85):
The manager has to create a general awareness of the urgency of change.
He or she has to form a coalition of the most influential staff.
He or she has to formulate a vivid, engaging and concrete vision, and to ensure that
this vision is known to others.
Then he or she has to authorize others to act independently in accordance with this
vision.
Short-term successes have to be planned, prepared for and achieved.
The achieved improvements have to be developed further.
The executive has to help to firmly anchor the newly found solutions.
Experiments with laboratory rats have demonstrated that, once they have found
the way through a maze to find food, they easily get blinded and always choose the
same route. For businesses this means that the more perfectly a company optimizes
its systems, the more unable it is to cope with unforeseen changes and disturbances.
If we always know the solution and solve a task the same way, we barely pay
attention to the way we found that solution. Therefore it is advisable to occasionally
break with routines in order to once more pay attention to and deal with – at least
simulated – changing conditions. The employees should also be included in this
“training” process (seeHandelsblatt, August 13, 2004).
The main reason for the failure of change processes is the resistance of the
employees. In three quarters of the companies practical change processes had
a significant negative impact on the company’s climate. In most cases resistance
and unrest resulted from selfishness, misunderstandings and lack of trust, different
judgments, or a very low tolerance level. The manager should meet this resistance
with open communication, not with monetary rewards, threats or coercion, as
Kotter advises. The negative atmosphere can also be due to an imperfect imple-
mentation process, or could stem from changes being introduced too quickly. The
result: less than half of the managers interviewed were satisfied with the success of
their change management projects in the past 3 years.
Serious mistakes are often made early on, while setting the goals for the change
process. In most cases the strategy comprises a 150-page document and a 4 m-long
wall poster containing a comprehensive list with thousands of points that need to be
changed. Often the only results of such planning are a dilution of the objectives and
processes, waste of resources and frustration on the part of the employees. When
a change process is imminent, the Pareto principle has to take effect must be
applied, and accordingly the question is: What 20% of the actions will achieve
80% of the goals?
3.2 Leading with Your Head and Heart 167