What Is Kotter’s 8-Step Process?
Key Terms
- Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model
- A sequential change management framework developed by Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter, published in Leading Change (1996), based on analysis of over 100 major transformation initiatives. The model identifies eight stages that must be executed in sequence for large-scale organisational change to succeed, and identifies the failure to complete any stage as a primary cause of transformation failure.
The Eight Steps at a Glance
| # | Step | Purpose | Common Failure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Create Urgency | Build compelling case for change; make inaction costly | Underestimating complacency; presenting risk as minor |
| 2 | Build a Guiding Coalition | Assemble a powerful cross-functional team to lead change | Relying on single leader; insufficient authority or credibility |
| 3 | Create a Vision | Develop a clear, simple, compelling picture of the future | Too complex to communicate; not emotionally compelling |
| 4 | Communicate the Vision | Share the vision repeatedly through every available channel | One announcement; conflicting signals from leadership behaviour |
| 5 | Remove Obstacles | Eliminate structures, systems, and managers blocking change | Avoiding difficult structural or personnel decisions |
| 6 | Create Short-Term Wins | Plan and celebrate visible early successes | No planned wins; waiting for long-term results |
| 7 | Build on the Change | Consolidate gains and drive further change | Declaring victory after first success; premature relaxation |
| 8 | Anchor in Culture | Embed new behaviours in systems, values, and hiring | Assuming culture changes automatically with structure |
Related Change Management Resources
- ►Change Management Models: Kotter, Lewin, ADKAR Compared
- ►Change Management Issues: Why 70% of Initiatives Fail
- ►ADKAR: Individual Change Adoption Framework
- ►The Change Curve: Emotional Responses to Each Step
The following section contains our original guide to Kotter’s 8 step process.
Kotter (1995) summed up what he perceived as the essential 8 step process for successful organisational transformation.Again, as with other models, notice some similarities like creating a clear vision, conducting good communication regarding the new vision, empowering employees, leading by example and celebration of successes. Think about which model suits you best, when using the change management process and adopt them in a logical fashion.
Kotter’s defined 8 step process are as follows:
1. Establish a sense of urgency
– Examine market and competitive realities.
– Identify and discuss crises, potential crises or opportunities.
– Create the catalyst for change.
2. Form a powerful coalition
– Assemble a group with enough power to lead the change effort.
– Develop strategies for achieving that vision.
3. Create a Vision
– Create a vision to help direct the change effort.
– Develop strategies for achieving that vision.
4. Communicating the Vision
– Using every channel and vehicle of communication possible to communicate the new vision and strategies.
– The guiding coalition teaching new behaviours and leading by example.
5. Empowering others to act on the vision
– Removing obstacles to change.
– Changing systems or structures that seriously undermine the vision.
– Encouraging risk taking and non traditional ideas, activities and actions.
6. Planning for and creating short term wins
– Planning for visible performance improvement
Recognising and rewarding employees involved in these improvements.
7. Consolidating improvements and producing still more change
– Using increased credibility to change systems, structures and policies that don’t fit the vision.
– Hiring, promoting, and developing employees who can implement the vision.
– Reinvigorating the processes with new projects, themes and change agents.
8. Institutionalising new approaches
– Creating the connections between new behaviours and corporate successes. – Developing channels to ensure Leadership development and succession.
Applying Kotter’s 8 Steps: Practical Guidance for Each Phase
Knowing the eight steps is not the same as knowing how to apply them. Each step has characteristic failure modes that derail transformation programmes — and practical countermeasures that experienced change leaders use to navigate them.
Step 1 — Create Urgency: The most common mistake is confusing urgency with pressure. Pressure creates anxiety; urgency creates motivation. Effective urgency is created by making the cost of inaction vivid, specific, and personally relevant to the people who need to change. Data presentations to senior leadership rarely create the urgency needed at the frontline. Site visits, customer conversations, and competitive benchmarking often work better.
Step 2 — Build a Guiding Coalition: The coalition needs credibility, authority, and genuine commitment — not just seniority. The typical mistake is assembling a group of formal leaders who are nominally supportive but unwilling to model the change in their own behaviour. A smaller, more committed coalition is significantly more effective than a large, half-committed one.
Steps 3 and 4 — Vision and Communication: Kotter’s research found that organisations typically under-communicate the vision by a factor of ten. A single all-hands meeting is not communication — it is an announcement. The vision must be communicated consistently across every channel, by every leader, and reinforced by visible management behaviour that is congruent with what the vision requires.
Step 5 — Remove Obstacles: The obstacles that matter most are structural: reward systems that incentivise old behaviour, reporting lines that make the new way of working impractical, and middle managers whose personal interests are threatened by the change. These require direct action, not dialogue. Kotter is explicit that this step often requires difficult personnel decisions.
Step 6 — Short-Term Wins: Short-term wins must be planned, not hoped for. They must be unambiguous, visible, and clearly connected to the broader transformation. Waiting for organic early successes is a recipe for losing momentum before the critical mass of change is reached.
Steps 7 and 8 — Consolidation and Culture: Most transformations are declared successful at Step 6. This is Kotter’s most important warning: declaring victory after early wins is the most common cause of transformation failure. The new behaviours must be embedded in systems, structures, and culture before they become self-sustaining. Culture is the last thing to change, not the first.