Kotter's Eight Steps to Transform Your Organization

From Kotter, the leading thought leader on change management, here are "Eight Steps to Transform Your Organization:"

1. Establish a Sense of Urgency
   - Examine market and competitive realities
   - Identify and discuss crises, potential crises, or major opportunities
2. Form a Powerful Guiding Coalition
   - Assemble a group with enough power to lead the change effort
   - Encourage the group to work as a team
3. Create a Vision
   - Create a vision to help direct the change effort
   - Develop strategies for achieving that vision
4. Communicate the Vision
   - Use every vehicle possible to communicate the new vision and strategies - Teach new behaviors by the example of the guiding coalition
5. Empower Others to Act on the Vision
   - Get rid of obstacles to change
   - Change systems or structures that seriously undermine the vision
   - Encourage risk taking and nontraditional ideas, activities, and actions
6. Plan for and Create Short-Term Wins
   - Plan for visible performance improvements
   - Creating those improvements
   - Recognize and reward employees involved in the improvements
7. Consolidate Improvements and Produce Still More Change
   - Use increased credibility to change systems, structures, and policies that don't fit the vision
   - Hire, promote, and develop employees who can implement the vision
   - Reinvigorate the process with new projects, themes, and change agents
8. Institutionalize New Approaches
   - Articulate the connections between the new behaviors and organizational success
   - Develop the means to ensure leadership development and succession