What was true more than 2,000 years ago, is just as true for our current time. We live in a world where “business as usual” is change. New initiatives, project-based working, technology improvements, staying ahead of the competition – these things come together to drive ongoing changes to the way we work. This is applicable for technology projects as well as other projects.
Whether you are considering a small change to one or two processes or a system-wide change to an organization, it is common to feel uneasy and intimidated by the scale of the challenge. Disruption is nobody’s favourite. Change is not in our DNA. It is scary, as the ‘unknown is’, a normal psychological reaction and behavior to the unknown. But you can also imagine that ‘new’, ‘exciting’, future-proof and equivalent words can create a positive vibe around the change, these words can also create insight and adaptation.
You know that change needs to happen, but you do not really know how to go about delivering it. Where do you start? Whom do you involve? How do you see it through to the end?
There are many theories about how to “do” change. Many originate with leadership and change management guru, John Kotter. A professor at Harvard Business School and world-renowned change expert, Kotter introduced his eight-step change process in his 1995 book, “Leading Change.” We discuss his eight steps for leading change below, and added two more steps.