Kotter’s 8-Step Model is a leadership-driven framework for initiating, accelerating, and embedding organizational change. Unlike task-focused project plans, it emphasizes urgency, coalition-building, visible wins, and cultural anchoring as the levers for sustainable transformation.
Origin and Purpose
First introduced by John P. Kotter in Leading Change (1996), the model was based on common failure patterns observed in major change programs.
In 2014, Kotter revisited and expanded the model in Accelerate (XLR8), stressing that the steps are parallel, iterative, and continuous, and introducing the Dual Operating System concept – balancing hierarchy with networked structures. The term “volunteer army” also comes from this later adaptation.
Core Elements
- Create urgency – grounded in facts, data, and clear consequences.
- Build a guiding coalition – diverse and empowered leadership group.
- Develop strategic vision and initiatives – a compelling goal plus focused priorities.
- Mobilize the volunteer army – broad-based participation beyond formal roles (later version).
- Remove barriers – eliminate systemic blockers (policies, silos, resources).
- Generate short-term wins – visible, measurable, and repeatable.
- Sustain acceleration – maintain momentum, launch further initiatives.
- Anchor change in culture – embed in routines, values, systems, and leadership expectations.
Note: The model is not a strict sequence; steps overlap and recycle in dynamic contexts.
Application and "Best Practices"
- Evidence-based urgency: avoid fear-driven narratives.
- Coalition as a working team: diverse, credible, decision-capable.
- Translate vision into daily decisions: guiding principles and guardrails.
- Orchestrate voluntarism: open participation channels, communities, recognition.
- Systematically remove obstacles: policies, structures, resources.
- Curate short-term wins: with measurable impact and communicable stories.
- Structure acceleration: cadence, backlog-driven initiatives, constraint management.
- Embed culturally: through people systems, rituals, incentives.
Practice Examples (Illustrations)
Cloud migration (Bank): urgency via cost/regulatory pressure; coalition across IT, Risk, Business; first product live in 90 days.
Safety culture (Manufacturing): urgency through incident data; wins with accident-free days; embedded via daily Gemba walks.
Customer centricity (Telecom): vision “first-contact resolution”; short-term win: +12 pp in FCR; anchored in KPIs and coaching.
Criticism and Limitations
- Top-down bias: heavy reliance on leadership, risk of symbolic change.
- Linear misinterpretation: often misunderstood as a waterfall sequence; Kotter clarified its iterative nature later.
- Urgency ≠ burning platform: dramatized threats risk fear and cynicism.
- Measurement gap: Kotter emphasizes qualitative signals and visible wins, but does not provide a KPI system.
- Scaling issues: original model better suited for programs; Accelerate extends it to ongoing change.
- Cultural complexity: global organizations require strong localization.
- Dependency on sponsors: leadership turnover can stall momentum if anchoring is weak.
Measurement and Steering
- Leading indicators: sponsor engagement, coalition activity, volunteer participation, barrier removal.
- Lagging indicators: cost, quality, time, customer outcomes (NPS, FCR).
- Qualitative signals: observed behaviors, pulse surveys.
- Governance: review cadences, decision paths, pivot/stop criteria.
Integration and Combination
- With ADKAR: Kotter drives momentum and leadership, ADKAR diagnoses individual adoption.
- With ACMP: process structure complemented by leadership energy.
- With OKR: vision translated into measurable outcomes.
- With Lean/Flow: tie wins to throughput and quality improvements.
- With Living Transformation®: Kotter provides leadership impulses; ADKAR and flow practices support adoption.
- With Living Strategy: Kotter orchestrates engagement and urgency along strategic outcome chains.
CALADE Perspective
At CALADE, we use Kotter as a leadership accelerator within a broader architecture of adoption and measurement. We combine urgency, coalitions, and wins with diagnostic models (such as ADKAR) and systemic levers (policies, IT, capacity), ensuring change cycles that deliver visible, sustainable behavior shifts rather than symbolic programs.
Cross-references to related glossary entries
- ADKAR
- ACMP Standard Methodology
- Leading and Lagging Indicators
- OKR
- Change Curve
- ADDIE Model
- Timeboxing
- Living Transformation®
- Living Strategy
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