Training Magazine - June 2008 - (Page 26)

John Kotter Q&A world. Their tale is one of resistance to change and heroic action in the face of seemingly intractable obstacles. “Our goal in writing ‘Our Iceberg Is Melting’ was to draw on the incredible power of good stories to influence behavior over time—making individuals and their groups more competent in handling change and producing better results,” Dr. Kotter writes at the end of the fable he coauthored with former trainer Holger Rathgeber, SVP of HR at medical technology company Becton Dickinson in Germany.“One of the beauties of a good story is that it can induce action from a broad range of people in a manner quite different from most traditional professional books.” Dr. Kotter explains further in a recent Training interview: “Change is an anxiety-producing thing. The book has a disarming quality, and it flows with people. We were getting so many e-mails around the world about the book, so I thought maybe there’s something in a learning pedagogy that could be transferred to training. Then it was a matter of putting the pieces together to create the Leading Bold Change training program.” In this exclusive cover story, Training offers a Q&A with Dr. Kotter (who says he sees himself as “poor Fred” who sounded the alarm about the melting iceberg, while the character he most enjoyed inventing is tough, practical, solution-oriented Alice—“that’s why I had her take over at the end”), plus case studies of three companies— MasterCard Worldwide, Black & Decker, and Kaiser Permanente—that are implementing change initiatives. “We never cease to be amazed at the creative ways people invent to jump ahead and develop better futures for small groups, for large organizations, and for themselves personally,” Dr. Kotter and Rathberger write. “Humans can (sometimes) be even more clever than penguins.” Which of the 8 Steps to Successful Change do most organizations seem to have the most difficulty implementing? Why? KOTTER: Organizations have problems with all the steps, but most people most often get it wrong at the beginning. They think they’ve moved beyond the first step, which is urgency. People around them seem to have it, but two levels down, they don’t. Or they see people scrambling around—frenetic activity with meetings and projects—and think they are accomplishing something. But all that activity often is driven by anxiety or anger, not urgency. In addition, people scampering around the building don’t see the complacency in the organization. When it comes to change, there are several scenarios: 26 • Some people just don’t see the bigger forces at play because they have their noses to the ground. • Some people listen to the change message, but don’t believe it. • Some people see the need for change but don’t know what to do. • Some people are trying to do something but are running into obstacles. • A sliver of people are doing change well. What type(s) of training (both in terms of delivery and content) seem to be most effective in initiating and implementing change? KOTTER: When we were developing the Leading Bold Change program, I said to Holger [coauthor and a former trainer], “Be creative, let your mind go wild.” Then I lined up Black & Decker and said, “Here are the concepts, see if you can create something.” I provide the overall vision, and ISB Worldwide facilitates the program. Together, we created something that has the potential to be very powerful. It uses the 8 Step approach, but it trains not by PowerPoint but by sneaking up on you. For example, I gave a speech about change to the top 100 people at a $5 billion company. ISB Worldwide presented the Leading Bold Change program two to three hours after my talk and then the next day. While the CEO and I chatted at the back of the room, these typical executives were howling and throwing plush penguins around. They were being sucked into it and having fun with it. Then they started action planning around an event they wouldn’t forget. So, at the content level is the 8-Step process and getting them to apply it to the situations they’re in. The other level is how to get them engaged and work on this, how to overcome their initial anxiety about change. For example, LBC trainers throw “fish” to people who get the right answer—this creates a middle school attitude and gets them immediately into insights about the nature of change in a goofy way that isn’t scary. Then we start speaking a common language, beginning with the iceberg. Then they get into the characters. Who are you and who are the people around you? Do you have six Professors and one Buddy on your team? That’s not going to wash. We learned in our “Heart of Change” research that visuals are very important, so we have pictures of penguins everywhere. The place is a visual wonderland that keeps you in the story and keeps you out of the cognitive part of the brain. Thus, each group comes in with a shared story, instead of each person with his or her individual story. Ultimately, it builds up to the serious part—the rolling up your sleeves and diving into how do I go about tackling change better. What tips for change would you offer to global companies that are geographically dispersed and cross multiple cultures? KOTTER: In smaller companies, the more change programs can cover the whole organization—there’s a direct analogy to the w w w. t r a i n i n g m a g . c o m | JUNE 2008 t r a i n i n g http://www.trainingmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Training Magazine - June 2008

Training Magazine - June 2008 Contents Online TOC Editor’s Note Live & Online Training Today Soapbox How-To World View Changes With Penguins Keeping Forced Ranking Out of Court Across the Board Certify Me Meetings CPR How Secure Is Your Data? Training Leadership Summit Wrap-Up Tools of the Trade Inprint Questions for Covey

Training Magazine - June 2008

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