Kotter’s 8-Steps for Leading Change

Helen Teague, M.Ed.EDLT 721Dr. Paul Sparks

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Kotter’s Model for Leading Change

1. Establish A Sense of Urgency

2. Create a Unified Guiding Coalition

3. Develop and Reinforce the Vision

4. Communicate the Change Vision

5. Empower and Remove Barriers

6. Generate Short Term Wins

7. Model the Way-Prototype the Change

8. Incorporate and Connect Changes into Culture

- John P. Kotter, Leading Change (1996).

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1. Establish a Sense of Urgency

• 10,000 people turn 65 or older every day

• In 2010, the 65-74 age group (20.8 million) was 10 times larger than in 1900.

• 10-12 million older Americans are in need of long-term medical care.

• No national strategy exists to finance and provide long-term care in the U.S.

• Social Security funds set to expire in 2033

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1. Establish a Sense of Urgency (con’t)

• In 2013, Older Adults received the lowest

COLA paid in the past decade (1.7%)

• Older Adults have lost 34% of their

purchasing power

• 15 million people currently provide unpaid

care for which averages 25 hours per week

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2. Create the Guiding Coalition

Among My Dream Team…

• TREA Senior Citizens League (TSCL)• Dr. Shaun Casey, Special Advisor to Secretary of State John Kerry

• Judy Feder, Professor of Public Policy, Georgetown Public Policy Institute, Former Staff Director of the Pepper Commission

• Grace-Marie Turner, President, Gallen Institute

• Katherine Hayes, Director of Health Policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center

• Howard Gleckman, Author of Caring for Our Parents

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3. Develop a Change Vision

• Allow employees to add parents to their company insurance policies.

• Allow family members to deduct expenses for parents’ supplemental insurance coverage

• Allow family members to deduct all or part of expenses for home health workers and home health caregivers.

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4. Communicate the Change Vision

• Communicate the 3-part change vision using every forum, both formal and informal

• Communicate via digital media

• Communicate via social media

• Communicate via grassroots and special interest groups

• Educate members of Congress

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5. Empower Action

• Plan and Encourage faith-based and

community events

• Plan an exhibit “Images of Aging” for inclusion

in the Library of Congress collection

• Encourage similar contests and exhibits

• Lobby for tax credits and deductions.

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6. Generate Short-term Wins

• Constant newsfeed of increased efforts and wins from Step 5

• Reward change agents

• Help fine-tune the vision and strategies

• Continue research and financial forecasts

• Build Keep employers in the loop

• Publicize inter-generational events

• Lead and reflect gratitude

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Stages of Adoption

Adoption Over Time

Innovators

Skeptics

MassCrit

ical

Early

Adopters

Laggards100%

0%Everitt M. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations (1983).

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7. Consolidate Gains / Prototype the Change

• Encourage Guiding Coalition Leadership, special interest groups, lobbyists to clarify the vision and keep urgency up

• Continue to educate the public through university schools of gerontology, conferences, conventions

• Eliminate barriers

• Encourage ombudsmen

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8. Incorporate and Connect Changes into Culture

• Culture change comes last, not first

• Continue to focus on the 80 million-member

Baby Boomer, active older American

• Challenge perception of the frail older American

• Look to models such as social insurance and

community-based models.

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“In times of change, all norms and customs that people count on are stripped away. ..

Communication fills that gap.”

-Tim Coan