• What does Kotter mean by “Get the Vision Right”?
  • What is needed to create a working vision?
  • What is good practice in creating a successful vision?

Here red10 ‘s Paul Gaskell explains John Kotter’s third step of 8 in the widely used Kotter Change Leadership Model.

This article is all about Kotter’s Step Three

This article is part of our series on Change Guru John Kotter’s tried and tested eight steps for Change Leadership. This piece explores step three: Getting the Vision Right.

Before you start on this step three, it’s important that you have the right guiding team (step 2). The team should play a part in creating the right vision. And before that – there needs to be a real urgency to change (Step 1).

Read about step one here and step two here.

Why do you need the right vision?

Without the right vision and direction any change is likely to founder, if not right away then certainly down the road when people are looking for meaningful direction. Without the vision being lined up with strategies and plans, you are likely to run out of energy.

Why is it so important?

Kotter talks about the role of the guiding team (see Step Two) in setting a clear direction or in creating a realistic vision and asserts that far too often this does not happen. He states that the consequences can be ‘catastrophic’ for organizations and it can negatively impact employees. New initiatives that lack a compelling vision will find it harder to get buy-in. Without buy-in, getting traction for large changes is difficult.

What is needed to create a vision that will work?

Successful large-scale changes have four key elements, that each need to be developed their own way. Kotter states that

  1. The BUDGET is part of the plan
  2. The PLAN is a step-by-step view of how to implement the strategy
  3. The STRATEGY shows how to achieve the vision
  4. The VISION shows the end state of where all the other pieces will take you.

What works:

  • Literally trying to see the future – paint pictures of the future.
  • Have one fact that people can aim for, e.g. we need to get to 20%
  • Create ‘One minute’ and ‘One page’ visions
  • Build emotionally moving visions
  • You need bold strategies to make bold visions a reality – incremental strategies are not sufficient.
  • Careful questioning on how quickly to introduce change

What doesn’t work?

  • Assuming linear/logical plans/ budgets will guide a behavior leap into future
  • Over analytical visions
  • Visions of slashing costs which can be anxiety causing
  • Give 54 logical reasons to be bold

What is good practice in creating a successful vision?

Kotter makes one thing very clear, trying to create a compelling vision from plans grounded in spreadsheets is very difficult. Equally starting with a goal of creating a more innovative culture needs to have more tangible steps to bring it to life.

The guiding team should not be creating the vision/ strategy/ plan/ budget by itself – budgeting and visioning require very different mindsets, from detailed planning to visioning requiring a journey into unknown territory.

Another focus for Kotter is speed. He talks about moving too fast being a risk, but he also says that given the pace of change in the 21st century, major changes need to move as quickly as possible to succeed. Aligning the vision, the strategy, the plan and the budget is key.

Narratives that Kotter shares to illustrate the principles of Getting the Vision Right:

  • Cost versus service – the example highlights that where efficiency is an issue it cannot be the mission. In the example, the vision is built around providing better service. Ultimately in this case, better service resulted in cost savings as well. The key is that people find it much easier to identify with a service-oriented vision than a cost cutting one.
  • The body in the Living Room – a slow approach to making change can result in it not happening. People become oblivious to the things that need fixing hence the ‘body in the living room’ metaphor. Move as quickly as you can is the advice.

As we’ve previously highlighted, there is some overlap between the steps – while developing the guiding team, it’s likely you’ll begin the process of building the vision.

Summary

Having a vision that people can really connect with is key in driving forward any large-scale change. It requires something that is meaningful and make emotional connections and includes strategies to bring the vision to life.

If the team is not ready to take on this challenge, go back, revisit Step One and understand how to increase the urgency.

if you are interested in finding out more about this approach to changes, please get in touch. Are you interested in reading about step four?