Axel Meierhoefer - AMC Consulting

About a month ago I received an email from Michelle Morgan, the publicist for John Kotter, my hero when it comes to the topic of organizational change. Ever since I read the seminal work “Leading Change”, I have based a lot of my suggestions, consulting, coaching, and other advice on Kotter’s 8-step process of change.

I was surprised and honored when I read that Michelle had reviewed a lot of my articles and blog posts and invited me to write this review of the newest book. Right up front I like to say that I believe “A sense of Urgency” is a good, valuable book, especially for its clarifications of what to look for to successfully begin the change process in an organization.

That being said, I also believe the book does not reach the full potential a discussion of this most important part of the 8-step change process could have. The 8 steps are mentioned in the book but the flow from developing a sense of urgency and then having it maintained by the guiding coalition (step-2) isn’t very clear.

Let’s start at the beginning: In a great review of previous writings and a clear development of the importance of “A Sense of Urgency”, Kotter leads the reader into the topic. He begins to separate complacency, a false sense of urgency and true urgency from each other. At this early point in the book I realized that the title of the book is really unfortunate.

I believe this book should have an action-title and then use it as a continuous thread throughout. Having a sense of something is one state of being, taking action and actually creating something new is more than a sense. In several parts of the book the word ‘urgency’ is used as an action-word. I am sure there would be better options. The best possible word is something an editor or a title developer is better suited to come up with, but I would have loved to see a title like : “Vitalization” or maybe “Excitation”.

Besides the title that doesn’t really fit the call for action, two other aspects of the book caught most of my attention, one positive, one not so appreciated. In “A sense of Urgency”, John Kotter makes a great case and really detailed suggestions about tactics to be used to keep the change process flowing. I especially liked the part that deals with the NoNos he first mentioned in the 2005 book “Our Iceberg is melting”. Fitting examples and great suggestions showing how to handle different circumstances help readers and anybody planning to implement Kotter’s change process in a very practical way.

One of the big disappointments for me is the view on outside help. As a coach and consultant I am biased. Still I feel that John Kotter missed a great opportunity to describe how outside help can actually support the leader, the guiding coalition, and the change teams to maintain the urgency needed to succeed. Consultants are shown in a neutral to slightly negative way, but coaches aren’t really mentioned at all.

Several of the examples describing failed initiatives or attempts to get an organization to change actually beg for the introduction of a coach, much more so than a consultant. The profession of coaching is rapidly growing and has gained a lot of trust in the business world. To leave it out when speaking about developing and maintaining a sense of urgency and then taking the necessary actions to establish the desired changes throughout the organization has been a great disappointment for me.

In a time when institutions we believed to be secure and trustworthy are crumbling all around us; when the way fundamental resources used to keep our economy and our lives running are rapidly being replaced by new, cleaner alternatives, and competition is accelerating on a global scale, we need ways to establish change in a successful way. “A Sense of Urgency” provides added and modernized details to the first two steps of the seminal 8-step process John Kotter developed about 15 years ago. We all should find ways to increase the likelihood of successful organizational change from the 30% Kotter describes for the last two decades to something much closer to 70% or even 80%.

Anybody who ever wrote a book knows that there are things that could have come out better. “A Sense of Urgency” is a valuable contribution for anybody planning or involved in a tough change effort. Reading this book will prepare us for what to expect when these changes are needed and teaches us to try to implement them preventively rather than in the middle of a crisis. I look forward to added details to the other steps in Kotter’s change process. This is a solid start.

Axel Meierhoefer, AMC LLC