Enterprise Agility For Dummies

Chapter 10

Driving Organizational Change

IN THIS CHAPTER

Deciding whether to drive change from the top or the bottom

Using Kotter’s eight-step change model for a top-down change

Changing from the bottom up with the Fearless Change approach

Overcoming common obstacles to big change

Organizations are like cruise ships — they set their course and when they reach cruising speed are slow to change direction. They’re likely to remain on course unless a significant amount of directed energy is applied to make them change direction. In an organization, this impetus typically comes from the leadership of the organization (at the top) or from one or more highly motivated and influential groups or individuals working at lower levels of the organization (from the bottom). Ideally, forces at the top and throughout the organization drive the change.

In this chapter, I provide the guidance you need to determine whether a top-down or bottom-up approach to organizational change management is likely to be most effective for your organization, and I describe two formal change management approaches: the ...