Create the guiding coalition

No this is not about just creating a special projects team, allocating a ‘code name’, shrouding them in a veil of secrecy and expecting them to deliver successful change.

In his 1996 book, 'Leading Change', Professor John P Kotter defines this as creating a guiding coalition. It is the stage at which you assemble a group with enough power to lead the change and encourage them to work as a team.

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Now you may be thinking about power in terms of authority but in this context, it’s about influence. Creating a team that has influence is the key to leading change and including someone from the L&D and communications teams will help you understand what strategies are most effective when influencing behaviours in your organisation. 

They will have experience of those that work and those that do not and so can provide a shortcut to lessons that may be painful and time-consuming for you to learn for yourself.

In addition to authority and influence, consider the following when creating a powerful and effective guiding team:

• Take time to define a shared objective for the team, and ensure that the team members understand and agree to it.
• Introduce ‘trust’ as a concept. You cannot force trust, but you can invite it by carefully planning activities or discussions around how the team will work, and what trust means to individuals.
• Is there relevant and current expertise included in the guiding team? Without the appropriate information available the validity of decisions being taken by the team could be questioned.
• The people in the team should be respected by those who are most affected by the change. Credibility is needed to ensure that the actions that the team initiate will be taken seriously.
• Strong leadership, to drive the change process.
• Good communication skills, both internal and external to the team.

About the Kotter 8 step process of successful change