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In today’s competitive environment, economic growth is highly dependent on the organisations. Well, there can be a lot of reasons for its ascent; the descent is because people are not aligned, prepared, or convinced. When people are not ready, aligned, or convinced, then collapse happens. To deal with this, a change is required, but how and in which way?
That’s exactly what Kotter’s change model answers by giving a process to transform workplaces. Specifically, its 8-step framework shows how to initiate, sustain, and embed change effectively. That’s why this blog is a must-read to explore those steps and also covers its practical use for CIPD levels. So, tighten your seat belt and let’s dive straight into it.
Before getting into understanding the processes, it is important to look at ‘why Kotter’s change model was created?’ This helps in understanding the context more deeply.
In 1990, as organisations were changing rapidly, people struggled to adapt. In the forms of mergers, reconstructions, global competition, and technological shifts, these changes were underway. During these transformations, one person named Dr John Kotter consistently analysed organisational change. Based on the cause, he studied over 100 transformation initiatives and found a pattern:
As necessity is the mother of invention, Kotter did that exactly. That’s when he published his findings in Leading Change in 1996, saying ‘change fails not because of strategy, but because of leadership execution’. Now the rest is history, we know it as Kotter’s model of change.
Just like the need, the model is also going in depth and understanding it started by uncovering its basic foundation. Let’s explore in the next section.
Now the big question: ‘What is Kotter’s Change Model in simple terms?’ Well, as the name explains, the model revolves specifically around the change or transformation in organisations. It was developed by Dr John Kotter, a Professor Emeritus at Harvard Business School and a renowned expert in leadership and change. As he was associated with the leadership management, he found the organisation's issue. That understanding led him to develop Kotter’s change model, which you are understanding right now.
It is an 8-step framework designed to help organisations implement sustainable change by focusing on urgency, alignment, communication, and culture embedding. As Kotter believes that change is a leadership activity, not a management checklist. That’s exactly his model aligned to where the way of guidance inspires others to take a particular action and move in the direction of change.
Now, comprehending the foundation doesn’t mean exploring the core. It is a highly practical model which can only be understood by assessing its workflow with examples. For this, the next section you need to explore.
The popularity of the model can be seen by evaluating its impact in organisations that have continued since its inception. The reason is its simple process that is formulated into 8 major steps. Let’s break it down and see how they fit with practical examples:
If there is no need, there will be no change. That’s how the process works when you showcase a necessity and develop a sense of urgency for it. Here, what works more than showing people poor performance is being honest about a true need to grow. When more people start understanding, it will create urgency.
Practical Scenario: At one point, when a retail bank was losing millennial customers to fintech startups shared hard data. Thus, leadership framed digital transformation as a 12-month survival priority.
The work is not done when you just manage the change; you have to lead it. In simple terms, you need to gain the visible support from the key people within your organisation. When strong personalities collide with you, your voice gets a weight. Because now you are a team, not just an individual voice.
Practical Scenario: During hospital restructuring, change leaders such as senior consultants, nursing leads, HR, and operations managers supported the operation. Their existence reduces the resistance and inspires more people to join.
The impact fades when the vision is not clear. Even though if you have many ideas floating in your brain about the change, combine them all. Think about how to turn them into a strong idea that everyone can understand and relate with. It could be done by determining the people's core values and developing a short summary.
Practical Scenario: A global tech firm simplified hybrid work as “flexibility without losing collaboration.” Clear expectations around office days, remote KPIs, and communication norms translated vision into behaviour.
Having a strong vision is just one step, but what you do next decides the success. If you truly want to make it stand out, it should have strong competition from other agendas in organisations. For the most impact, talk about the change whenever you get a chance instead of just expressing in one time meeting.
Practical Scenario: A production company introducing robotics conducts weekly Q&A sessions and addresses job security concerns directly. Their communication continuously focuses on reassurance and transparency, not just technical updates.
If there is support, the chances are that some of the individuals might not agree with your vision. This could weaken the initiative of change, and that’s why you need to structure the change and continually check for barriers. By rewarding them and having a one-to-one conversation, you can remove this common resistance.
Practical Scenario: At the early stage, the organisation committed to inclusion by revising recruitment policies, removing biased screening tools, and training hiring managers. Structural barriers were eliminated before expecting behavioural change.
One thing that every individual realise a any where is success and nothing feels more motivating than that. In organisations, you can do this by giving your team the feel of victory early in the change process. For this, create short targets that are achievable and appreciate the team when you finally make that happen.
Practical Scenario: A logistics firm piloted a new system in one region first, achieving a 15 per cent error reduction within three months. Publicising these results increased organisation-wide buy-in.
If you just accept the victory too early, this can make the change projects fail. That’s what Kotter supports and explains that the real change runs deep, where quick wins are just the beginning. The better approach would be analysing the success based on what went right and identifying the improvement areas.
Practical Scenario: After initial emission reductions, leadership expanded supplier audits and tied executive bonuses to better environmental KPIs. This is how progress triggered expansion for real change, not celebration for collapse.
If you just spark a lighter and hope for the highest brightness, that would be unrealistic. You need more light beams. The same thing in organisations when you have to make continuous efforts from every aspect to get your change initiative seen by your organisation. Some best ways to do it are like talking about the progress every chance you get or acknowledging the key contributors.
Practical Scenario: A telecom company included customer-first values in performance reviews, promotion criteria, and onboarding. These reward systems reinforced the new behaviours.
These examples are applied to every organisation as change remains essential for long-term organisational sustainability. However, if we have to specifically highlight one field, nothing is better than CIPD and its levels. So, let’s have a deeper look at it in the next section.
If you are a CIPD student or have ever got relation to it, you know how it matters to Kotter’s model. Within the CIPD qualification structure, specific unit codes require learners to demonstrate understanding and application of change management frameworks. This is how it follows:
This stage focuses on explanations of the key concepts, describing organisational processes, and demonstrating awareness of change drivers. For the relevant unit, this is how the change model follows:
Relevant Unit: 3CO04 - Essentials of People Practice
At this stage of CIPD, the intensity increases with the requirement for analytical and evaluative thinking. As a student, you must examine the impact and effectiveness. For this, the Kotter model works in this way:
Unit Code: 5CO03 - Professional Behaviours and Valuing People
Unit Code: 5OS01 - Specialist Employment Law
Unit Code: 5CO02 - Evidence-Based Practice
Unit Code: 5HR01 - Employment Relationship Management
This is the most tense level, where you have to critically evaluate the frameworks within complex organisational systems. Also, it requires substantial dedication due to time management and commitment.
At this level, relevant code units may include:
7CO01: Work and working lives in a changing business environment
7OD01: Organisation design and development
7CO03: Personal effectiveness, ethics, and business acumen
This is how Kotter’s model is applied here:
At this point in the blog, you understand all about Kotter’s change model with CIPD relevance. However, along with its strengths, it has some flaws too that has shown by experts. Let’s understand both in the next portion.
Just like any other organisational framework, the kotter’s 8-step change model got massive appreciation, but at the same time, critics too. This is usually because the model failed to justify a few things on the opposite side. Let’s explore them below in the table:
| Dimension | Strengths in Practice | Criticisms in Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Clarity and Structure | Provides a clear step-by-step roadmap | Oversimplify the complex change |
| Leadership Focus | Prioritise strong leadership and coalition building | Over-relies on top-down leadership |
| Communication Emphasis | Focuses on communicating vision | Relies on communication alone to resolve resistance |
| Employee Engagement | Highlights the empowerment by encouraging coalition building | Empowerment takes time to get into practice |
| Short-Term Wins | Appreciate quick wins to boost morale | Can incentivise superficial gains rather than proper change. |
| Cultural Integration | Culture is treated as the final step to anchoring change | In practice, organisational culture influences every stage |
| Applicability Across Contexts | Easy to adaptable in industries, especially in consultancy and HR practice | Less suitable for fast-moving environments such as digital or start-up |
No doubt the model is useful, but still gathers critiques due to technical and industrial shifts. That’s what comes to a point of patience to make it truly effective. Let’s go a bit deeper while finalising this blog.
To wrap up, it is easier to address Kotter’s change model as the powerful compass in the landscape of organisational transformation. With its structured, clear, and momentum-oriented 8-step process, it boosts the change. However, it still gains the critiques due to its oversimplified model according to the current dynamics. So, whether you are a CIPD student or organisational employee, the thing here is to understand. Take the framework as a guiding structure and learn to apply on the base of patience.
This is how you can make it truly effective by eliminating the downside. But still, if you are feeling daunted to comprehend, you have Rapid Assignment Help UK experts for guidance. So, if Kotter’s model has a meaningful impact, pursue the same standard of excellence through thoughtful guidance.
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The key difference between the Kotter model and the Adkar model is the focus. On one side, John Kotter’s model prioritises the organisational-level transformation through leadership actions. In contrast, Prosci’s ADKAR model focuses on individual change. It stands for awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement. In simple terms, Kotter provides a leadership roadmap for large-scale change, while ADKAR concentrates on guiding individual behavioural adoption.
Yes, and especially if the change is structured and strategic. Although, modern organisations operate in agile environments, Kotter’s model is effective from a psychological side. It focuses on human resistance, leadership alignment, communication gaps, and cultural integration. By prioritising these key factors, the model remains relevant for adapting steps to fast-moving business contexts.
Many industries benefit from Kotter’s 8-step model, but it is highly relevant to a few endeavours. These include healthcare, the public sector, manufacturing, education, and corporate enterprises.
Based on the level, the depth of analysis increases in the following way:
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