kotter-change

Guides Kotter's 8-step change cycle (John Kotter, Leading Change) to lead a real organizational change. Catches the failure where skipping a step creates the illusion of speed but rarely produces a satisfying result.

The eight steps, their gate questions, and the pitfalls live in references/kotter.md. Load that file before facilitating.

When to use

The user wants to lead a substantial organizational change: a new strategy, a restructuring, a merger integration, a cultural shift, a transformation. Kotter drives the change that mckinsey-7s diagnoses: if 7-S shows the parts pulling in different directions, Kotter is how you move them. ADKAR is the companion lens for the individual side (does each person have the Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement to make the change). For a lighter analytical tool that weighs the forces for and against a change before committing to it, prefer force-field-analysis.

Language

Facilitate and write the document in the language the user is writing in. The reference file is English; keep the framework keyed to it regardless of output language.

Inputs

• CHANGE (required): the change to lead and the organization or unit it affects.
• CONTEXT (optional): why now, who holds power, prior change history, and the known sources of resistance.