What is John Kotter’s “Transformational Leadership”?

Transformational Leadership is a category that began to be advocated around the 1980s. In response to rapidly changing conditions, the focus of leadership research has shifted from “how to increase productivity and efficiency” as the central theme to “organizational reform” and “changing followers’ awareness” as important factors required for leadership…. This is the reason for the shift in focus.

Therefore, the content of this seminar is not limited to leadership theory, but also encompasses themes such as management vision, management strategy, management organization, and so on. In this issue, we will focus on John Kotter’s “Eight Stages of Organizational Change to Achieve Transformation,” which is a representative theory of this field.

Cotter’s insight is that in the 1990s, anticipating the normalization of change brought about by the Internet revolution, companies and organizations themselves must continue to transform themselves in order to adapt to the unstoppable world, and that this transformation depends on leadership.

It also states that the most important element in leadership is “the vision set forth by the leader,” and proposes “eight stages of organizational reform to achieve change”.

Eight Stages of Organizational Change to Achieve Transformation

Phase 1…Foster a sense of urgency and thoroughness
Phase 2…Form a team that is different from the existing team to strongly promote the change
Phase 3: Develop a vision for change
Phase 4…Spread the vision of change throughout the organization
Phase 5…Provide strong support to the change team to remove obstacles that prevent the realization of the vision
Phase 6…Set and implement tangible short-term goals, and recognize and reward achievements
Phase 7…Review the organizational structure and make the process continuous based on the trust gained from the results
Phase 8…Develop and pass on transformational leadership to make change an obvious part of the organization

Vision is used today as if it were a Japanese word. It is an expression that is even featured in the Kojien dictionary, which says, “An image that one draws in one’s mind. A vision of the future”.

Kotter points out that good vision has six things in place.

  1. It paints a clear picture
  2. The expectations of all stakeholders of the company
  3. Seems realistic and feasible
  4. Provides clear direction
  5. Flexible, with a variety of options, even in rapidly changing circumstances
  6. The communication is straightforward and explanatory

You understand that good vision is inclusive of resilience.

(The above English translation is for a reference purpose only and a re-translation of the Japanese into English. Accordingly, please refer to the original text as appropriate.)


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This article was written in Japanese and converted into English using a translation tool. We hope you will forgive us for any inadequacies.
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