John Kotter's 'Our Iceberg Is Melting'

9/13/11
Our Iceberg is Melting
By John Kotter

‘Our Iceberg Is Melting’ is a story about a penguin colony having to adapt in an ever-changing world. Based on the award–winning work of Harvard’s John Kotter, it is a story that has been used to help thousands of people and organizations. This charming story illustrates key truths about how to deal with the issue of change: handle to challenge well and you can prosper greatly: handle it poorly, and you put yourself at risk. The characters in this fable are like people we recognize, even ourselves. Their story is one of resistance to change and heroic action, confusion and insight, seemingly intractable obstacles and the best tactics for dealing with those obstacles. It is a story that is occurring in different
forms around us today, but the penguins handle change a great deal better than most of us.

Fables have been used to illustrate problem solving, among many other things, for hundreds of years.
Several years ago, Kenneth Blanchard successfully re-introduced using Aesop’s fables, to teach problem solving techniques with his book, ‘Who moved my cheese’. John Kotter replicated that method of instruction with his fun little book, ‘Our Iceberg Is Melting’. As with the aforementioned work, I believe this one will garner similar acclaim. Kotter’s engaging story introduces the eight principles of problem solving. This can be used in a variety of venues from businesses, child raising sports, schools, church etc. John Kotter illustrates how the penguins, faced with a dilemma, identified the problem, then created urgency, developed a team-building structure, and stepped outside the box for the first time. Along the way, the story is extremely entertaining and includes a very diverse array of skepticism, cynicism and other challenges that everybody at some point in their life face.

‘Our Iceberg Is Melting’, is a very well illustrated book, easy to read, and can be completed in only a couple of hours. It is also readable for almost any age group, and it would be a good reason lesson for
children.

John Kotter offers a fable in which the central character, an Emperor Penguin named Fred, struggles without much success to convince his colony’s Leadership Council that his research statistics indicate “The shrinking of the size of their home, the canals, the caves filled with water, the number of fissures, caused by their iceberg in which is melting.” If they do not relocate to another iceberg soon, or prevent the major problem from worsening, then they will be in trouble.

Kotter is a brilliant storyteller, who first introduces the lead characters, then creates a situation, which can then identify conflicts that build tension as the plot develops, until its conclusion. John Kotter’s primary purpose is not to entertain but to instruct. As he explains, “Our goal in writing Our Iceberg Is Melting was to draw upon the incredible power of good stories to influence behavior over time, making individuals and their groups more competent in handling change and producing better results.”

Specifically, to use his story to illustrate “The 8 step process of successful change” that Knotter introduced in his Leading Change book in 1996. In a sequel to it, The heart of Change in 2002, John and Dan Cohen examine the core problem people face in all of those steps, and how to successfully deal with the problem. And the central issue is never strategy, structure, culture, or systems. All of these elements, and others are important, but the core of the matter is always about changing the behavior of people, and behavior change happens in highly successful situations mostly by speaking to people’s feelings. Kotter structures his book around the 8 steps, because that is how people experience the process. There is a flow in a successful change effort, and the chapters follow that flow.

Fred follows “The 8 step process of successful change” and achieves at least some temporary success but Kotter leaves no doubt in his reader’s mind that change is a never-ending process rather than an ultimate destination. Precisely the same barriers that Fred encounters are certain to reappear when the Leadership Council is called upon to consider other proposed changes when the colony seems threatened. In the majority of organizations today, their decision-makers are facing one or more meltdowns of various kinds such as, sales, profits, client and market shares. What Kotter recommended in his business fable is in effect, a framework by which to understand and then respond effectively to whatever challenges may appear, challenges that require changes of what is done and how it is done, so that these organizations can succeed under any conditions.

This story has multiple examples of personalities seen commonly in organizations. There are those who are interested in arguing for the sake of arguing, the cautious, the hard driving but consensus building leaders, the creative but sometimes ignored penguins, the naysayers, those being academic in mindset but who ask tough questions, and those who just want everyone to be happy, among others.

While change for change’s sake is not necessarily wise, for those in any organization facing challenges, this book provides easy to understand concepts for managing change. Beneficial change is an on-going, never-ending process and has one requirement more important than any other: adapt or perish.