Kotter's Leadership Approach

As time has changed the Air Force has implemented many changes to all apspects of how business is conducted and the mission is accomplished. I will delve deep into how a change of what I recently experienced could have been conducted from a leadership perspective with incorporating Kotter’s Approach which consists of eight steps that include step 1 Establish a sense of urgency, step 2 Form a powerful guiding coalition, step 3 Develop a vision and strategy, step 4 Communicate the change vision, step 5 Empower others to act on the vision, step 6 Generate short-term wins, step 7 Consolidate gains and produce more change, and finally step 8 Anchor new approaches. By utilizing these eight steps and implementing them correctly it will vastly improve
the results of the change.
The change that I am going to suggest that would be implemented would be one that not too many people may agree with as it includes assigning more training to be incorporated into the daily routine of members preparing for a deployment that will be job specific relating the mission that the member will be accomplishing during their time there. The reason for this change is that on my most recent deployment it was during the drawdown of Iraq and my responsibility was to redeploy all the weapons and armory to the home bases where the weapons belonged to and if that could not be found then to find a base that was authorized to accept the weapons. Being that neither myself, my supervisor nor my subordinates were properly trained or informed on the process of how the transportation was to take place we were put into a stressful situation against a fast approaching timeline. Should a proactive approach taken place since leadership knew there was a deadline of when the drawdown was to take place the members that were going to be inplace could have been trained properly and it would have illeviated the pressures that occurred due to not being familiar with what was to be accomplished. The proactive approach is when there is a known situation that will be occuring and instead of waiting until the situation occurs and reacting to it you will instead try to resolve the issue prior to it becoming a problem. I will know utilize Kotter’s 8- Step Approach in demonstrating an implementation of a change that will incorporate job specific training in accordance to the mission that a member will be assigned.
In step one a leader is to establish a sense of urgency. This can be accomplished by informing the members of the extreme importance of the change occuring in the recent future and informing them of the importance of the change. In our situation of training members for future job specifications pertaining to the mission being accomplished this could be implemented and adhered to by tasking members whom have been notified of the upcoming new occupation. When they receive their date of when they are to be in place at their new destination this will place the urgency on receiving the training required as they will need to accomplish all applicable prior to being in place. Being that members do not receive in many cases a timely notice prior to leaving they will have to utilize urgency in accomplishing all the applicable training.
Step two involves Forming a powerful guiding coalition that comes down assembling powerful leaders that can head up the change and influence the effected members. This will involve getting wing commanders and squadron commanders at each location to relay these instructions through their respective chains and ensure that the members are receptive of the change and follow through the instructions. Leading from the top and ensuring this occurs will drive the change
Step three of Kotter’s Approach is to develop a vision and strategy which can be satisfied by directing or painting a picture for the members of the direction in which the change is to take place.
By Air Force leaders showing the members the results of the missions as a result of the change will satisfy this step. The leaders can let the members know that the essential training will alleviate many of the stressors that occur on deployments which will also relate to the members as again taking the proactive approach of addressing a situation before it becomes a problem and then having to react to it.
Step four is the way of relaying the change to the effected members and is known as the communicating the change vision step. This can be accomplished in several different methods via emails to lower level leaders and having them relay the message or to make it more personal I would suggest leaders hold breifing sessions at different locations to reach and respond to members in a face to face interaction. By leaders taking the time to personally relay this message of change I feel as though the members will take this change more seriously and implement the actions with great
diligence.
Step five involves empowering others to act on the vision which is finding some members that can act on the change and influence others to follow long. To do this I would suggest finding higher ranking enlisted members that are due to deploy along with the other members and put them in the same training sessions while gaining their trust that the process for change is embodied with the best intentions and will succeed with the involvement of the members. By bringing in the higher ranking influential members they can relay this message and gain the trust of the members that the training is necessary and must be adhered to in each and every stage of training.
In step six of generating short-term wins which involves setting some goals or acheivements that can be both measured and ascertained while also rewarding those members whom adhere and complete the goals. In this scenario the goals are completing the necessary training then deploying to the location and utilizing the training to complete the mission. A short-term goal that can be established would be recognizing members that complete their trainings early with some kind of additional time off during their redeployment back at home station. I mean let’s be honest who wouldn’t love additional time off and this would motivate them to complete the training.
Consolidate gains and produce more change is the seventh step in the process and involves utilizing the expertize and the experience gained to create more changes.
To fulfill this step we will be informing our members of how success we have been so far in the current change which will build their confidence in us and allow them to trust that what we are intending will be both beneficial to the organization and to the members. Once the trust is gained through previous successful changes then members will not feel as reluctant to accept any further changes that are implemented. As in the change process there is always and will always be changes so therefore while we are implementing a current change we may need to divert our plan and initiate a new directive in pursuit of our ultimate goal of training members so when they are in place they have the knowledge to perform at the greatest potential.
The eighth and final step in Kotter’s eight step approach involves Anchoring new approaches in the culture which is defined as being accomplished by increasing work performance through customers and productivity related behaviors. To me I see us fulfilling this objective by the means of customer surveys that are accomplished in theatre by commanders of other sections to ultimately determine the production difference of before the change and then after the new groups deployed with the necessary
training.