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Kotter’s eight-step change model

Kotter’s original eight-step model links urgency, a guiding coalition, a vision, communication, enabling action, early successes, further improvement and embedding new practices. It provides a structure for diagnosing why change stalls rather than guaranteeing success through a checklist. Later work developed eight accelerators for more continuous change; the versions should be identified rather than silently mixed.

Worked example

A company announces a new process but keeps rewards tied to the old one. The model highlights barriers to action and failure to embed change; another announcement alone is unlikely to solve the problem.

Common mistake

Confusing Kotter’s eight-step model with Kotter and Schlesinger’s approaches to resistance, or declaring success after an early pilot without changing incentives and routines.

Where it appears in your exams

QualificationExamRelationshipPeriod
ACCA BT Supporting September 2026–June 2027
ACCA SBL Supporting September 2026–June 2027
FIA FBT Supporting September 2026–June 2027