Book Summary: “Our Iceberg Is Melting” by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber

I found “Our Iceberg is Melting. Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions” when looking for a book on organizational change. So I was pleased to see that the foreword was written by Spencer Johnson, author of “Who Moved My Cheese” and co-author of “The One Minute Manager,” both very popular books.

The authors use a fable about a penguin colony in Antarctica that has lived in the same iceberg for many years. When a curious bird discovers signs of trouble on the iceberg, few penguins want to listen. They are fine as things are and do not want to change. The story is analogous to the common situation where people don’t want to face difficult problems at home or at work..

Once a small group of penguins realized that their iceberg was actually melting,
1) created a sense of urgency in the colony to deal with the difficult problem,
) put a carefully selected group in charge of guiding the change,
3) found the sensible vision of a better future,
4) communicated that vision for others to understand and accept,
5) removed as many obstacles to action as practical,
6) quickly created some kind of success,
7) never give up until the new way of life was firmly established, and,
8) finally ensured that the changes would not be overtaken by stubborn and hard-to-die traditions.

The Eight Step Process of Successful Change

set the stage

1. Create a Sense of Urgency.

Help others see the need for change and the importance of taking immediate action.

2. Assemble the Guidance Team.

Make sure there is a powerful group guiding the change, one with leadership skills, credibility, communication skills, authority, analytical skills, and a sense of urgency.

decide what to do

3. Develop the Vision and Strategy for Change.

Clarify how the future will be different from the past and how you can make that future a reality.

make it happen

4. Communicate to understand and accept.

Make sure that as many others as possible understand and buy into the vision and strategy.

5. Empower others to act.

Remove as many barriers as possible so that those who want to make the vision a reality can do so.

6. Produce short-term profits.

Create some visible and unmistakable successes as soon as possible.

7. Don’t give up.

Press harder and faster after the first few hits. Be relentless in initiating change after change until the vision is a reality.

make it stick

8. Create a new culture.

Hold on to the new ways of behaving and make sure they succeed, until they become strong enough to replace the old traditions.

The role of thought and feeling

Thought different can help change behavior and lead to better results.

• Collect data, analyze it.
• Present information logically to change the way people think.
• Changing thought, in turn, can change behavior.

feeling differently can change behavior MORE and lead to even better results.

• Create surprising, compelling and, if possible, visual experiences.
• Experiences change the way people feel about a situation.
• A change in feelings can lead to a significant change in behavior.

The story tells a important lesson that when leadership, middle management, and “front line” employees are all on the same page about change, it’s amazing what can happen, despite adverse conditions.

Ask yourself if you are living on the proverbial melting iceberg or an iceberg that could melt. Melting icebergs come in dozens of forms: product lines that are aging, schools that are becoming irrelevant, services that are declining in quality, a business strategy that makes less and less sense, a new strategy whose implementation is sinking. in the ocean.. Who in your organization can promote change? Who are the detractors? And what can be your role?