Succeeding in a Changing World

Produced

• June 2007

Key Features

24 minute VHS or DVD training program
The purchase package contains a 30-page Leader's Guide, 10 pocket reminder cards, a DVD, and one copy of his new book "Our Iceberg Is Melting."
VHS or DVD format: $795 purchase price: $395 one week rental price.

Are you facing change in your industry? Do some of the members of your team resist change? How can your organization deal with the increasing pace of change? In this new video, bestselling business author and Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter will help you understand change - and succeed in a changing world. Professor Kotter has studied and helped thousands of individuals and organizations understand and implement change and he will explain how you can accelerate the process in your organization.

By using examples of specific organizations, he will explain why it is critical to be open to change. He will show you how change efforts can be effective. Finally, he will outline his eight-step plan of action for leaping boldly forward in a turbulent world:

• 1. Increase Urgency
• 2. Build the Guiding Team
• 3. Get the Vision Right
• 4. Communicate for Buy-In
• 5. Empower Action
• 6. Create Short-Term Wins
• 7. Don't Let Up
• 8. Make Change Stick

Through compelling real-life stories, you will learn how companies like Rockwell Collins, Berkshire Hathaway, and Southwest Airlines have been able to change and succeed. You will also hear how other organizations (Polaroid, and the US Labor Movement) have failed to meet the challenges of change.

KEY LEARNING POINTS

• Understand how change is affecting us and why we need to embrace it
• Learn how several organizations implemented change and succeeded
• Develop an eight-step process with concrete strategies to help your organization become excited about change

The video "preview" clip shown on this page requires that Windows Media Player is installed on your computer. To add this media player product, download from Microsoft Windows Media Player.

INCLUDES

• Leader's Guide
• 10 reminder cards
• 24 Minute DVD or VHS Tape (also includes bonus 20-minute Q&A with John Kotter)

Running Time: 24 minutes
Closed-Captioned
Copyright Date: 2007

This program received a very favorable review from Training Media Review.  Here is that review:

Training Media Review

November/December 2007 Review of Succeeding in a Changing World

Review by Donna Walsh

Succeeding in a Changing World, Video, 2007, Enterprise Media, $795.
Support: Leader's Guide, "Our Iceberg Is Melting" (book), 10 reminder cards.
Review by Donna Walsh

After I finished my test drive of John Kotter’s Succeeding in a Changing World, my first thought was to write the shortest review in the history of Training Media Review. My gut instinct was to simply say:

• Buy it.
• It’s John Kotter.
• It’s terrific.
• What perfect timing!

I admit that last thought about timing was selfish. Please let me explain. My clients frequently need assistance with effectively dealing with change in their organizations. There is so much trepidation about change, and most organizations don’t do such a great job of helping their employees to understand it, not to mention to buy into it.

John Kotter has been studying change for over 20 years. He is a professor at the Harvard Business School, he has written 15 books and numerous articles, and he is a top expert in the areas of leadership and change. If your work has to do with change and leadership and you aren’t familiar with his work, run, don’t walk, and get yourself up to speed.

Succeeding in a Changing World includes:

• DVD
• Leader’s Guide
• Kotter's book Our Iceberg Is Melting
• 10 Reminder Cards

In this video Professor Kotter effectively uses examples of several organizations in diverse industries to illustrate why it is essential for organizations to accept and, yes, embrace change. He cites what can happen when change is avoided or ignored, and, most importantly, he outlines a basic, elegant eight-step plan of action for making change happen and reducing fear and resistance to change that he first articulated in the bestselling book Leading Change.

The eight steps are:

1. Increase Urgency
2. Build the Guiding Team
3. Get the Vision Right
4. Communicate for Buy-In
5. Empower Action
6. Create Short-Term Wins
7. Don’t Let Up
8. Make Change Stick

Running 24 minutes, the video is engaging. It is obvious that Professor Kotter is a seasoned educator. The video includes a separate 20-minute“Q & A” segment in which he provides practical guidance and advice for dealing with implementation issues such as how to use the video and how to anticipate common mistakes organizations make.

The Leader’s Guide covers:

• Using the Video to Get Better Results
• Audiences
• The Structure of the Video
• Kotter’s Eight-Step Process
• Sample Questions for Discussion and Ideas for Action
• Sample Exercise: Customizing Your Change Process
• Resources to Supplement the Video

Our Iceberg Is Melting is a fable about changing and succeeding under any conditions. It is easy to read and ties in beautifully with the eight-step process. The reminder cards are the size of business cards and list the eight steps.

This learning package covers the what, why, and how of change. It is easy to use, easy to understand, and provides a system for using the eight-step process for any organization that wants to embrace change as opposed to dealing with it—as if it were like having a tooth pulled.

Purchasing this program is an investment. However, remember that you are buying the expertise of one of the leading experts on change. Also, this is a resource that lends itself to many potential applications.

Recommendation:
I recommend investing in this program if your organization has clear goals, is serious about understanding and implementing change, and wants to help its employees look at it the same way. A competent facilitator is needed to help instruct, debrief, and implement. It would be a waste to simply show this video without an agenda and framework.

Used properly, Succeeding in a Changing World will help your organization understand and implement change whenever needed. That says a lot, as we all know that change is a constant in the workplace.