What are the key differences between Lewin's and Kotter's change models?
Change management is a critical skill that involves guiding individuals, teams, and organizations through various types of transitions. Two of the most prominent models in change management are Kurt Lewin's Change Management Model and John Kotter's 8-Step Change Model. Both offer frameworks for understanding and managing change, but they have distinct differences that can impact their application in real-world scenarios.
-
Alena KeckHead of Lean-Agile Center of Excellence (LACE) | Enterprise Lean-Agile Coach | Trainer | International Speaker | iSPCT
-
Muriel B.Director I Strategy Execution I Transformation I Change Delivery I Project Portfolio I Delivery Assurance. Helping…
-
Rodrigo ArismendiMy Passion: Transform challenges into opportunities, and Profits. Experience in Business with Manufacturing Processes.
Kurt Lewin's Change Management Model is elegantly simple, comprising just three stages: Unfreeze, Change, and Refreeze. The model suggests that effective change requires creating the perception that a change is needed, then moving toward the new, desired level of behavior and finally solidifying that new behavior as the norm. This model is particularly useful for its straightforward approach, which can be easily understood and applied within an organization.
-
El Modelo de Lewin se adapta perfecto a procesos de transformación organizacional, donde, muy en simple, las fases son Descongelar, aplicar los cambios de comportamientos, etc., y Volver a congelar una vez ya esten en aplicación los cambios deseados, es una buena estrategia que se aplica a procesos que requieren transformación organizacional, se sugiere ademas contar con apoyo externo profesional que colabore en mediar estos procesos.
-
Lewin's change management model is a simple and widely used framework that emphasizes the importance of understanding the current state, creating a clear vision for the desired state, and implementing a plan to move between the two. However, critics argue that Lewin's model can be overly simplistic and doesn't adequately address the complexities of organizational change, particularly in resisting forces. Despite this, its ease of use and focus on core concepts make it a valuable starting point for many change initiatives.
-
Lewin's change management model is a simple and widely used framework that emphasizes the importance of understanding the current state, creating a clear vision for the desired state, and implementing a plan to move between the two. However, critics argue that Lewin's model can be overly simplistic.
-
Lewin's Change Model 1. Structure: Three-Step Process: Lewin's model is composed of three main stages: Unfreeze: Preparing the organization to accept that change is necessary. Change: Implement Refreeze: Ensuring that the change is solidified and becomes the new norm. 2. Focus: Psychological Perspective: Lewin's model focuses on the psychological processes of individuals within the organization, emphasizing the need to prepare people for change. It highlights the importance of changing behavior and attitudes to make the change stick. 3. Approach: Lewin's model is relatively simple and broad, offering a high-level view of change management. It emphasizes a gradual transition, where each step must be completed before moving to the next.
-
Lewin's model focuses on a three-stage process (unfreezing, changing, and refreezing) with an emphasis on leadership's role and cultural integration. Kotter's model consists of eight sequential steps, providing a detailed roadmap for change implementation with a strong focus on leadership, communication, and cultural transformation. Both models stress the importance of communication and feedback, but Kotter's model offers a more structured approach, while Lewin's model is more flexible and adaptable to different organizational contexts.
John Kotter's 8-Step Change Model expands on Lewin's three stages and provides a more detailed roadmap for implementing change. Kotter emphasizes the importance of creating a sense of urgency, forming a powerful coalition, and developing a vision and strategy for change. His model then outlines the steps needed to communicate the vision, empower broad-based action, generate short-term wins, consolidate gains, and anchor new approaches in the culture. Kotter's model is more prescriptive and can be seen as a comprehensive guide for complex change initiatives.
-
El modelo de Kotter es el modelo de Lewin pero muy en detalle, fase por fase, que considera análisis desde la Visión hasta los comportamientos esperados que se espera cambiar para una transformación organizacional exitosa. Kotter eleva la importancia de crear un sentido de urgencia para el cambio, por qué se necesita el cambio, formar coaliciones poderosas y desarrollar una estrategia adecuada para el cambio, su modelo señala los pasos necesarios para comunicar la visión, potenciar la acción de base amplia, generar beneficios, consolidarlos y anclar nuevos enfoques en la cultura organizacional.
-
In contrast to Lewin's model, Kotter emphasizes the creation of a guiding coalition to drive change. He also places a strong focus on communication and building urgency to ensure everyone understands the need for change. Kotter's model further emphasizes the importance of anchoring new approaches in the company culture to avoid backsliding. This can be achieved by celebrating wins and reinforcing the positive aspects of the change.
-
In contrast to Lewin's model, Kotter emphasizes the creation of a guiding coalition to drive change. He also places a strong focus on communication and building urgency to ensure everyone understands the need for change. Kotter's model further emphasizes the importance of anchoring new approaches in the company culture to avoid backsliding.
-
In addition to 8 steps, Kotter introduces 4 principles which are instrumental for successful change: #1 management & leadership - you need both for successful change but normally change is over-managed and under-led. #2 head & heart: we are not only rational human beings but more importantly emotional creatures and we need to address our heart not only our head in explaining and guiding the change. #3 have to & what to: it is important to formulate reason for change positively. #4 select few & diverse many: even though you need a stable guiding coalition for change, the focus is still on enrolling a volunteer army for your change initiative to make it successful.
-
Kotter's model involves eight steps: 1. Build urgency around the need for change. 2. Assemble a group to lead the change. 3. Develop a clear vision to direct the change effort. 4. Communicate the vision and strategy to everyone. 5. Remove barriers that hinder change. 6. Plan for and create short-term achievements. 7. Use short-term wins to build momentum. 8. Ensure changes are embedded in the organization’s culture. Focus: Strategic and Leadership Focus: Emphasizes leadership and strategic vision in driving change. Approach: Detailed and Step-by-Step: Provides a detailed, step-by-step guide for implementing change, stressing momentum and sustainability.
While Lewin's model is centered around stages of change, Kotter's model is structured as a series of steps. This fundamental difference highlights the linear progression of Kotter's approach compared to the more cyclical nature of Lewin's. The step-by-step process in Kotter's model is designed to build momentum and buy-in at each stage, whereas Lewin's model emphasizes the need to solidify changes to prevent regression.
-
-Le modèle de K. Lewin "Unfreeze/Change/Refreeze" souligne la nécessité de solidifier/congeler les changements (les bonnes pratiques) pour éviter la régression, l'érosion. Il est centré sur l'étape du changement. -Le modèle de J. Kotter est structuré comme un processus global constitué d'une série d'étapes. -Cette différence fondamentale met en évidence la progression linéaire de l'approche de J. Kotter. Ce processus étape par étape du modèle de J. Kotter s'inscrit dans une conception à la fois stratégique & pragmatique du Leadership. Il est conçu pour créer un élan, une adhésion, une implication, une appartenance, à chaque étape du processus : prise de conscience de l'urgence, importance des 1ers Alliés, création d'1 Vision claire, ...
-
Lewin’s change model provides a high-level, straightforward framework focusing on the process and behavioral aspects of change through its three stages viz. Unfreeze, Change, and Refreeze. The model is best suited for small—scale change implementation with less complexity. On the other hand, Kotter’s change model offers a more detailed, people-oriented, and strategic approach with eight steps. In specific, the model emphasizes leadership, communication, and building momentum and is more suitable for medium to high-complex change initiatives involving large collaborative teams Depending on the complexity of the change and the specific needs of the organization, one model may be more appropriate than the other.
-
Lewin's model emphasizes a cyclical nature, allowing for revisiting stages if needed. Kotter's model, on the other hand, is more linear. This distinction can be crucial depending on the change initiative. If the change is complex or poorly understood, Lewin's model's flexibility might be advantageous. Conversely, for well-defined changes, Kotter's structured approach can provide clarity and direction.
-
Written from a PROSCI Practitioner Perspective: The primary difference between Lewin's and Kotter's models is their structural approach: Lewin's model operates on broader stages, offering a high-level view of the change process, while Kotter's model provides detailed, step-by-step guidance. Lewin’s model is simpler and more straightforward, making it easier to grasp and implement quickly. Kotter’s model, though more complex, provides a thorough roadmap that reduces the risk of missing critical actions during the change process. Integrating ADKAR with both models ensures that individual needs and responses to change are addressed effectively.
Lewin's model is praised for its simplicity and ease of use, making it accessible for many organizations. In contrast, Kotter's model provides a higher level of detail and is considered more robust for managing complex change processes. The additional steps in Kotter's model offer a more granular approach to tackling the nuances of change within larger organizations.
-
Dr. Serhat TATLI
Değişim Doktoru® | Global Consultant | Keynote Speaker | Executive Mentor |
(edited)Change is a broad concept. Lewin's model can be easier to adapt and implement various change initiatives having different natures in different contexts. Besides, Lewin leaves you a huge and empty space for you to bring in intuition and human-oriented interpretation during design-to-execution phases. Kotter's model is a better fit where you need specific and detailed steps like process-oriented change initiatives. Especially, creating the sense of urgency, letting the vision to be internalized via strategic communication, and tackling the upcoming issues like resistance are essential steps (1&4&5) that are stressed more different than Lewin's model.
-
Kotter's model is framed around what leaders need to do to create the conditions for a successful change initiative. I have found it helps leaders realize the complexity and work behind a desired change. For example, making a lasting change in behavioral culture can take several years. Lewin's concept can make it seem easier than it is in reality!
-
Written from a PROSCI Practitioner Perspective: Lewin's model is less detailed and more flexible, providing a basic framework that can be adapted to various situations. In contrast, Kotter's model is highly detailed and specific, offering a comprehensive set of steps that guide the change process meticulously. This complexity makes Kotter's model more robust but also more demanding in terms of time and resources. The ADKAR model adds value to both by addressing the human side of change, ensuring that individuals are supported through each phase or step with the necessary awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement.
Kotter places a strong emphasis on culture and its role in the change process. His model suggests that for change to be truly effective and lasting, it must become part of the organizational culture. Lewin's model also considers the need to solidify change but does so in a less explicit manner. The focus on culture in Kotter's model underscores the importance of aligning new behaviors with organizational values.
-
Kotter is pragmatic. Unless a change becomes value and part of the overall work culture, it will not be accepted wholeheartedly by the people. It should be talked about in meetings, discussions, retreats, planning and so on. It is how the change will be accepted. So Kotter wants organizations to bring change into the cultural settings so as to make it more effective.
-
Lewins model is more traditional, 3 stage kind of approach, while Kotters has 8 stage process which is more inclined towards leadership and communication. They both differ mainly in structure and focus. - Lewins focuses on phycological process of preparing for change, how to go through change and ensuring stabilizing change. - Kotters focuses on step by step process management, ensuring employees are guided and engaged through change by building leadership and visionary skillset. Before you pick any method, please make sure you have done the internal value chain and requirement understanding.
-
Kotter's change model underscores the critical role of culture in the change process. It advocates for aligning new behaviors with existing organizational values to ensure lasting and effective transformation. While Lewin's model also acknowledges the need to stabilize change, it does so with less explicit attention to cultural integration. The cultural emphasis in Kotter's model highlights the importance of organizational values in driving sustainable change.
Lewin's model, due to its simplicity, offers more flexibility and can be easily adapted to suit different types of changes or organizations. Kotter's model, while more detailed, can be seen as less flexible due to its prescribed nature. However, the detail in Kotter's steps can provide valuable guidance for managers who need a clear blueprint for navigating complex change scenarios.
-
El modelo de Lewin, por su simplicidad, ofrece flexibilidad y se puede adaptar fácilmente para adaptarse a diferentes tipos de cambios u organizaciones. El modelo de Kotter, puede parecer menos flexible, sin embargo, el detalle de los pasos de Kotter puede proporcionar una guía valiosa cuando se busca un plan claro para navegar por escenarios de cambio complejos, sobre todo considerando que las organizaciones son personas, y estamos hablando de cambiar comportamientos, esto requiere adaptación y flexibilidad, pero también método, por lo mismo se sugiere Coaching de apoyo para estos procesos.
-
Written from a PROSCI Practitioner Perspective: Lewin's model is inherently more flexible and easier to adapt to various organizational contexts due to its simplicity and high-level approach. Kotter's model, with its detailed steps, is less flexible but offers a more comprehensive guide that minimizes the risk of oversight. The ADKAR model can be integrated with either framework to provide a more adaptable approach that addresses both organizational and individual needs, ensuring that change efforts are both structured and responsive to specific circumstances.
-
While both Lewin's and Kotter's models offer valuable insights into managing change, they differ in their approach, focus, scope, and complexity. Lewin's model is more linear and focused on creating and implementing change, while Kotter's model is more iterative, comprehensive, and emphasizes the role of leadership and organisational culture.
-
The main advantages of Kotter's 8 Step Change Model are: It's a simple step-by-step process that's easy to follow and understand. It's built on a lot of proven research into change management. The greatest strength of Kotter's model is its first two steps – creating a sense of urgency and creating the guiding coalition. Far too many leaders lurch into a programme of organisational upheaval without having properly convinced people first that there is a genuine need for change.
-
Change Management Showdown: Lewin vs. Kotter. It emphasizes the need to create a sense of urgency, implement change, and stabilize the new state through unfreezing, change, and refreezing. This model has eight stages: creating urgency, building a solid team, and embedding changes in the organization's culture. It stresses constant communication and strong leadership during change. While both models share similarities, such as the need for urgency and communication, Lewin's model is more linear and focused on stability. In contrast, Kotter's model is more dynamic and emphasizes sustained change and cultural transformation. Understanding these differences can help organizations choose the right approach for change initiatives.