Be the Change

I became interested in change management this year through a series of case studies I was commissioned to write for the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. Each showed how a diversity and inclusion initiative at a leading Canadian organization led to brand growth, competitive advantage or was a catalyst to innovation. Change management strategies underpinned the successful initiatives in each of the case studies. As I went on to learn more, it resonated with what I’ve seen in startup circles – and showed how important it is for companies of all sizes to communicate well.

John Kotter’s book, Leading Change, outlines an eight-stage change process with principles are relevant to startups, though it's written for corporate leadership. There's a particular worldview successful founders seem to share that mixes big-picture, 360° vision from above with deep, narrow subject expertise. These founders are simultaneously broadly open-minded while specific and detailed, with an ultimate goal to change the status quo and be disruptive.

I’ve simplified Kotter’s eight-stage change management process to shift the lens to startup founders and CEOs. What I’ve seen is that change management needs good communication throughout and there is no stage at which audience-centric communications don’t matter. 


1. Create a sense of urgency

• Start with a simple and compelling value proposition that will be meaningful to many groups of people.
• To connect with people, ensure your messaging is audience-centric, rather than about the product.

2. Form a powerful coalition

• Going it alone doesn’t create success; change happens when people participate.
• Be inclusive about allies and cultivate a diverse group of influencers to get the most valuable support from a broad range of voices.

3. Create the vision for change

• Connect the dots with an explicit, shared vision for team members and external supporters.
• Let the vision appeal to the head and the heart; both rational and emotional for maximum ‘stickiness.’
• Lead with a vision that infuses everything from product to team dynamics to customer service.

4. Communicate the vision

• The vision is more than a line on the website’s About page and should infuse everything the startup produces.
• Be audience-centric and help people get inside the vision in many ways; bring it into sales marketing materials, be on-point on panels at sector-specific events, write, cultivate strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations that share your values.
• Make sure the vision as you’re expressing it is relevant to people. Be humble enough to grasp that that if they don’t get it, you just might not have found the right way to be meaningful to them.

5. Remove barriers to adoption

• Understand the systemic barriers that the startup is challenging, to overcome them.
• Rather than focusing on systems change as a barrier, it’s easier to build adoption for new technologies by paying attention to smaller, overlooked customers that are looking for solutions.
• It’s worth noting that while most startups identify a lack of funding as an obstacle, it doesn’t stop there. By acknowledging the roadblock to funding as a result of something not in place yet, founders who ask why they’re not funded are more able to be responsive to connect with funding.

6. Create short-term wins

• Track 1-, 3- and 6-month milestones with attainable goals that support the long-term goals for the startup.
• Communicate those successes as team wins for transformative long-term effects.
• Be consistent with acknowledging short-term wins. Interest can easily fizzle out internally and externally when people stop seeing the results of their efforts.

7. Build on the change

• Keep the long-term goal in sight for everyone so that short-term wins don’t produce complacency.
• Be like Richard Branson and use each practical action of progress to show how it’s contributing to the bigger vision for the future (with an attainable goal before the one of world domination).

8. Anchor the change in culture

• Show you’re adaptable; just as global companies are allowing room for local modification, startups that show how their change relates to shared values are more likely to succeed as they connect the change to what matters to people.
• Communicate like a glass-half-full company; it’s easier for teams and outside partners to work with than the negativity of working against the challenges.
• Communicate your incremental change for long-term success that might bring systemic change.