John Kotter on Crises and a Sense of Urgency

John Kotter: A Sense of Urgency

Best evidence available today tells us that crises can be used to create true urgency if these principles are followed:

* Always think of crises as potential opportunities, and not only dreadful problems that automatically must be delegated to the damage control specialists. A crisis can be your friend.

* Never forget that crises do not automatically reduce complacency. If not monitored and handled well, burning platforms can be disastrous, leading to fear, anger, blame, and the energetic yet dysfunctional behavior associated with false urgency.

* To use a crisis to reduce complacency, make sure it is visible, unambiguous, related to real business problems, and significant enough that it cannot be solved with small, simple actions. Fight the impulse to minimize or hide bad news.

* To use a crisis to reduce complacency, be exceptionally proactive in assessing how people will react, in developing specific plans for action, and in implementing the plans swiftly.

* Plans and actions should always focus on others' hearts as much or more than their minds. Behaving with passion, conviction, optimism, urgency, and a steely determination will trump an analytically brilliant memo every time.

* If urgency is low, never patiently wait for a crisis (which may never come) to solve your problems. Bring the outside in. Act with urgency every day.

* If you are considering creating an urgency-raising crisis, take great care both because of the danger of losing control and because if people see you as manipulative and putting them at risk, they will (quite reasonably) react very badly.

* If you are at a middle or low level in an organization and see how a crisis can be used as an opportunity, identify and then work with an open-minded and approachable person in a more powerful position who can take the lead.

Certainly we need to be prudent. But in a more rapidly changing world, finding opportunities in crises probably reduces your overall risk.

To read more from the book: A Sense of Urgency, click on: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5938.html

Young Leader: Devin Harris, NBA New York Nets

"Being a leader is very, very hard for this reason: you have to be the same guy virtually every single day. When things are not going well for the team, when things aren't going well for you, when there's a heap of criticism upon you. So leading is tough. It's hard, but he's up for the challenge."

--Lawrence Frank, New York Nets head coach, on Devin Harris, 25, who averaged 15.4 points and 6.5 assists in 25 games with the Nets. He was traded from the Dallas Mavericks for Jason Kidd, all-star and Olympic gold medal winner.

"He is definitely capable and he's ready for it. You can just tell from his approach."

--Vince Carter, New York Nets, Harris' teammate.

Excerpts from the New York Times, September 28, 2008.