Complacency, Urgency, and Change

Interested in a free 25+ eBook on the 7 Wastes? Please DOWNLOAD HERE.

John Kotter makes a good case that urgency is the key ingredient in any organizational transformation.  Conversely, the lower the urgency, the higher the likelihood that the firm will collapse or fail or not transform in a way that will enable it to win in a changing marketplace.  Kotter does something else that is interesting: he defines True Sense of Urgency, Complacency, and False Sense of Urgency.  This was very instructive.

While the Venn Diagram below is not his rendering but mine, the content and idea is from his book:

So, Kotter, argues:

• A True Sense of Urgency is “Urgent activity, action which is alert, fast moving, focused on the important issues, relentless, and continuously purging irrelevant activities, and leading other by example …”
• Complacency is “Unchanging activity, action which ignores an organization’s new opportunities or hazards, focuses inward (navel gazing – not Kotter’s term, but mine), does whatever has been the norm in the past, supports and defends the status quo, asleep-at-the-wheel quality to it …”
• A False Sense of Urgency is “Frenetic activity, meeting-meeting, writing-writing, going-going, projects-projects – and none of it is purposeful …”

The mistake most companies make is confusing False Sense of Urgency with True Sense of Urgency.  I completely agree with Kotter on this point.  To deconfuse this point, I created the Venn Diagram above and found it helpful in delineating between True and False Sense of Urgency – in which ways are they similar and in which ways are they different.  The same goes for Complacency.

Here is what is interesting.  Complacency and False Sense of Urgency are closer than we think, but Complacency and True Sense of Urgency share no attributes at all.

A True Sense of Urgency is required for ANY turnaround – a project, a division, a family, or a company.

A True Sense of Urgency is required for ANY turnaround – a project, a division, a family, or a company.  Knowing the behavioral difference between True and False Sense of Urgency and Complacency is helpful for any change agent and leader who is in the service of mobilizing people to win together.
image credit

search terms for this article:

complacency, urgency, kotter change model, a sense of urgency, complacency and sense of urgency, how to change complacent behavior, sense this picture makes none, complacency images, complacency examples, complacency change, complacency model, complacency theory, knulle kompis gratis online dating, complacency and change, feeling of urgency, how to change complacent behaviour, kotters change model, organisational urgency of change, kotter complacency, managing complacent behaviour, kotter change management plan, kotter change management, Kotter change, Kotter alteration of the status quo, diagram of kotters a true sesnse of urgency, john kotter complacency urgency, images of urgency, organizational change and urgency, Sense of Urgency-complacency, why Create a Sense of Urgency for organizational change, urgent vs complacent, urgency to change, urgency of change, urgency for change management, urgency organisational change, shmula complaency, organizational complencency, sense of urgency in corporations, sense of urgency change service examples, sense of complancey, sense none make, reasons for complacency in change management?, real examples of complacency in business, Quality Management urgency, why management expect cultural change in urgency, illustrations of complacency, how to model complacency, complacency kotter, complacency in organizations, complacency in organization by kotter, complacency in orgamization examples, complacency in change management, complacency change management, complacency and organizational behavior, complacency and false urgency by john p kotter, complacency and false urgency, complacency activities, change mangagement urgency, change complacency, change and urgency, change and growth complacency, complacency kotter diagram, complacency of false a sense of urgency, How Do You Change a Complacent Organization?, false sense of urgency, false human sense, examples of urgency and change, examples of false sense of urgency, examples of false feeling of complacency, examples of complacency, examples complacency in organizations, example of corporate urgency, example of complecency by kotter, diagram kotters true sense of urgency, complacency vs urgency, complacency urgency, complacency safety diagram, A sense of urgency picture

Related Articles: