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4. Creating Digital Accessibility Culture
4. Creating Digital Accessibility Culture
Managing Change: Kotter’s Model
Instilling digital accessibility culture throughout an organization is likely going to involve change, change that may meet with some resistance. Change can be uncomfortable, and for processes and practices that are ingrained in an organization over many years, it can be very difficult to upset this “status quo.”
Depending on the scope of changes that must occur, preparing for change may be critical to successfully implementing a digital accessibility plan. It is helpful to have a framework from which to manage the changes that will occur as digital accessibility is being implemented throughout an organization.
But which model or framework should you use to help implement a successful accessibility plan? Change management books will introduce you to many models that may fit with your company culture and work processes. To give you a couple of samples of proven change models, we will use Kotter’s eight-step model in this section and Lewin’s three-step change model in the next. Both have many loyal followers and can help you think about how to start moving towards your new digital accessibility plan. Whichever model works best for you, it is important to remember that all of the steps must be followed in order for the model to be effective.
Kotter’s Eight-Step Model for Leading Change
Dr. John P. Kotter at the Harvard Business School, devised the “Eight-Step Process for Leading Change.” It consists of eight stages:
- Create Urgency
- Form a Powerful Coalition
- Create a Vision for Change
- Communicate the Vision
- Remove Obstacles
- Create Short-Term Wins
- Build on the Change
- Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture
Video: Implement Change Powerfully and Successfully With Kotter’s Eight-Step Change Model
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QA7Mvu2QDE
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Using Kotter’s process, you imagine the pieces of your growing plan fitting into his framework as a way to optimize the strategies and ensure that your hard work pays off for the company.
1. Create Urgency
The obvious element of urgency in your company’s case is the complaint and the suggestion by the customer that legal action may be taken if the company does not show active movement toward resolving the accessibility issues with the online store.
In addition, you may also argue that the market of people with disabilities is a large one, and the company is currently missing out on a good portion of this market, even sending potential customers to the competition. There is an opportunity to capture a growing market of older people with disabilities, many of whom are baby boomers who have reached a stage in their lives where they are losing their sight or hearing, and may not be as mobile as they used to be.
Most of all you need buy-in from senior people in the company. The business arguments discussed in Unit 2, carefully crafted to hig