Jick Ten‑Step Change Model

1. What Is Jick Ten‑Step Change Model?

The Jick Ten‑Step Change Model (often called the “Ten Commandments for Executing Change”) is a practical playbook for leading and implementing organizational change. It lays out ten, plain‑spoken actions that leaders should take—from diagnosing the need and building a shared vision to lining up political sponsorship, creating enabling structures, and institutionalizing the new way—so change delivers results and endures.

Within Change Management & Transformation frameworks, it is a field‑tested checklist that translates strategy into execution. Consultants and executives use it to design the leadership, political, structural, and cultural moves that make transformations stick, complementing process‑heavy methods with real‑world leadership guidance.

In simple terms: it tells you what to do to get from intent to impact—understand why you must change, align people behind a clear destination, break with the past, mobilize sponsors, build the scaffolding, involve and communicate, and lock the gains in.

2. Origin and Background

The model is associated with Todd D. Jick (Columbia Business School), who articulated it as the “Ten Commandments for Executing Change” in the early 1990s in his work on leading organizational change (e.g., “Managing Change: Cases and Concepts”).

Why it was created: to give leaders a concise, actionable set of steps for executing change that acknowledges politics, culture, and structure—not just plans and timelines. It emerged from teaching and consulting experience across multiple organizations.

How it spread: through business‑school curricula, executive programs, and change‑management practice. Its direct, leader‑oriented language keeps it in use alongside Kotter’s 8 Steps, ADKAR, and operating‑model tools.

3. How the Jick Model Works

The model comprises ten mutually reinforcing steps. They are often presented linearly, but experienced practitioners cycle and iterate them as context evolves.

The ten steps (“Ten Commandments”)

• 1) Analyze the organization and its need for change — Establish the facts: customer outcomes, competitive pressures, financial/operational gaps, cultural strengths/constraints.
• 2) Create a shared vision and common direction — Articulate where you’re going and why it matters; define the “from–to” and the critical few behaviors.
• 3) Separate from the past — Acknowledge what’s over; retire symbols, processes, or structures that anchor old habits; honor contributions without clinging to them.
• 4) Create a sense of urgency — Make the cost of inaction visible; use data and stories; set time‑bound ambitions.
• 5) Support a strong leader role — Ensure visible, credible sponsorship with authority, time investment, and personal role modeling.
• 6) Line up political sponsorship — Build a coalition across power centers; map stakeholders; secure active support from those who can accelerate or veto change.
• 7) Craft an implementation plan — Translate vision into initiatives, milestones, accountabilities, and resources; stage‑gate; manage risk and interdependencies.
• 8) Develop enabling structures — Align decision rights, metrics, incentives, processes, and systems so the new way becomes the path of least resistance.
• 9) Communicate, involve people, and be honest — Two‑way communication; participation in design/pilots; straight talk about impacts; frequent feedback loops.
• 10) Reinforce and institutionalize change — Embed in governance, talent, SOPs, and culture; recognize and promote exemplars; decommission legacy paths; audit adherence.

The strength of the model is its completeness: it addresses logic (need and vision), emotion (separate from past, urgency), power (leader role, political sponsorship), and mechanics (plan, structures, communication, reinforcement).

4. When to Use the Jick Model

Most helpful when:

• Designing or rebooting an enterprise transformation (operating model, digital, culture, post‑merger integration).
• A prior program stalled due to politics, misaligned incentives, or weak sponsorship and you need a more holistic execution spine.
• You want a leader‑friendly checklist to complement detailed program management (Agile, PMO, TO).

Especially powerful for: Organizations with complex stakeholder landscapes where political sponsorship, structural alignment, and cultural signals determine success as much as project plans.

Use with caution when:

• You treat it as a rigid waterfall; modern transformations require iteration and learning.
• You substitute steps for sound strategy; the model helps execute a direction—it doesn’t pick markets or business models.
• Leaders hope for communications to overcome broken processes; build enabling structures or resistance will persist.

Contemporary usage: Teams integrate Jick with a Transformation Office (cadence, value assurance) and behavior frameworks (Influence Model, ADKAR) to operationalize the steps and measure adoption and impact.

5. How to Apply the Jick Model: Step‑by‑Step

1. Analyze the organization and its need for change

   Run a rapid diagnostic: external pressures (customers, competitors, regulation), internal performance (financials, operations), culture and organization health. Produce a short fact base and “case for change” tailored by stakeholder segment.

2. Create a shared vision and common direction

   Define the North Star (outcomes + time horizon) and 3–5 “from–to” statements. Translate into the critical few behaviors by role. Align the top team on language and trade‑offs; test with frontline and customers for clarity.

3. Separate from the past

   Identify anchors to old ways (KPIs, rituals, org structures, product lines). Publicly retire or redesign them; mark endings with respect; codify what remains valuable so you don’t discard strengths.

4. Create a sense of urgency

   Make the status quo’s cost visible with data and real stories. Set time‑boxed goals; publish a high‑level roadmap; use external benchmarks. Avoid fearmongering—pair urgency with a credible path.

5. Support a strong leader role

   Confirm the executive sponsor’s responsibilities: visible communications, role modeling (calendar shifts, decision behaviors), barrier removal, and consequence management. Build a guiding coalition with clear decision rights.

6. Line up political sponsorship

   Map stakeholders (influence vs. stance). Recruit champions in critical power centers (P&L heads, functions, geographies, unions/works councils). Address self‑interest via negotiation where rational; neutralize blockers ethically; keep a running sponsor heat map.

7. Craft an implementation plan

   Stand up a Transformation Office (TO). Convert vision into value themes and an initiative backlog; define baselines and targets; set stage‑gates; assign owners; plan waves (8–12 weeks) with milestones, risks, and resources. Integrate Agile/Lean where appropriate.

8. Develop enabling structures

   Realign decision rights (RACI), KPIs, incentives, funding, processes, and technology. Build platforms/COEs where scale advantages exist. Remove “sludge” (duplicative approvals, legacy systems) so the new behaviors are easier than the old.

9. Communicate, involve people, and be honest

   Craft a multi‑channel plan with trusted senders (execs for “why,” managers for “what it means to me”). Use participation where it improves design/ownership (pilots, design sprints, councils). Be transparent about impacts, choices not up for debate, and progress/shortfalls.

10. Reinforce and institutionalize change

    Update SOPs, onboarding, promotion criteria; add behavior‑linked metrics to scorecards; recognize exemplars; remove legacy paths; audit adherence; keep improvement cycles (PDCA) active. After stabilization, shrink the TO into a performance office to sustain gains.

6. Example: Jick Model in Action

Context: A $2.6B B2B software company sought to pivot from perpetual licenses to subscription/SaaS while improving release quality. A previous attempt faltered due to channel pushback, incentive misalignment, and technical debt.

Application:

• Analyze need: Customer churn analysis and peer benchmarks showed urgency: competitors’ NRR > 120% vs. company’s 103%; support costs rising 18% YoY.
• Shared vision: “Reliable releases, customer outcomes, recurring value”—North Star: NRR 115% in 18 months; defect escape rate −40%; 80% ARR mix.
• Separate from past: Retired “ship at quarter end” ritual; renamed releases (from “big bang” to “steady cadence”); sunsetted two legacy SKUs.
• Urgency: CEO and CPO shared customer stories; published risk of inaction and three‑wave roadmap.
• Leader role & political sponsorship: CRO, CPO, and CTO formed the coalition; regional GMs sponsored pilots; two influential resellers were brought into a partner council with real input.
• Implementation plan: TO set up waves: Wave 1—pricing & packaging redesign, partner terms, DevOps pipeline pilots; Wave 2—sales incentives, customer success playbooks; Wave 3—retire legacy license paths.
• Enabling structures: Changed comp (ARR/NRR targets, clawbacks on early churn); created a platform engineering COE; simplified approvals; built a customer health dashboard.
• Communicate & involve: Time‑boxed design sprints with sales and partners for new bundles; customer advisory board validated adoption friction points; weekly “release readiness” reviews were open forums.
• Reinforce: Updated job descriptions; promotion criteria favored cross‑functional outcomes; legacy order forms were removed; PDCA retros embedded in sprints.

Outcomes (12–15 months): NRR rose to 116%; defect escapes −43%; ARR mix 78% (on track). Partner satisfaction improved after revised margin structures and joint pipeline reviews. Employee engagement on “leaders walk the talk” +9 points. Gains stuck because incentives, processes, and tech all shifted to support the new model.

7. Strengths and Limitations

Strengths

• Comprehensive and practical: Covers logic, emotion, politics, structure, and culture—what actually drives execution.
• Leader‑friendly: Clear, memorable steps that executives can own and sequence.
• Integrates easily: Pairs with TOs, Agile/Lean, and behavior frameworks; not dogmatic about methodology.

Limitations

• Risk of linearity: Read as a checklist, it can miss the need to iterate, especially in digital contexts.
• Strategy blind spot: Assumes a sound strategic direction; it won’t fix a flawed thesis.
• Leader dependency: Over‑emphasis on a “strong leader” can underplay distributed leadership and frontline problem solving if not balanced.

8. Common Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)

• Treating it as a communications exercise

  What goes wrong: Steps 9–10 (communicate, reinforce) overshadow enabling structures and incentives.

  How to avoid: Invest heavily in step 8—decision rights, KPIs, comp, processes, and tech that make the new way easier.

• Skipping “separate from the past”

  What goes wrong: Legacy rituals and metrics drag behaviors back.

  How to avoid: Publicly retire outdated symbols and processes; mark endings with respect; remove legacy paths.

• Underestimating politics

  What goes wrong: Quiet vetoes erode momentum.

  How to avoid: Map power centers; line up sponsors; negotiate rational self‑interest; keep a live coalition heat map.

• Weak leader modeling

  What goes wrong: “Do as I say” credibility gap.

  How to avoid: Change leader calendars and decision routines; publish “promises kept”; hold leaders accountable.

• No measurable implementation plan

  What goes wrong: Vision without traction.

  How to avoid: Use a TO; define baselines, targets, wave plans, stage‑gates, and finance‑verified impact.

• Under‑resourcing support

  What goes wrong: Ability and workload gaps drive resistance.

  How to avoid: Provide training, coaching, help desks, and capacity buffers during rollout.

• Declaring victory too soon

  What goes wrong: Gains fade without reinforcement.

  How to avoid: Institutionalize in talent, governance, and systems; audit and improve for quarters after launch.

9. How the Jick Model Relates to Other Frameworks

• Kotter’s 8 Steps: Strong overlaps—urgency, vision, coalition, wins, anchoring. Jick adds explicit “separate from the past,” “political sponsorship,” and “enabling structures,” which many programs underweight.
• Lewin (Unfreeze–Change–Refreeze): Steps 1–4 Unfreeze; 5–9 drive Change; 10 supports Refreeze. Use Jick’s steps to operationalize Lewin’s phases.
• Prosci ADKAR: Steps 1–4 build Awareness/Desire; 7–9 deliver Knowledge/Ability; 10 provides Reinforcement. ADKAR works at the individual level within Jick’s organization‑level scaffold.
• McKinsey Influence Model: Step 2 (understanding & conviction), 5 & 9 (role modeling and communication), 7 (skills & confidence through enablement), 8 & 10 (formal mechanisms) map directly.
• Beckhard–Harris (D×V×F>R): Steps 1–2 raise D and V; 7 makes F concrete; 8 reduces R structurally.
• Stace–Dunphy Contingency: Guides how participative or directive you should be across Jick’s steps, based on urgency and culture.
• Transformation Office / Wave‑based: Step 7 becomes the TO engine—waves, stage‑gates, and value assurance. Steps 8–10 integrate with governance to sustain results.
• PDCA / Agile / Lean: Steps 7–10 become iterative cycles; PDCA ensures learning and standardization; Agile sprints deliver increments within waves.

10. Key Takeaways

• The Jick Ten‑Step Model is a leader‑friendly blueprint for executing change—from diagnosis and vision to politics, structures, involvement, and institutionalization.
• Its power lies in completeness: logic, emotion, power, and mechanics. Skipping “separate from the past,” “political sponsorship,” or “enabling structures” sinks many programs.
• Treat steps as iterative workstreams, not a rigid waterfall; pair with a Transformation Office and behavior frameworks to drive adoption and impact.
• Institutionalize gains by aligning KPIs, incentives, decision rights, processes, and talent practices; remove legacy paths.
• Leaders must role‑model visibly—credibility, not slogans, moves behavior.

11. FAQs About the Jick Ten‑Step Change Model

Is Jick’s model still relevant today?
Yes. Digital and agile have changed delivery mechanics, but the leadership realities—urgency, vision, political sponsorship, enabling structures, and reinforcement—are timeless. Use it as the executive spine and run iterative waves underneath.

How does it differ from Kotter’s 8 Steps?
Overlap is high. Jick emphasizes “separate from the past,” explicit political sponsorship, and enabling structures. Kotter elaborates momentum (short‑term wins, sustain acceleration). Many organizations blend them.

Do we need a “strong leader,” or can we distribute leadership?
You need visible, credible sponsorship (the “strong leader” role) and distributed leadership. The coalition, middle managers, and informal influencers must own behaviors and decisions locally.

How long does it take to apply?
A diagnostic and alignment on steps 1–4 can be done in 4–8 weeks. Waves under steps 7–10 run over 6–18 months depending on scope. Reinforcement is ongoing; plan for quarters, not weeks.

Can smaller or high‑growth companies use it?
Yes—lightweight. Replace heavy plans with a prioritized backlog; keep steps 3 (separate from past), 6 (sponsorship), 8 (structures), and 10 (reinforcement) explicit even if artifacts are lean.

What if a prior change left “scar tissue”?
Acknowledge it (step 3), rebuild trust with “promises kept,” involve skeptics in design, and fix misaligned incentives and processes (step 8) that previously undermined adoption.