The ADKAR Change Management Model – Methodology

The change is necessary, and is very important for the growth of a company. But change can be difficult and hard for individuals.

So most of the employees in the company resist change as they used to do work with the old way and that way is more comfortable for them.

Hence no one wants to leave their comfort zone. So, change can be challenging to apply.

Let’s briefly understand these:

What is the ADKAR change model

ADKAR change model is designed to eliminate the resistance to change. This model is developed for making change easy for organizations as well as individuals.

Also, It aims to make the necessary transformation with less resistance. So, It is being created by Jeffrey Hiatt, the founder of Prosci.

ADKAR stands for Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement.

A: Awareness. Make the employees and people of the organization aware of the change.      

D: Desire. Create a desire to change.

K: Knowledge. Give employees knowledge of the change.

A: Ability. Give employees the ability to make changes.

R: Reinforcement. Make the changes and reinforce the new methods.

Awareness

Firstly you need to aware of your employees about the change. So, You have to make them realize that they have to step out of their comfort zone.

Also, You need to make them aware of why they need change.

Here are some reasons for failure for which you need to aware of why change is required.

1. A passive reaction: if your employees are not aware of why they need the change, they won’t argue with you, but they won’t support you. They will think that why we need to change the method, we are using for the past many years. So, They won’t understand the necessity for change and won’t show you that they are not supporting your idea, but secretly they won’t encourage you.
   
2. They keep going back to the old way of doing things: Hence, This is the most common and frustrating reason why change gets fail. So, The employees continuously keep going back to their old way of doing things and don’t want to adopt new ones. The awareness of change is very important to realize why we need change.
   
3. They actively resist change: some of your employees may actively or openly resist the change. It is not because they don’t support or not agree with the change you need to make. So, The reason behind it can be not explained well. Also, You may not be able to tell them well that why the change is necessary and why it must be needed in the organization.

Desire

If your employees understand the need and benefit of the change in the organization, then they will definitely adopt the change and will support you.

So, If the employees don’t support the change, there won’t be a desire to change in their minds.

So, You have to make the employees comfortable with the new methods and create a desire to change into them.

Make the employees comfortable, especially those who are affected by this change.

Make sure and make them understand that they won’t be affected. Explain to them the reason for the change and how the change will benefit them.

Knowledge

Give your employees more expertise and training so that they can understand the need for change. Give them the adequate exercise of the new methods which you will introduce to the organization.

The more you give them knowledge of the change and would be used procedure, the more they will understand the importance and need for the change.

Providing expertise and training will ensure what new method, technology, and tools you require for your change.

The more you offer them the training and knowledge, so more successfully they will implement it. 

Ability

After providing knowledge to your employees of the desired change, it is now time to translate that knowledge into ability.

Turning knowledge into strength means you need to practice those new methods and technologies and analyze these new policies.

And you need to explain the new techniques and if there is any need to change these new changes do it.

For example, you want to make changes in your production method and introduce a new production method and new technology.

You have done all the theoretical presentations, and all the members have learned it very well.

But it is not enough to learn things theoretically until you apply it practically.

Reinforcement

After making all the changes and when it is working smoothly, now you need to make these changes permanent.

And reinforcement is a very crucial step in the ADKAR change model. You have to make sure that your employees will not revert to the old methods of working.

People don’t accept the change quickly. You need to make ensure that the new methods won’t affect them.

Your employees must be comfortable with new changes, so that, they don’t start their old way of working.

It takes a long time to make any change, don’t wait for your employees to complain. To analyze the problem areas and find out the solutions for it.

Work with your team and show them your plans for the processes. It will make sure that they won’t go back to the old way of working.

Other Change Management Models

The ADKAR is not only the management change model for organizational change. There are different change management models, also for organizational change.

If the ADKAR change management model is not working well and not helping you change your management, you can use another change management model that will fit your organization.

It is unnecessary to use only one change management model in your organization; you can use one or more than one model.

You can apply the ADKAR change management model, and with this, the mixture of other change management models also.

Here is the list of other change management models:

1. Leavitt’s Diamond – An Integrated Approach to Change.
2. Bridges’ Transition Model – Guiding People Through Change.
3. SIPOC Diagrams – Making Sure Your Change Process Serves Everyone.
4. The Burke-Litwin Change Model – Unraveling the Dynamics of Organizational Change.

Conclusion

After reading the article, I hope you understand why the ADKAR change model is being introduced.

The ADKAR change model is created by Jeffrey Hiatt, the founder of Prosci.

This model is designed to eliminate the problems being faced by the organizations at the time of change.

The ADKAR change management model helps the employees understand the change and understand the need for change.

Companies can easily make changes to the organization, and the organization can quickly adapt innovation and work effectively.

The ADKAR stands for awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement. And we have already discussed all these five above.

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