ADKAR

ADKAR is Prosci’s model of individual change: awareness of the reason, desire to participate, knowledge of the work, ability to perform it, and reinforcement that sustains it. The elements distinguish understanding, willingness, learning, actual performance, and continuing support.

Prosci recommends focusing support on the earliest unmet element and reassessing as needs evolve. Explanation and discussion can address awareness; participation and attention to personal impacts can support desire; instruction and practice can build knowledge and ability. Feedback, recognition, and workable ongoing arrangements can reinforce use. These are directions for inquiry, not a rule that training can never help someone who initially lacks awareness.

Diagnose from evidence about the work

Attendance does not establish understanding, and non-use does not establish unwillingness. In a fictional utility, crews kept paper forms after training. Investigators needed to ask what people understood and wanted, observe representative tasks, and check tools, access, time, and support. A reproduced delay in poor-signal conditions supported a product remedy; it did not establish that every person had the same motivation or no learning needs. Shared constraints and individual needs can coexist. Prosci’s resistance guidance describes insufficient understanding of the reason as one possible barrier.

The framework is not an adoption result. Its assessments can contain useful evidence, such as verified task performance, but a completed form or self-rating alone does not demonstrate sustained use across a population. Define whose work was observed, under what conditions, and for how long. Keep usage and business outcomes distinct: a person can use the new process correctly without achieving the expected benefit.

Reinforcement does not require removing every old route. Before retiring a redundant path, verify replacement readiness, support, records, and recovery, and obtain the required operational decision. An approved assisted, exceptional, or fallback route may remain. These implementation checks are practical safeguards for the example, rather than additional named ADKAR elements. The Training Was Delivered and Nothing Changed follows the utility’s investigation and continuing reviews. Kotter’s eight steps address organizational mobilization and support.

References

• Prosci, The Prosci ADKAR Model
• Prosci, The Complete Guide to Managing Resistance to Change