The ADKAR model (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement), developed by Prosci, is a sequential change management framework focused on the individual rather than the project — it describes five stages an employee must go through for a change to stick, and lets you diagnose which one the organisation is stuck at instead of guessing why the change “isn’t working.”
Quick Overview
What you’ll learn:
- How ADKAR differs from other change management models
- Where to start implementing ADKAR if a company has never managed change methodically before
- How to diagnose which stage specific employees are stuck at
- The most common mistakes organisations make on their first ADKAR rollout
Who this article is for:
- Managers running their first major organisational change (a new system, restructuring, a merger)
- HR Business Partners supporting a transformation
- Leaders of implementation projects
Reading time: 6 minutes
The ADKAR model for organisational change management: where to start from zero
Most organisations reach for a change management model only after a failed attempt — a new system rolled out correctly on the technical side but not actually used by employees, or a restructuring that formally wrapped up while people in practice keep working the old way. ADKAR is genuinely useful at exactly that starting point, because it doesn’t require prior experience in change management — the model breaks change down into five concrete, sequential states of the individual, ones you can assess even without formal methodology training.
Prosci, the organisation that developed and has refined the ADKAR model for decades, describes it as a person-centric approach (rather than an organisational-process one) — the underlying premise is that an organisation only changes once the individual people that make it up change, which is why diagnosis and intervention have to operate at the level of a single employee, not just company-wide messaging aimed at everyone at once.
The five ADKAR stages — and the diagnostic question for each
| Stage | What it means | Diagnostic question |
|---|---|---|
| A — Awareness | The employee understands why the change is needed | ”Do you know why this is happening?” |
| D — Desire | The employee personally wants to take part in the change | ”What does this change actually mean for you?” |
| K — Knowledge | The employee knows HOW to change — new processes, tools, behaviours | ”Do you know exactly what you need to start doing differently?” |
| A — Ability | The employee can actually apply the new knowledge in practice | ”Have you tested this in a real situation, not just in training?” |
| R — Reinforcement | The new behaviour is reinforced so it doesn’t slip back | ”What happens if you go back to the old way after a month?” |
Where to start if a company has never managed change methodically before
The first step isn’t rolling out the whole framework at once — it’s running a simple diagnosis on a small sample of employees: a few conversations or a short survey answering the questions in the table above, to see which stage most of the team is genuinely at. Companies starting from zero most often discover they’re stuck at Desire, not Awareness — employees formally “know” about the change (a message went out by email), but don’t see a personal benefit in it or don’t understand what it actually means for their day-to-day work. An intervention aimed at the wrong stage — another presentation with a business rationale (addressing Awareness) for a team that’s stuck at Desire — has no effect, because it solves a problem that team no longer has.
The most common mistakes on a first ADKAR rollout
Three mistakes repeat especially often among organisations with no prior experience: treating stages as one-off milestones instead of states that need ongoing monitoring (an employee who’s reached Ability can slide back to old habits without proper Reinforcement); applying one intervention across the whole organisation, even though different teams or departments genuinely sit at different stages at the same time; and skipping the Reinforcement stage as “soft” and less important — even though a lack of reinforcement is the single most common reason a change formally “succeeds” and the organisation drifts back to old practices within six months.
Read Also
- Change Management from Resistance to Engagement — a broader look at managing resistance to change
- Change Management Techniques in the Context of Project Management — how change management fits alongside project methodologies
Develop Your Skills
Putting the ADKAR model into practice is best started with the training Adaptation in the Project: Strategies for Effective Change Management. Check the programme and sign up to develop your skills with EITT experts.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Does ADKAR work for a small company, or only large organisations?
ADKAR scales both ways, because it focuses on the individual rather than a complex organisational process. In a small company, diagnosing the stages can happen through a handful of direct conversations, without needing formal surveys or a dedicated change management team.
What do you do if different employees are at different ADKAR stages at the same time?
That’s a normal situation, not a sign something’s wrong with the process. The intervention needs to be tailored to the specific group — part of the team may need Desire built up, while another part already has it and needs Knowledge instead. One universal message rarely lands with every group at once.
Does ADKAR replace other project management methodologies for a large transformation?
No, ADKAR focuses exclusively on the human dimension of change and complements project management methodologies (scheduling, risk management, and so on) rather than replacing them. Large transformations usually run both approaches in parallel.
How long does it take to move through all five ADKAR stages?
There’s no single universal timeframe — it depends on the scale of the change and the team’s starting point. What matters most is not moving to the next stage before the previous one has genuinely taken hold, because skipping a stage (like Desire) almost always resurfaces later as resistance or a return to old behaviours.