Management / Process Management

ADKAR Model — Five Stages of Individual Change Adoption

Two-day training on the ADKAR model as the SEQUENTIAL journey of one individual through change — five stages (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement), diagnosing the barrier stage, matching the intervention, and the conversation that moves a person one stage forward.

Organisations do not go through change — individual people do, one at a time

A board announcement, a new system and a rollout schedule change nobody’s behaviour. Five things change it, in order: a person understands why we are doing this, wants to take part, knows how, is able to do it, and gets something that holds the new way of working in place. If any one of those five is missing, the change stops exactly there — no matter how much was spent on the tool.

The ADKAR Model is a two-day EITT programme delivered on-site or remotely. It treats change as the sequential journey of one individual through five stages: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement. It teaches you to diagnose the stage where a person has stalled and to match the action to that stage rather than to the rollout calendar.

Who is this training for?

For people taking others through change. Especially when:

You are rolling out a new tool or process and your “trained” team still works the old way
You are facing resistance you do not understand and need the language to read it
You own business-side adoption of a system rather than its technical go-live
You hold change conversations and want each one to move the other person one stage forward

Two days: from diagnosing one person to a plan for the team

Day 1: The five ADKAR stages and why they are sequential, Awareness and Desire as personal decisions, the Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement stages, and above all the barrier stage — the first unfinished stage, which dictates the intervention. Day 2: The conversation that moves a person one stage forward, resistance as information about a stage, five typical sources of resistance, and finally aggregating individual diagnoses into an action plan for a whole team with progress measured by stage transitions.

EITT is a trusted partner in competence development, with a broad catalogue of management and change courses. Talk to us — change management training is also available as closed sessions for rollout teams.

Benefits

Diagnose the ADKAR stage at which a specific person has stalled
Match the intervention to the barrier stage instead of answering every problem with instruction
Run a change conversation that moves the other person one stage forward
Read resistance as information about a stage, not as an attitude towards the organisation
Aggregate individual diagnoses into an action plan for a whole team
Measure change progress by stage transitions rather than by activity counts

Who is this training for?

Line managers taking a team through organisational change

Project and programme managers rolling out new tools or processes

HR business partners supporting managers through change

Internal consultants and organisational development specialists

People accountable for business-side adoption of new systems

Prerequisites

Experience of working with a team or in a project role
A live or planned change initiative to base the exercises on
Basic familiarity with change management at organisational level (preferred)

Training program

Why organisational change is settled at the level of one employee, not a board announcement
The five ADKAR stages — Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement
Why the model is sequential — what cannot be skipped and what happens when it is
Awareness — knowing why the change is needed, and how that differs from being told about it
Desire — readiness to take part as a personal decision, not formal consent
Exercises: diagnosing the ADKAR stage of three people from your own team

Knowledge — knowing how to change: instruction, a model of the new way of working, access to support
Ability — being able to work the new way: practice, time, obstacles removed
Reinforcement — making it stick: feedback, recognition, closing off the old path
The barrier stage — the first unfinished stage dictates the intervention and nothing substitutes for it
The most common mistake — answering a Desire gap with Knowledge-stage instruction
Exercises: matching interventions to the barriers diagnosed in the previous exercise

The line manager as the most important sender of the change message
An Awareness conversation — the reason for the change, the risk of standing still, what it means for the role
A Desire conversation — what the person loses, gains, fears, and can influence
Resistance as information about a stage, not an attitude towards the organisation
Five typical sources of resistance and the actions that answer each
Exercises: role-play with a person stalled at the Desire stage

Aggregating ADKAR diagnoses across a team — where most people actually stand
An action plan built out of stages rather than out of a communications calendar
The sponsor and the supporting network as the condition for holding Reinforcement
Change saturation — what happens when several changes run through one team at once
Measuring progress — stage transitions, not the number of sessions delivered
Exercises: an ADKAR plan for your own change initiative over the next three months

Delivery Methods

Online

Convenience of participating from anywhere
Interactive live sessions with trainer
Materials available for 30 days
No travel costs

On-site

Direct contact with trainer and group
Intensive hands-on workshops
Networking with other participants
Full focus on learning

Training Topics

Your Learning Path

ADKAR Model — Five Stages of Individual Change AdoptionCurrent training

Change managementChange at organisational level

Change management models - workshopComparing change models

Change management for managers and leadersThe managerial perspective

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from EITT's other change management courses?

The other courses describe change at organisational level — strategy, communication, a portfolio of initiatives. This one goes a level down, to the single person: you diagnose which of the five stages a specific employee has stalled at, and match the action to that stage. From there you naturally come back up to a plan for the whole team.

Why does the order of the stages matter?

Because a stage cannot be skipped. Someone who does not understand why the change is happening (Awareness) will not build readiness (Desire) — and instruction (Knowledge) lands in a vacuum. Most failed rollouts are an answer aimed at the wrong stage, usually training instead of a conversation about the reason and the fears.

Do I need my own change initiative to attend?

Not required, but it helps a great deal. The four exercises form one path — diagnosing three people, matching interventions, the conversation, a three-month plan — and on a live initiative they produce working material you can use straight away.

What is the format and duration?

Two days, 9:00-16:00, delivered online or on-site. Day two leans heavily on conversation role-play, so the work happens in small groups.