ADKAR
What word in the ADKAR acronym represents the very first step that every individual or organization must go through when a change is introduced?
Awareness
An employee says "I didn't even know this was happening." Which ADKAR gap is this?
Awareness
What usually upsets people during an organizational change?
People are not usually upset by what is changing. People get upset by how change is handled.
According to ADKAR, this is the element that asks "Will this stick?"
Reinforcement
Someone has been trained, but keeps reverting to the old way a month after go-live. Which ADKAR element needs attention?
Reinforcement
This model, originally developed to describe grief, is used in change management to show how people's performance dips before it recovers.
The Change Curve
What two words in the ADKAR acronym are addressed in part with with an effective Training Plan?
Knowledge and Ability
A supervisor says "I get it, I just don't see why we need to change." What are they telling you?
Desire gap — they lack motivation to support the change
What are the two main phases that people and organizations go through when a change is introduced (as shown in the Change Curve)?
Resistance phase
Acceptance phase
ADKAR says you can't mandate this — you have to earn it.
Desire
An employee completed training, says they understand the new process, but freezes up when they try to use it on the job. What's the real gap?
Ability — they have Knowledge but can't yet apply it in practice
This is why a performance dip right after go-live is expected — and why planning for it matters.
People have Knowledge but haven't yet built Ability — it takes time and practice to reach full proficiency
In ADKAR, this is the term for the first element where someone scores low — the point where change gets stuck.
Barrier point
When confronted with stubborn pockets of resistance, where should you shift your focus?
Will yourself to shift your focus to your early adopters and make sure they are thriving.
The momentum started by the early adopters will lead to a tipping point which holdouts will find increasingly difficult to resist.
A project delivers new software on time and on budget, but six months later most staff are still using the old workaround. Name two ADKAR elements that were likely missed.
Any two of — Desire, Ability, Reinforcement