ADKAR Model
What Is the ADKAR Model
ADKAR is a change management model that breaks organizational change into five sequential outcomes that each individual must achieve for the change to succeed: Awareness of the need for change, Desire to participate and support the change, Knowledge of how to change, Ability to implement the required skills and behaviors, and Reinforcement to sustain the change over time.
The model was developed by Jeff Hiatt, founder of Prosci, and published in his 2006 book “ADKAR: A Model for Change in Business, Government and Our Community.” Prosci’s research across more than 4,500 organizations found that projects with effective change management are six times more likely to meet objectives than those without it.
Unlike frameworks that focus on organizational level activities (communication plans, stakeholder mapping, training schedules), ADKAR focuses on individual level outcomes. The central insight is that organizations do not change; people within organizations change, one at a time. Every change initiative ultimately requires each affected person to move through these five stages in order.
The Five ADKAR Stages
Awareness
The person understands why the change is necessary. Without awareness, people see no reason to do anything differently. Awareness answers two questions: “Why is this change happening?” and “What is the risk of not changing?”
Building awareness is not the same as sending an email announcement. It requires explaining the business reasons behind the change, describing the consequences of the current state, and connecting the change to problems the individual already recognizes. Prosci research shows that the most effective awareness messages come from the direct manager for personal impact and from senior leadership for business context.
Common barriers at this stage include competing priorities that make the change feel unimportant, lack of trust in leadership credibility, and previous change fatigue from initiatives that started but never finished.
Desire
The person is motivated to engage with and support the change. Awareness creates understanding; desire creates willingness. A person can fully understand why a change is necessary and still choose not to participate because they fear losing status, comfort, or competence.
Desire is the most personal of the five stages because motivation is driven by individual factors: what is in it for me, what will I lose, do I trust the people leading this, and does this align with what I value? Managers cannot force desire, but they can influence it by addressing personal concerns, connecting the change to the individual’s goals, and involving people in decisions about how the change will be implemented.
Desire is the most common point of failure in change initiatives. A 2023 Prosci benchmarking study found that employee resistance, which is fundamentally a desire gap, is the top obstacle in 68% of change projects.
Knowledge
The person knows how to change. Knowledge includes the information, training, and education required to perform new tasks, use new systems, or follow new processes. It covers both the theoretical understanding (“how does this new system work?”) and the procedural steps (“what do I do differently on Monday morning?”).
Knowledge is delivered through formal training programs, documentation, coaching, job aids, and peer learning. The timing matters: training delivered too early (before desire is established) gets ignored. Training delivered too late (after go live) creates frustration and errors. The optimal window is after desire has been built but before the change takes effect.
Ability
The person can perform the change in practice. Knowledge and ability are different stages because knowing how to do something and being able to do it consistently under real conditions are separate outcomes. A person can complete a training course (knowledge) and still struggle to apply the skills in daily work (ability gap).
Ability develops through practice, coaching, time, and access to support during the transition period. Common barriers include inadequate time to practice before full rollout, lack of coaching or feedback during early attempts, environmental factors that prevent new behaviors (old systems still available, conflicting processes), and psychological barriers like fear of failure when performing new tasks in front of colleagues.
Reinforcement
The person continues the new behavior after initial adoption. Without reinforcement, people revert to old habits, especially when the change required effort and the initial urgency fades. Reinforcement is the most frequently skipped stage because organizations declare victory at go live and move on to the next initiative.
Effective reinforcement includes recognition and celebration of adoption milestones, feedback loops showing the positive impact of the change, accountability mechanisms that make regression visible, and removal of legacy systems or processes that make old behaviors possible. Prosci data shows that reinforcement activities in the first 90 days after go live are the strongest predictor of whether the change will sustain beyond 12 months.
How to Use ADKAR in Practice
ADKAR works as both a planning tool and a diagnostic tool. As a planning tool, it structures change activities around the five outcomes: build awareness communications before launching desire building activities, deliver training (knowledge) before expecting performance (ability), and plan reinforcement activities before go live rather than as an afterthought.
As a diagnostic tool, ADKAR identifies where a change is stalling. If adoption is low, assess each person against the five stages to find the barrier point. A person stuck at Awareness needs different interventions than a person stuck at Ability. The diagnostic approach prevents the common mistake of applying generic solutions (more training, more communication) to specific problems.
In practice, the assessment works as a simple 1 to 5 scale for each ADKAR element. A score of 3 or below on any element indicates a barrier point. The first barrier point is the one to address because the stages are sequential: resolving a Knowledge gap does nothing if the person has not yet passed through Desire.
ADKAR vs Kotter and Lewin
The three most widely used change management frameworks operate at different levels and serve different purposes.
ADKAR focuses on individual change outcomes. It answers: “What does each person need to move through to adopt this change?” It is diagnostic and practical, designed for change practitioners who need to identify and resolve specific barriers with specific people.
Kotter’s 8 Step Model focuses on organizational change activities. It answers: “What sequence of leadership actions drives successful change?” It is strategic and leadership oriented, designed for executives and change sponsors who need to create the conditions for change across the organization.
Lewin’s Change Model provides a conceptual framing for the overall change journey: Unfreeze (prepare for change), Change (transition), Refreeze (stabilize). It is the simplest and most abstract of the three, useful for explaining the general arc of change but not detailed enough to guide specific activities.
The frameworks are complementary, not competing. Many organizations use Kotter’s model to plan organizational level activities and ADKAR to manage individual adoption within that plan.
When ADKAR Works Best
ADKAR is most effective for changes that require individual behavior change: new technology adoption, process redesign, organizational restructuring, cultural shifts, and policy changes. It is less suited for purely structural changes (office relocation, budget reallocation) where individual behavior change is minimal.
The model works well in organizations that have frontline managers willing to have one on one conversations about change readiness because the Desire and Ability stages require personal interaction, not mass communication. Organizations with span of control issues (managers with 20+ direct reports) often struggle to apply ADKAR at the individual level and may need to adapt the assessment to team level rather than person level.
ADKAR is the most widely adopted change management model globally. Prosci’s 2024 Best Practices in Change Management report, based on data from 6,000+ change practitioners, found that 84% of respondents use ADKAR as their primary or secondary change framework.
Commonly Confused With
| Term | Key Difference |
|---|---|
| Kotter's 8 Step Model | Kotter focuses on organizational level leadership actions to drive change. ADKAR focuses on individual level outcomes that each person must achieve. Kotter plans the campaign; ADKAR diagnoses whether it is working person by person. |
| Lewin's Change Model | Lewin provides a three phase conceptual arc (Unfreeze, Change, Refreeze). ADKAR provides five specific, measurable outcomes within each phase. Lewin describes the shape of change; ADKAR operationalizes it. |
| Change Management Plan → | A change management plan is a project document that describes how change will be managed. ADKAR is a framework that can structure what goes into that plan by aligning activities to the five stages. |
Common Questions About ADKAR Model
What does ADKAR stand for?
ADKAR stands for Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement. Each letter represents a sequential outcome that an individual must achieve for a change to be adopted and sustained. The acronym was created by Jeff Hiatt of Prosci.
How do you assess someone's ADKAR score?
Rate each ADKAR element on a 1 to 5 scale through conversation or survey. A score of 3 or below on any element indicates a barrier point. The first barrier point in the sequence is the one to address because the stages are sequential and dependent on each other.
Can ADKAR be used for personal change?
Yes. ADKAR applies to any change that requires behavior modification, including personal goals like exercise habits, career transitions, or learning new skills. The stages are the same: you need to understand why, want to change, know how, be able to do it, and have reinforcement to sustain it.
How long does it take to move through the ADKAR stages?
The timeline varies by change complexity and individual readiness. Simple changes (new software tool) may move through all five stages in 4 to 8 weeks. Complex changes (cultural transformation, major restructuring) may take 6 to 18 months. The Desire stage is typically the longest because it involves personal motivation.
Is ADKAR only for large organizations?
No. ADKAR works for organizations of any size. Smaller organizations often find it easier to apply because managers have closer relationships with their teams, which makes the individual level conversations at the Desire and Ability stages more natural and effective.