USING THE ADKAR MODEL TO SUPPORT CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Some of the key tasks of leadership are being able to set an inspiring vision, motivate people to progress on goals and creating the right environments for team members to grow and develop beyond what they would have done alone. All of these processes include a healthy dose of change. Change can be a difficult journey for individuals and teams, which is why leadership is inherently tied to the skills of effective change management.

WHAT IS CHANGE MANANGEMENT?

If you look up change management on a reputable consultancy or business site you may find a definition like this:

Change Management – a term for any process which takes a systematic approach to dealing with a transition or transformation of goals, processes or technologies. This includes the preparation, support and reinforcement of change for individuals, teams and whole organisations.

Change management is as simple as helping other people to do things differently or to be different. This is very important because if you want to create a movement, enact a vision or be innovate it is vital that the people involved are on board. Merely changing the team’s mission statement or software systems will not lead to change in itself because…

“Organisations do not change, people do.”

TYPES OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT

The definition above gives a lot of different options to play with, which is why change management is often sorted into two broad categories which have a slightly different focus:

Organisational change management is concerned more with the resources, structures, goals and processes of the organisation as a whole. This can be seen as more of a ‘management’ style change. This may include things such as:

Individual change management focuses on the human aspects of making changes. This recognises that whilst we are resilient and adaptable, there are psychological needs and processes involved in experiencing change. Even when change management is primarily organisational, there will likely be an individual element. For example:

Effective leaders combine both aspects of effective change management – recognising that organisational changes will have an impact on all individuals and that they need to feel supported in order to embrace and adapt to the change.

WHAT IS THE ADKAR MODEL?

Jeff Hiatt developed the ADKAR model to help leaders understand key phases involved in supporting individual change management. It recognises that people need to complete a phase of ADKAR in order to move to the next one and make a successful and lasting change.

Each letter of ADKAR stands for:

USING THE ADKAR MODEL TO SUPPORT CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Rather than providing specific instructions or tips for leaders, ADKAR gives a broad overview which invites further reflection and thinking. Here are some tips we can draw from the ADKAR model to support change management.

Awareness of the need for change

Desire to participate in change and support it

Knowledge of how to change

Ability to change

Reinforcement of the change

Throughout the whole process:

At the end of the change process:

SUPPORT WITH YOUR CHANGE MANAGEMENT

As you can hopefully see from the ADKAR model, there’s no one way to do change management. Although the phases provide a guiding process, the individual steps will depend on the change you are trying to make, the mood and skills of your team and a whole other host of variables. This can make change management feel like a daunting task for leaders to face alone.

If you are looking for support with your change management process then The Self Leadership Initiative can help by providing:

Get in touch today to discuss your needs.

References
Hiatt, J. M. & Creasey, T. J. (2003). Change management: The people side of change. Prosci.
Hiatt, J. M. (2006). ADKAR: a model for change in business, government and our community. Prosci Learning Center.