3.3 The ADKAR Model

APMG Change Management Foundation Exam

Track your progress as you read

Finished sections get a check mark.

1 Chapter 1: The v3 Foundation Exam and the Organisational Context

1.1 Exam Structure, the Five Syllabus Areas and the Certification Path 1.2 Scene Setting: External and Internal Factors Shaping Change 1.3 Change Management, Benefits and Dis-benefits

2 Chapter 2: Understanding the Change Context

2.1 Kelman's Three Levels of Adoption 2.2 VUCA and the Cynefin Framework 2.3 Planned Change versus Emergent Change 2.4 Systems Thinking in Change 2.5 Organisational Culture and Its Three Levels

3 Chapter 3: Diagnosing and Structuring the Change Approach

3.1 Lewin's Force Field Analysis 3.2 Co-Design 3.3 The ADKAR Model 3.4 Evolving the n-Step Process and Kotter's Eight Accelerators

4 Chapter 4: Delivery Strategy, Agile Practices and the Change Strategy

4.1 Delivery Strategy: Big Bang, Phased, Voluntary and Iterative 4.2 Agile Practices and Agile Change Practices 4.3 The Continuous Change Management Cycle 4.4 The Change Strategy

5 Chapter 5: People and Change — Individual Difference and Response

5.1 Differences in People and Personality Preferences 5.2 Neuroscience and Change: SCARF, Mindset and Insight 5.3 The Change Curve 5.4 Bridges' Transition Model

6 Chapter 6: Motivation, Resilience and Learning

6.1 Rewards, Punishment and Pink's Three Motivators 6.2 Positive Psychology, Resilience and Appreciative Inquiry 6.3 The Beckhard-Harris Change Formula and Schein's Two Anxieties 6.4 Competence, Learning and the Learning Dip 6.5 Learning Preferences: Kolb, Honey and Mumford

7 Chapter 7: Key Roles in Change Leadership

7.1 Key Roles in the Change Process 7.2 The Role of the Change Sponsor 7.3 The Change Agent's Role and Personal Influence 7.4 The Role of Local Leadership in Change

8 Chapter 8: Psychological Safety, Leadership and Culture

8.1 Psychological Climate and Psychological Safety 8.2 Carolyn Taylor: How Leadership Shapes Culture 8.3 Leadership Styles and Organisational Climate

9 Chapter 9: Teams and Change

9.1 Team Structures and Change Agent Networks 9.2 Tuckman's Stages of Team Development 9.3 Lencioni: Assessing and Growing Team Effectiveness 9.4 Harvesting the Value of Team Diversity

10 Chapter 10: Stakeholder Identification, Analysis and Engagement

10.1 Stakeholder Definition and Identification 10.2 Stakeholder Analysis, Segmentation and Empathy Mapping 10.3 Stakeholder Mapping and Sources of Power 10.4 Barriers to Engagement 10.5 Planning Stakeholder Engagement

11 Chapter 11: Communication Theory, Messaging and Emotional Connection

11.1 Communication Theory and the Communication Process 11.2 Barriers to Communication and Cognitive Biases 11.3 Messaging: Setting Context and the Tell, Sell, Include Approach 11.4 Appealing to Hearts and Minds

12 Chapter 12: Communication Channels and Planning

12.1 Ways of Communicating and VARK Language Style Preferences 12.2 Communication Channels: One-Way, Two-Way, Lean and Rich 12.3 Communications Planning

13 Chapter 13: Assessing Change Impact and Severity

13.1 Change Management as Risk Management and the Two-Step Assessment 13.2 Step 1: Categorising Impacts and Identifying Impact Areas 13.3 Step 1 Continued: Gap Analysis, Impact Profiles and Monitoring 13.4 Step 2: Change Impact Severity

14 Chapter 14: Resistance to Change

14.1 Causes of Resistance and Oreg's Four Neural Factors 14.2 Common Reasons for Resistance and How to Deal With Them 14.3 Building a Strategy to Manage Resistance

15 Chapter 15: Change Analytics and Exam Readiness

15.1 Measurement Types and the Change Delivery Scorecard 15.2 Building a Change Analytics Strategy 15.3 Exam Technique and Final Revision

3.3 The ADKAR Model

Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI

ADKAR is a five-step framework for delivering change at the individual level: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement

Awareness is awareness of the need for the change and the reasons for it

Knowledge is knowing what to do, while Ability is being able to do it — training builds knowledge, practice and support build ability

Reinforcement asks whether the change is working and how that is demonstrated

The steps are sequential, so an individual blocked at an earlier step cannot be helped by interventions aimed at a later one

Last updated: September 2026

ADKAR , from Prosci, is the model CM3 uses for structuring the approach at the individual level. It provides a five-step framework to deliver change , and the exam tests both the meaning of each letter and — more often — the ability to match a described activity to the right step.

The five steps

• Letter Step The question it answers
• A Awareness Awareness of the need for the change; awareness of the reasons for the change

D Desire A desire to be part of the change — buy-in to the need for change and the clear advantages of achieving it

K Knowledge The knowledge of what to do. What actions are expected? How will new processes, systems and machinery be used? What other knowledge is required?

A Ability It is one thing to know what to do and another to have the ability. Are there good opportunities to practise? Are there technical support systems in place?

R Reinforcement Is it working? How is that demonstrated?

The sequence matters

ADKAR is sequential . An individual must have each building block before the next one can be established, and this is the source of the model's diagnostic power.

Consider a member of staff who has attended training but is not using the new system. Three quite different explanations are possible:

• They never accepted that the old way had a problem → stuck at Awareness
• They understand the reasons but see no advantage for themselves → stuck at Desire
• They want to use it but cannot remember the steps under pressure → stuck at Ability

Each requires a different intervention, and — the key insight — an intervention aimed at a later step cannot fix an earlier blockage . Sending someone to more training when they are stuck at Desire wastes the training budget and confirms to them that nobody is listening. This is why "we've trained everyone and they still aren't using it" is such a common and such a diagnosable complaint.

Knowledge versus Ability — the distinction the exam loves

This is the single most tested aspect of ADKAR, so be precise.

Knowledge is knowing what to do. It is built by training courses, documentation, demonstrations, process guides and briefings. After a good training session, a person has knowledge.

Ability is being able to actually do it, in real conditions, at real speed, with real consequences. It is built by opportunities to practise and by technical support systems being in place. Drop-in support sessions, floor-walkers in the first weeks, sandbox environments, buddy arrangements and time to practise all build ability.

The test: if the activity transfers information, it is Knowledge. If the activity supports doing the thing for real, it is Ability. Arranging technical support drop-ins over the weeks following go-live is an Ability activity; running the training that precedes it is a Knowledge activity.

Matching interventions to steps

Step Typical interventions

Awareness Communicating the business case and the reasons; explaining why the current position is not sustainable; leadership messages about context

Desire Addressing "what's in it for me"; involving people through co-design; surfacing and answering objections; addressing dis-benefits honestly; sponsor advocacy

Knowledge Training, e-learning, process documentation, demonstrations, briefings

Ability Practice environments, drop-in technical support, coaching, floor-walkers, phased workload, super-users

Reinforcement Measurement and feedback, celebrating early wins, recognising adopters, embedding the change into performance management and systems

Reinforcement is where changes die

Reinforcement asks two blunt questions: is it working, and how is that demonstrated? It is the step organisations cut when budgets tighten, because by then the visible delivery is complete.

The consequence connects directly to Kelman. Without reinforcement, adoption that was only ever at the compliance level reverts as soon as attention moves elsewhere. Reinforcement is also where change analytics earns its place — "how is that demonstrated" is a measurement question, and answering it requires the scorecard and evaluation methods covered in the Work of the change manager area.

Using ADKAR as a diagnostic

The most valuable practical use is not as a delivery sequence but as a diagnostic per stakeholder group . Assess each affected group against the five steps, identify the earliest step where they are weak, and concentrate effort there. Different groups will typically be blocked at different points — the operations team stuck at Ability while their managers are stuck at Desire — and a single uniform intervention will therefore serve neither.