How the use of the ADKAR model can help as a driver of change

This change management model is based on 5 distinct phases to help all employees in companies adapt to new technologies and/or processes. This model takes into account the employees in order to achieve greater resilience of the company; a milestone fully related to technology 5.0.

ADKAR is an acronym that represents these 5 phases of the model, which are explained below.

Awareness

This first stage of the model is about making employees aware of the need for change. In this case, speaking of employees at all levels of the company, the company must go to one.

This awareness must be raised by making all employees understand why this change is necessary and the positive implications of making the change, and also the negative implications of not making the change.

As a result of this awareness, professionals not only support the change, but are committed to it.

Desire

The second stage builds on the results of the first stage and concerns the willingness of employees to participate and support change.

To this end, employees must be motivated to do so, either on a personal or company-wide level. As mentioned above, this requires not only the support of team leaders, but also their exemplary, motivational and inspirational skills.

Knowledge

Once employees want these changes, they must be trained to acquire the necessary knowledge about the implementation of this change and their new responsibilities.

Training of professionals can be done through training plans that include training, workshops, online courses, etc. This training cannot be generic, it must be specific to each job position.

Ability

Once the theoretical training has been completed, it is time to train the employees to apply the knowledge and to cope with their new tasks. This requires practical training and continuous support.

In this step, not only the individual practice is very important, but also the communication between employees (horizontal and vertical) and the constant accompaniment and support.

Reinforcement

The last phase is reinforcement, which is the phase that is most often the least implemented, but is vital. Reinforcement involves the implementation of systems and mechanisms that reinforce and maintain newly acquired skills and manners.

This includes performance reporting, transparent communication of the company's performance and recognition or motivation for employees.

As discussed above, the ADKAR model is directly compatible with the idea of 5.0 technologies. It is a model that promotes change by putting people at the centre, one of the three pillars of this technology. The advantages of the ADKAR model are

• Clearly structured

• Puts people at the centre

• Identifies the problems or barriers in order to tackle them

• Has a personalised approach

For all these reasons, the ADKAR model is considered to be one of the most reliable, structured and reliable models for change management. For this reason, it is the model that Enginhum applies for its technological consultancy and integration services.