AFI Change Model

Five Strategic Steps to Successful Change

January 11, 2011 - Calgary, AB – Seventy percent of all change initiatives fail. The main reason they do is because change is treated as a one-time event, rather than a process that is advanced through carefully ordered stages. The odds turn in an organization's favour when change is treated as a strategic process and all stakeholders are facilitated through that process one person at a time.

The consultants of Agility Factor Inc. (AFI) are experts in change management. They use Prosci’s ADKAR Model to ease tension while affecting successful change with their clients. “We use ADKAR as a framework for implementing change,” says Cathy McIsaac, AFI’s Managing Partner. “We appreciate the model because it deals with the natural order, like building blocks, of how each person experiences change.”

The A in ADKAR stands for awareness and represents the need for change. People need to understand the nature of a change, why the change is being made, the risk of not changing, but most importantly what’s in it for them.

“The D in ADKAR stands for desire. It is about creating a willingness to support and participate in the change,” says Tanya Stevenson, AFI Service Delivery Lead. “We identify all of the impacted people and motivate them to actively involve themselves in the change.”

“Knowledge of how to change is the K in ADKAR. It represents the information, training and education necessary to know how to change,” says AFI Partner Kevin Litzenberger. Knowledge includes information about behaviours, processes, tools, systems, skills, job roles and techniques that are needed to implement a change.

“The second A in ADKAR is for ability. Achieving a desired change in behaviour takes practice,” says McIsaac, “It requires the implementation of skills and behaviours. Ability is putting knowledge into action. Success is only achieved when individuals demonstrate the ability to implement the change at the required performance level.”

The R in ADKAR represents reinforcement. “Actions increase the likelihood that a change will continue. It is important to recognize and reward the realization of a change and the new behaviours required to sustain the change,” says Litzenberger.

The lifecycle for ADKAR begins with the identification of a change and provides a framework and sequence for managing the people side of the change. It provides the foundation for change management activities including readiness assessments, and the delivery of sponsorship, communications, coaching, training, recognition and resistance management plans.

AFI is a consulting firm based in Calgary, Alberta. Specializing in organizational change management, AFI consultants are Prosci ADKAR certified change management professionals.

For more information or to request an interview::

Janice Andersson
Associate, Communications, Agility Factor Inc.
info@agilityfactor.net
403.270.3342