29. Mastering Project Management-Why Change Fails: How the ADKAR Model Explains What Leaders Miss

In this episode of Project Management Masterclass, we break down one of the most widely used change management frameworks, the ADKAR model.

More importantly, we look at how change actually happens in real-world environments and why it often fails.

If organizations don’t change and people do, then understanding how individual change happens is critical to delivering successful projects and real business outcomes.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

What the ADKAR model is and how it works
Why awareness alone is not enough to drive change
The difference between understanding change and wanting it
How gaps in desire create execution friction
Why training and knowledge do not guarantee adoption
The difference between knowing and doing
How to better align the people side and business side of change

This episode also includes a real example from an ERP implementation to show how change can break down when desire is not established.

If you are leading projects, managing change, or trying to improve execution within your organization, this episode will give you a framework you can apply immediately.

But understanding change is only one part of it.

Leading change requires strong power skills. How you communicate, influence, align teams, and drive execution under pressure.

If you want to go deeper and strengthen those skills, you can explore the Power Skills course here:
https://www.developpowerskills.com/sales-page

Transcript

Hello everyone, welcome back to Project Management Masterclass.

In Episode 28, I discussed five reasons why change management is necessary for successful projects.

To quickly recap—

We said we change for a reason.

And more importantly, organizations don’t change—individuals do.

Organizational outcomes are nothing more than the collective result of individual change.

And if that’s true, then project success is not just about timelines, deliverables, or execution plans.

It’s about whether people actually change.

We also talked about how frameworks can help guide the people side of change—so organizations don’t just implement change, but actually realize the benefits from it.

But that raises a bigger question.

If organizations only change when individuals change…

How does individual change actually happen?

Because this is where many initiatives break down.

Not in the strategy.

Not in the planning.

But in the transition from intention… to behavior.

And that’s where change management frameworks come in.

One of the most widely used frameworks for guiding individual change is the ADKAR model.

Today, we’re going to break down what ADKAR is, how it works, and why it remains one of the most practical tools for understanding the human side of change.

A — Awareness

The first stage is awareness.

Awareness means individuals understand why the change is happening.

Not just what is changing, but why the organization needs to change in the first place.

What problem is being solved?

What opportunity is the organization pursuing?

What risk exists if the organization does nothing?

Without awareness, change can feel arbitrary.

And when change feels arbitrary, resistance begins almost immediately.

People begin to question the motive behind the change.

They may ask themselves:

Why are we doing this now?

What’s wrong with the current process?

Is leadership solving a real problem, or just introducing something new?

Awareness answers these questions.

It provides clarity and context.

When people understand the reason for change, uncertainty begins to decrease.

And that’s where the journey of individual change begins.

But awareness alone is not enough.

Because understanding a change does not mean people will support it.

D — Desire

Once individuals understand the need for change, the next stage is desire.

Desire answers the question:

Do I personally want to support this change?

This stage is often misunderstood.

Understanding the need for change does not automatically mean individuals want to participate.

People evaluate change through a personal lens.

They may wonder:

How will this affect my role?

Will I still be successful in this new environment?

Will this increase my workload?

Will it reduce my influence or autonomy?

Desire develops when individuals believe the change will benefit them, their team, or the organization they care about.

Trust in leadership plays a significant role here.

If trust is strong, people are more willing to support change.

If trust is weak, even well-designed change initiatives can struggle.

Let me make this real.

Early in my career, I worked in the industrial coatings industry at a plant that manufactured powder paint.

This facility had been a small, family-run operation before being acquired by a larger corporation.

Corporate made the decision to implement a single ERP system across all plants.

The goal was visibility, standardization, and control.

On paper, it made perfect sense.

But inside the plant, it was a different reality.

This was a productive operation—but it wasn’t modern.

There were no documented processes.

No SOPs.

The entire operation ran on tribal knowledge.

People knew what to do because they had always done it that way.

Around the same time, I was working to introduce more structure—developing standards, building consistency, trying to shift the culture.

And right in the middle of that effort, the ERP implementation hit.

Corporate teams started showing up.

Asking questions.

Requesting data.

Pushing for system adoption.

And resistance showed up almost immediately.

Not because people didn’t understand the change.

They understood it.

They just didn’t want it.

Because from their perspective, this change meant:

More work.

More complexity.

More disruption to a system that already worked.

And on top of that, production still had to continue.

Product still had to go out the door.

So now the plant was being asked to maintain output, learn a new system, and adapt to new expectations—all at the same time.

That’s not change.

That’s overload.

And the resistance wasn’t isolated.

It was happening across multiple plants.

It became so disruptive that during a workshop meant to focus on something completely different, the ERP conversation took over the entire session.

It escalated to the point where HR had to step in.

And this is where most organizations get it wrong.

They focus on the system.

They focus on the process.

They focus on the rollout plan.

But they ignore the human condition inside the system.

From an execution standpoint, this is what friction looks like.

People are being asked to move…

but they were never led to want the movement.

So the organization keeps pushing forward,

while the people inside it are pulling back.

And that tension shows up as delays,

rework,

misalignment,

and resistance that leaders often mislabel as performance issues.

But it’s not a performance issue.

It’s a desire gap.

So here’s the question you have to ask yourself as a leader:

Are people resisting your change…

or have you failed to give them a reason to want it?

Desire creates movement—but without direction, that movement goes nowhere.

Which brings us to the next stage: knowledge.

K — Knowledge

Once individuals understand the need for change and have the desire to support it, the next step is knowledge.

Knowledge answers the question:

How do I change?

This stage focuses on providing individuals with the information and guidance needed to adopt new behaviors.

Knowledge can come from:

Training programs

Documentation

Process guides

Workshops

Mentoring or coaching

Organizations often invest significant effort in training.

And that effort is important.

But knowledge alone does not guarantee successful change.

And going back to that ERP implementation—this is where many organizations overcorrect.

They invest heavily in training, documentation, and workshops…

assuming that knowledge will solve the problem.

But if desire was never established, training becomes noise.

Because knowing something intellectually is not the same as being able to perform it consistently.

Which leads to the next stage.

A — Ability

Ability is where individuals demonstrate they can perform the new behavior in their daily work.

Knowledge provides instruction.

Ability reflects execution.

For example, someone may understand how a new system works after attending training.

But until they use that system repeatedly in their daily workflow, their ability remains limited.

Ability develops through practice.

It develops through experience.

It develops through feedback and support.

Leaders play an important role during this stage by ensuring individuals have the time, resources, and coaching necessary to build confidence with new behaviors.

And even in that same ERP rollout, you could see this gap clearly.

People may have attended training—but that didn’t mean they could execute confidently in their day-to-day work.

Without ability, knowledge remains theoretical.

And theoretical change does not produce results.

R — Reinforcement

The final stage of the ADKAR model is reinforcement.

Reinforcement ensures the change becomes permanent.

Without reinforcement, people often revert back to familiar behaviors.

This happens frequently when organizations move quickly from one initiative to the next without stabilizing the previous change.

Reinforcement can take many forms.

It may include recognition for adopting new behaviors.

It may include performance metrics aligned with the new process.

It may include leadership consistently modeling the expected behavior.

And without reinforcement, even the people who adapted in that ERP rollout would eventually drift back to old habits.

Because the system they trusted before never truly went away.

Reinforcement signals that the new way of working is not temporary.

It is now the standard.

Why the ADKAR Model Matters

When you step back and look at the ADKAR model, it provides a structured way to understand the human side of change.

It reminds leaders that successful change is not simply about launching a project.

It is about guiding individuals through a series of transitions.

Awareness.

Desire.

Knowledge.

Ability.

Reinforcement.

If leaders understand where individuals are within this journey, they can provide the right support at the right time.

And that dramatically increases the chances of successful change.

Closing 

In Episode 28, we explored why change management is necessary.

Today we explored how individual change actually happens.

Through awareness.

Desire.

Knowledge.

Ability.

And reinforcement.

These stages remind us that organizational transformation is ultimately a human process.

Organizations don’t change.

People do.

But here’s where many organizations still get it wrong.

They treat the people side of change and the business side of change as separate efforts.

One team focuses on systems, timelines, and deliverables.

Another focuses on communication and training.

But these efforts often run in parallel without real alignment.

And that’s where breakdown happens.

Because change is not two separate tracks.

It’s one integrated system.

The business side defines what needs to change.

The people side determines whether that change actually sticks.

And if those two are not working together, in real time, the organization creates friction within itself.

Execution slows down.

Adoption weakens.

And results fall short of expectations.

So as you think about the changes you’re leading, don’t just ask:

Do people understand the change?

Do they want to support it?

Also ask:

Are we aligning how we deliver change…

with how people actually experience it?

Because successful transformation doesn’t happen when systems change in isolation.

It happens when people and business move forward—together.