Change Management

Surface why change is necessary now; address complacency.

Summarise this post with:

The major change management models

Mature change management practice uses multiple models in combination rather than relying on any single framework. Each model addresses different aspects of change.

Model	Focus	Key idea	Best used for
Kotter 8-Step Process	Organisational leadership	Sequential leadership actions: urgency, coalition, vision, communication, empowerment, wins, consolidation, anchoring	Large enterprise transformation; executive-led change
Prosci ADKAR	Individual adoption	Five building blocks per person: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement	Diagnosing where individual adoption is breaking down
Lewin Three-Stage	Conceptual foundation	Unfreeze, Change, Refreeze: prepare, transition, sustain	Conceptual framing; foundation for other models
McKinsey 7-S	Systems alignment	Seven interconnected elements must align: strategy, structure, systems, shared values, style, staff, skills	Strategic change assessment
Kubler-Ross Change Curve	Emotional response	Predictable emotional stages: shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, commitment	Anticipating and supporting employee emotional response
Bridges Transition Model	Psychological transition	Endings, Neutral Zone, New Beginnings: focus on internal psychological transition	Supporting individual psychological journey through change

Practical guidance: Kotter provides the leadership arc; ADKAR provides individual diagnostic precision; Lewin provides the conceptual frame; 7-S provides systems alignment; Kubler-Ross and Bridges provide the emotional dimension.

Kotter’s 8-step process in detail

John Kotter, Harvard Business School professor, articulated his 8-step process in the May 1995 HBR article ‘Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail’. The 8 steps:

1. Create a sense of urgency. Surface why change is necessary now; address complacency.

1. Build a guiding coalition. Assemble a cross-functional team with authority, expertise, credibility, and leadership.
2. Form a strategic vision and initiatives. Articulate a clear vision of the future state and strategies for achieving it.
3. Enlist a volunteer army. Build broad-based engagement; communicate the vision repeatedly through many channels.
4. Enable action by removing barriers. Identify and eliminate structural, procedural, and cultural impediments.
5. Generate short-term wins. Plan for visible improvements within 6-12 months; recognise and celebrate them.
6. Sustain acceleration. Use credibility from short-term wins to attack remaining barriers; press forward with deeper change.
7. Institute change. Anchor new approaches in the organisation’s culture; ensure new behaviours become ‘how we do things here.’

Prosci ADKAR in detail

Prosci’s ADKAR model, developed by Jeff Hiatt and first published in 2003, focuses on individual adoption rather than organisational leadership. The acronym describes five sequential building blocks every individual must achieve for change to succeed:

1. Awareness, of the need for change. The individual understands why change is happening and what drives it.

1. Desire, to support and participate in the change. The individual personally wants the change.
2. Knowledge, of how to change. The individual knows what they need to do differently.
3. Ability, to implement required skills and behaviours. The individual can actually perform the new way of working.
4. Reinforcement, to sustain the change. Mechanisms that maintain the new behaviour over time.

ADKAR’s diagnostic power is its specificity: where an individual is stuck in change, ADKAR identifies which of the five elements is missing. Prosci research consistently demonstrates that initiatives with effective change management are six times more likely to meet objectives than those without.

Individual vs organisational change

A crucial distinction in change management practice: organisational change is the collective transformation of the system; individual change is each person’s transition through that transformation. Both must succeed for change to deliver value.

• Organisational change without individual change. Structures change but behaviours don’t. The new org chart is published; people work the same way. Classic ‘change theatre.’
• Individual change without organisational change. People develop new capabilities but the structure, processes, and incentives don’t support them. Frustration and reversion.
• Both succeeding. Structures, processes, behaviours, and incentives align around the new way of working. Sustainable transformation.

The ‘70% of change fails’ myth

The frequently-cited statistic that ‘70% of change initiatives fail’ has been repeated for decades but its empirical basis is thin. The figure traces variously to Kotter’s 1995 HBR article (which did not actually cite 70%), to McKinsey research, and to consulting firm reports, but none provides robust methodology behind a 70% figure. The more defensible practitioner stance: change management is hard, success rates without structured approach are low, and effective change management materially improves outcomes.

2026 application: AI tool adoption

In 2026, change management’s largest practical application is AI tool adoption, embedding new AI capabilities (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, domain-specific AI tools) into existing workflows. AI adoption is uniquely demanding because:

• The ‘why’ is rapidly changing. AI capabilities improve monthly; change management approaches built for stable ‘future states’ struggle to operate against moving targets.
• Knowledge and ability are simultaneously required. Effective AI use requires both knowing what tools do and developing practical fluency.
• Workflow integration matters more than tool training. Generic AI training rarely changes behaviour; integrating AI into specific role workflows does.
• Reinforcement is fragile. Without ongoing prompts and pattern reinforcement, employees revert to pre-AI workflows.
• Trust and ethics are part of the change. Concerns about hallucination, data privacy, and ethical use are real change-management barriers.

Common change management failures

• Insufficient urgency. Kotter’s step 1 failure: change initiated without compelling case; employees see no reason to disrupt existing patterns.
• Weak coalition. A change-management team without executive sponsorship, business credibility, or operational influence cannot drive change against organisational resistance.
• Communication once, not many times. Kotter’s research suggests change communication needs to be repeated 7-10 times across multiple channels to land.
• Skipping individual adoption work. Org chart changes without ADKAR-level individual change work produce structural change without behavioural change.
• No short-term wins. Multi-year transformations without visible early wins lose momentum.
• Declaring victory too soon. Reinforcement stage neglected; new behaviours not anchored; reversion to pre-change patterns.

See Agile HR for the iterative change approach, Agile Organizations for operating model context, Boundaryless Organization for transformation type, Carve-Out for M&A change context, Rightsizing for structural change context, and Best Practice Policy for HPWS context.

Frequently asked questions