ADKAR MODEL EXPLAINED – PART 6 – Reinforcement
There is no use making a change that does not stick. You spend time, energy, and effort trying to change to something, only to end up back where you started. How do we avoid this? The answer is reinforcement. This video explores what reinforcement is in the ADKAR model, how you build and measure it in others, and how to best leverage it in an organization.
Reinforcement tends to be the ADKAR step that is most often forgotten or even ignored, and that is why we look at why reinforcement is such a crucial part of ADKAR and the possible consequences of neglecting this step. Another point highlighted in this video is the importance of addressing both positive and negative feedback. Some people change when they see the light, while others change when they feel the heat.
In this video, we also discuss which plans are used to build reinforcement and we touch a bit more on how to compile these plans. As Change Practitioners, we constantly need to ask ourselves who is required to ensure the success of each step of ADKAR and how we can empower them? For the Reinforcement step, this would be the direct Managers of the people impacted by the change. As we say in this video, Managers need to communicate key messages consistently to ensure the circulation of status updates and success stories.
So, to sum it all up, a key step in anyone’s change journey is reinforcement. This is the step of ADKAR, where we keep driving the change until it’s no longer seen as a change.
Find our previous videos on ADKAR for a deeper exploration of each step individually.