Desire

How to positively influence a person’s

Desire to embrace change

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 ADKAR – Desire 3
Contents
Making the Transition From Awareness
to Desire 4

Factors That influence a Person’s Desire

to Change 5
The Nature of the Change and WIIFM 5

The Organizational Context for the Change 5

An Employee’s Personal Situation 6

Personal Values and Motivators 6

Creating Desire 7
Table of

Effectively Sponsor the Change with Employees and Peers 7

Equip People Managers to Be Change Leaders 8

Assess Risks and Anticipate Resistance 10

Engage Employees in the Change Process 10

Align Incentive Programs 11

Next Steps 12

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 Desire

The first step in the individual change process is establishing a clear understanding of why the
change is happening. Leading successful change starts with building Awareness of the need
for change. After establishing Awareness, the next step for an individual is to make
a personal decision to participate in the change.

The five elements of the Prosci ADKAR® Model include the outcomes an individual must achieve
for a change to be successful: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement.

Desire, the second element, represents the willingness to support and engage in a change.
Desire is ultimately about a personal choice that is influenced by the nature of the change and
personal circumstances.

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 Making the Transition
From Awareness
to Desire

Desire is often the most challenging ADKAR element to achieve. Awareness enables people
to understand the impacts and value of the future state, but creating more and more
Awareness will not result in Desire. Continuing to focus on the reasons for change rather
than translating those reasons into personal and organizational motivating factors can be
discouraging and frustrating for employees.

Creating the Desire to change, by definition, is not under a leader’s direct control. Change
leaders can take definitive steps to influence Desire, but each individual ultimately makes
their own choice to support the change. Desire is achieved when an individual genuinely
says, “I will be part of this change.”

In a business context, influencing Desire requires a change management strategy that

matches the personal motivators of the impacted teams and leverages the influence
of leaders in the organization. Key business leaders act as sponsors of change. People
managers are coaches to employees during the change process. Incentives are aligned
with new behaviors and employees are proactively engaged in the change process.

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 Factors That
Influence a Person’s
Desire to Change

Understanding the underlying factors that influence a person’s level of Desire informs how to
plan for and respond to the behaviors that employees express when confronted with change.
These behaviors include:

1. The Nature of the Change and WIIFM

Individuals and groups assess a forthcoming change with questions like: “What is the change?”
“How will the change impact me?” and “What’s in it for me?” (or WIIFM). The answers to these
questions help them determine whether the future state represents a threat or an opportunity.
They may also assess how effectively or fairly they think the change will be deployed with other
impacted groups.

2. The Organizational Context for the Change

Every individual experiences change in the context of their own perception of the history and
culture of their organization. Organizational context includes the track record with previous
changes, current levels of change saturation, and the overall direction of the organization.
Employees may be less willing to engage in new changes, for example, if the company has a
negative history of starting changes, not following through, or allowing individuals to opt out.
Each person’s experience is unique. How they view the environment and interpret the context
of the current change will vary considerably.

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3. An Employee’s Personal Situation

An individual’s personal situation impacts their

Desire to change. Personal context includes
a wide variety of factors that can influence
Desire: family status, financial security, career
aspirations, age, health, relationships at home
and at work, educational background, upcoming
personal events, and past successes in the work
environment. A reaction to change that appears
counterintuitive or excessive, on the surface,
may have very little to do with the change itself.
Understanding an individual’s personal situation
is very helpful in understanding their choice to
support or a resist a change.

4. Personal Values and Motivators

Personal motivators are inherent attributes that drive our choices and make us unique as
individuals. Some people value advancement and strive for respect, power and position.
Other people Desire depth in relationships and financial security. The decision to engage with
change is much easier when the future state aligns with an employee’s personal motivators.
In addition to what we value, internal beliefs about whether we can be successful with the
change being made also impact our Desire to change.

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 Creating Desire

Leaders of change can positively influence the decision to embrace change by considering
the factors that impact Desire. Below are several tactics for effectively building Desire:

1. Effectively Sponsor the Change With Employees and Peers

Participants in the Best Practices in Change Management – 11th Edition

study reported “Lack of active and visible sponsorship” as the number one
obstacle to successful change outcomes.

Primary sponsors are instrumental in creating Desire among employees to support and engage in
a change. To see the best results and the most adoption of the new solution, these senior leaders
need to be present, interact on a personal level, and be willing to answer difficult questions
throughout the change process. Employees watch their leaders closely. If leadership actively and
visibly supports the change, employees will determine that the change is still important.

Sponsors who disengage from a project, are absent, or delegate the role of sponsorship entirely
communicate that the change is not important. Momentum and support from employees
diminishes. There is greater resistance to the change, slower adoption throughout the
organization and, in some cases, project failure.

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Sponsors of change are also responsible to build a strong coalition of support with their
peers. Senior leaders need to take the time to build buy-in for the change throughout the
management levels of the organization. This includes addressing concerns and conflicting
priorities head-on. A weak sponsorship coalition allows resistance to grow.

In the Best Practices in Change Management – 11th Edition,

52% of participants reported that their sponsors did not have an adequate
understanding of the role of an effective sponsor. Participants also reported that
more than one-third of sponsors failed to build a coalition in support of their change.

2. Equip People Managers to Be Change Leaders

Employees look to their immediate supervisors for cues about

how to respond to change. These people managers must
be prepared to help individuals on their teams make
sense of the change. Ideally, leaders demonstrate their
own commitment to the change in actions and words,
leading by example and proactively addressing their
teams’ barriers.

Effective people managers create opportunities to

talk openly about the change. They clearly articulate
both the negative and positive impacts of the change.
They actively listen as their employees work through
questions and concerns. In many cases employees
simply want to voice their objections and be heard.
Although some employees will want to talk about past
failed changes and why this change is different, others will
need to discuss their personal situation and how this change
affects them.

Participants cited “frequent and open communication” as a top contributor to

successful change initiatives in the Best Practices in Change Management – 11th Edition.
Participants also highlighted the importance of consistency, openness and
transparency in communication during change. As the resource closest to employees
on a daily basis and a preferred sender of change messages, people managers play a
critical role in change communication.

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By understanding each employee’s unique situation and perspective about the change, people
managers can identify obstacles and sources of resistance. They can assist employees in
finding solutions to address these barriers. Understanding what is important to each individual
also helps people managers build Desire around the most impactful motivators.

For people managers to have effective conversations with employees, they must first be
onboard with the change themselves. People managers are employees first. They will be
impacted by change and have their own questions and concerns. Before they can effectively lead
their teams, they must first have an opportunity to process and resolve their own uncertainties
and fears.

Managers have the greatest challenge

as they are in charge of translating the
change message from the top to their
employees. If they don’t understand the
change or don’t have the support to do
it, it makes them more resistant.”

— Best Practices in Change Management – 9th Edition.

Too often, the role of the people manager is overlooked in times of change. It is assumed that
holding the title of manager means an individual is already an effective coach and resistance
manager. The role is critically important to influencing Desire with employees, but change
management and change coaching are skills that need to be developed. The project team,
organizational change team, and sponsors must actively equip people managers to be prepared
to lead during change.

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3. Assess Risks and Anticipate Resistance

Most change management methods include readiness

assessments that identify potential challenges and
points of resistance. Assessment results serve
as proactive planning tools designed to target
resistance and mitigate known risks from the
onset. Combining assessments about the size and
scope of the change itself with assessments about
organizational readiness reveals the overall risk of
the change. Change impact assessments identify
the transitions required from different areas of the
organization and the unique challenges for specific
groups. With this information, change managers can
strategically develop special tactics to proactively build
Desire. Special tactics may address areas of potential
resistance or offer tailored support to those most impacted.

4. Engage Employees in the Change Process

Direct participation in and ownership of the change is a fast and effective way to build support
and Desire. Increased engagement of impacted employees in a change initiative translates
directly into increased likelihood of the initiative achieving its desired results.

Participants in the Best Practices in Change Management – 11th Edition

study cited “employee engagement and participation” as key contributors
to a successful change initiative.

Employees can play many different roles in the change process. They may get involved in
creating the needed solution or participate in testing the new solution to provide feedback
on and input for improvements. Natural influencers and peer leaders can engage as change
champions or members of a change agent network. Actively engaging key individuals in the
change produces a multiplying effect in overall levels of Desire to support the change, and
ultimately can lead to significant increases in the speed and success of adoption.

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5. Align Incentive Programs

The behaviors of employees during change are strongly driven by how they are measured
and rewarded. If there is an incentive program already in place to reward employees, consider
how it could be realigned to support the new desired behaviors. An incentive program that
rewards employees for the way they currently work undermines other positive motivations
to change to a new way of working. The same applies for performance management systems.
Employees may resist implementing changes that hinder their ability to meet their current
performance objectives.

Regarding managers in particular, participants in the Best Practices in Change

Management – 9th Edition study cited “misalignment of project goals and
personal incentives” as the primary reason for resisting change. Participants
also noted that “incentives and metrics that did not align with promotion
parameters or pay/bonus scales made change unappealing.”

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 Next Steps

The lack of control and uncertainty over another person’s Desire to change can cause some
leaders to disengage from this step in the change process. And yet it is an essential part of
realizing successful change. The actions and words of people managers and executive leaders
have a tremendous influence on an employee’s Desire to support a business change. Even if
people managers and executives cannot dictate the decisions of their employees, they can
certainly impact the process. The most successful change initiatives focus their efforts on the
proactive steps that sponsors and people managers can take to minimize resistance and create
energy and engagement around the change.

Before we move on to the next element in the Prosci ADKAR Model, it is important to note that
Awareness and Desire can ebb and flow over the course of a change initiative. New information
or developments may cause an employee with high Awareness and high Desire to revert back.
If this happens, readdress Awareness and Desire in the context of the new information before
the employee can successfully continue to move forward. Although the natural progression
is to move on quickly to building Knowledge and Ability through training, for a change to be
successful, it is absolutely necessary to revisit Awareness and Desire, reinforcing these elements
with continued communication.

In the following eBook, “Knowledge: How to Effectively Build Knowledge in Individuals,” we

explore the next element in the Prosci ADKAR Model.

Prosci and ADKAR are trademarks of Prosci, Inc.,

registered in the U.S. and other countries.

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