Profile 2: Barrier point at Desire
A D K A R
As with lack of Awareness, lack of Desire is first identified by noticing that the change is not taking place with an employee. When a person lacks Desire to change, you will observe a partial or complete disengagement from work. If the change has a large impact on this person’s day-to-day activities, you can expect him or her to become increasingly distracted, absent or in some cases, begin to seek other work opportunities (this is where turnover of employees begins). Some employees may openly resist the change, while others may find passive forms of resistance such as garnering support for his or her position from other employees, or by spreading misinformation or rumors about the change. In the worst case, an employee may attempt to sabotage the change by deliberately taking actions that disrupt or interfere with the change process. If confronted, employees at this stage of ADKAR may show fear or uncertainly around the desired future state, or may become angry at being “forced” to change. It is not uncommon for an employee’s overall morale to be low and for his or her outlook to be poor.
Desire is often the most difficult element to facilitate with another person. Any manager or sponsor attempting to help another person attain this element will be challenged, as the factors causing a lack of desire are not always within the control of that manager. For example, the lack of Desire may be related to a personal situation outside of work, or to a person’s financial status. Therefore, the first step to building Desire is not to act, but to listen. An effective change leader will first seek to understand the root cause for an employee’s lack of Desire, and they will explore all the facets of the change that may be impacting this individual. Since Desire to participant and engage in a change is ultimately a personal choice, the manager must be willing to address the “what’s in it for me” or WIIFM from the perspective of the employee. Additional steps for building desire and for addressing the associated resistance associated with Desire can be found in Prosci’s Change Management Toolkit.
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