Evidence Tool
ADKAR-IM
Track adoption progress before change risk becomes visible. ADKAR-IM helps leaders measure how people are progressing through change and where the organisation must adjust its support. Our ADKAR-IM method integrates the PROSCI model with the Influence Model of McKinsey; scoring and analysis are established with our Natural Language Processor and leverage AI.
Why it matters
Most transformations track activity. ADKAR-IM tracks adoption.
Large programmes are usually governed through milestones, budget, delivery dates, and technical readiness. Those indicators matter, but they do not show whether people understand the change, want to engage with it, have the skills to act, and are supported by the system around them.
The risk
Adoption is often assumed until resistance, delays, workarounds, or hypercare pressure make the gap visible. ADKAR-IM makes behavioural progression measurable while there is still time to intervene.
What it measures
Six behavioural constructs that show where change is progressing.
ADKAR-IM extends individual adoption logic with organisational influence levers, creating a practical maturity index for transformation governance.
Awareness and understanding
Do people understand why the change matters, what is required, and how it affects their work?
Desire and motivation
Are people personally willing to engage with the change, or are they complying without commitment?
Social influence
Are leaders, peers, and informal influencers modelling the behaviours needed for adoption?
Knowledge and skills
Do people have the knowledge, training, and practical guidance required to perform in the new context?
Ability
Can people apply the new behaviours, routines, tools, or decisions with confidence in real work?
Reinforcement and mechanisms
Do routines, governance, incentives, leadership attention, and support mechanisms sustain the new behaviour?
How it works
A repeated measurement loop that turns weak signals into action.
ADKAR-IM is designed for monthly or bi-monthly use, so leaders can see trajectory, variation, and the effect of change activities over time.
01
Deploy a short pulse
Stakeholders answer a focused set of open-ended questions, contextualised to the transformation and segmented by group, unit, role, geography, or other relevant populations.
02
Process responses with ADKAR-IM NLP scoring
The AccelerationLab ADKAR-IM NLP processor scores maturity across the six constructs, detects sentiment, and tracks distribution, variance, and movement across groups.
03
Interpret trajectory and dispersion
Progress curves show which adoption factors are moving, which are stuck, and whether readiness is uneven across the organisation.
04
Adjust the change plan
Findings are translated into targeted actions: leadership alignment, communication, training, local support, reinforcement mechanisms, or specific interventions for groups at risk.
Outputs
A practical adoption dashboard for transformation governance.
The tool produces evidence that can be used by sponsors, change teams, business leaders, and programme governance bodies.
Construct maturity scores
A clear view of maturity across awareness, motivation, social influence, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement.
Trend over time
Trajectory curves that show whether adoption is progressing, plateauing, or regressing between measurement cycles.
Group-level heat maps
Comparison across populations so interventions can be adapted to the reality of each group of interest.
Variance and alignment signals
Standard deviation and dispersion indicators that reveal where experience, readiness, or sponsorship is inconsistent.
Risk flags
Early warnings when a construct or stakeholder group falls below threshold or stops progressing.
Action priorities
Recommendations that connect measurement to change activities, leadership routines, capability building, and reinforcement.
Measure and develop
The value is not the score. The value is the next better intervention.
ADKAR-IM supports a development loop: measure the human system, identify the limiting factor, adjust the intervention, and verify whether the next cycle confirms progress.
Useful when you need to
- Move beyond communication and training activity tracking.
- Understand adoption differences across groups.
- Prioritise change interventions based on evidence.
- Verify whether support activities are improving readiness.
Application example
Supporting a SaaS banking platform migration.
In a large banking organisation migrating from a legacy banking system to a SaaS banking platform, ADKAR-IM was used every two months to track business readiness by group of interest.
How it was used
The measurement cycles were connected to the change management and business readiness plan. Results showed progress by group, highlighted where adoption factors were lagging, and guided targeted adjustments to change activities before the next measurement.
Outcome
The transition was delivered on time and on budget, with business readiness reached before go-live and reduced effort needed during hypercare to support employees in their activities.
Start a conversation
Make adoption visible before it becomes a delivery risk.
We can help you apply ADKAR-IM to a transformation, migration, operating model change, or business readiness challenge.