Prosci ADKAR vs. Kotter: Choosing the Right Change Management Framework for Your Organization

Change initiatives often fail for a simple reason: organizations plan the new system, process, product, or strategy more carefully than they plan how people will adopt it.

A company may invest in a new CRM, introduce a new sales methodology, launch an artificial intelligence program, reorganize its teams, or release a major product. Leaders may communicate the business case and provide training. Yet employees may still continue using old processes, ignore the new tool, or adopt the change only when someone is watching.

That gap between organizational intent and individual behavior is where change management frameworks become useful. Two of the most recognized approaches are the Prosci ADKAR Model and Kotter’s 8 Step Process for Leading Change. Both provide structure for leading change, but they answer to different questions.

Kotter helps leaders mobilize an organization around a strategic change. ADKAR helps leaders understand and support the individual people who must adopt that change.

The frameworks can be used separately, but they are often most useful together. Kotter can provide the organizational direction, leadership alignment, urgency, and momentum. ADKAR can help managers identify why adoption is stalling for specific employees, teams, or roles.

What is the Prosci ADKAR Model?

The Prosci ADKAR Model is a framework for individual change. Prosci describes organizational change as something that happens one person at a time. ADKAR identifies five observable building blocks that an individual must move through for a change to be adopted and sustained.

The acronym stands for:

	Meaning	Practical question
Awareness	Understanding why the change is needed.	Does the person understand the business reason for changing?
Desire	Choosing to participate in and support the change.	Is the person willing to engage with the change?
Knowledge	Knowing how to change and what the new behavior requires.	Does the person know what to do differently?
Ability	Putting the new skills and behaviors into practice.	Can the person perform the new behavior in real work?
Reinforcement	Sustaining the change and preventing a return to old habits.	What will keep the new behavior in place?

ADKAR is valuable because it gives managers a way to diagnose adoption barriers. If a seller understands that a new CRM process is necessary but does not want to use it, the problem may be at Desire. If the seller supports the change but does not know how to complete the new workflow, the problem may be at Knowledge. If the seller has completed training but still cannot use the process in a live customer situation, the problem may be at Ability.

The framework prevents leaders from treating every adoption problem as a training problem. Training is useful when people lack Knowledge. It will not solve a lack of Awareness, a lack of Desire, or a workflow that is too difficult to perform.

What is Kotter’s change management framework?

Kotter’s approach is a leadership and organizational framework for creating momentum around significant change. The current Kotter methodology presents eight steps for leading change. The framework evolved from the original linear model in Leading Change toward the organization’s current emphasis on dynamic accelerators, but the eight steps remain a widely used structure for planning and communicating change.

The eight steps are:

1.Create a sense of urgency.

2.Build a guiding coalition.

3.Form a strategic vision.

4.Enlist a volunteer army.

5.Enable action by removing barriers.

6.Generate short term wins.

7.Sustain acceleration.

8.Institute change.

Kotter’s framework begins with the organizational environment. Leaders must explain why the change matters, create a coalition with enough credibility to guide it, define a compelling future, and involve a broader group of employees. The framework then focuses on removing obstacles, demonstrating progress, building on early wins, and embedding the new way of working into the organization.

The model is especially useful when the change requires leadership alignment, cross functional cooperation, new priorities, or a shift in organizational culture. It helps answer questions such as:

• Why must the organization change now?

• Who needs to guide the change?

• What future are we trying to create?

• How will people participate?

• What barriers are preventing progress?

• How will we build confidence through visible results?

• What systems and behaviors must change for the transformation to last?

The central difference between ADKAR and Kotter

The clearest distinction is the level of analysis.

ADKAR is primarily individual and adoption focused. It helps leaders understand what a specific person needs in order to change behavior. The model is useful for coaching, training, readiness assessment, resistance diagnosis, and reinforcement.

Kotter is primarily organizational and leadership focused. It helps leaders create the conditions for large scale change. The model is useful for building urgency, aligning sponsors, coordinating stakeholders, removing organizational barriers, communicating direction, and embedding change into culture and systems.

Prosci describes Kotter’s framework as leadership driven and focused on organizational transformation, while ADKAR focuses on individual transitions and readiness.

Neither model is automatically better. They operate at different levels. Asking which one is superior is less useful than asking which problem you need to solve.

Change management need	More natural fit
Diagnose why a person is resisting a new workflow.	ADKAR
Build executive alignment around a transformation.	Kotter
Design a manager coaching conversation.	ADKAR
Create urgency across a large organization.	Kotter
Identify whether training is the real barrier.	ADKAR
Coordinate a cross functional change coalition.	Kotter
Sustain an individual behavior after launch.	ADKAR
Embed a transformation into structures and culture.	Kotter

Applying ADKAR to a sales enablement change

Imagine a company introducing a new qualification methodology. Sales leadership wants every opportunity to include a quantified business problem, a decision process, an economic buyer, and a documented next step. The change is intended to improve forecast accuracy and reduce time spent on weak opportunities.

The company provides training, updates the CRM, and distributes a new opportunity review guide. After a month, adoption is inconsistent. Some reps complete the fields, but the information is vague. Others continue using the old process.

ADKAR can help diagnose what is happening.

Awareness

Do sellers understand why the new methodology is being introduced? If leadership only says that the process is “mandatory,” sellers may not understand the business problem. The organization should explain how weak qualification affects forecast accuracy, manager coaching, time allocation, and customer experience.

Desire

Do sellers believe the change will help them? If the process feels like administrative work that benefits management but not the rep, Desire may be weak. Leaders can improve Desire by showing how stronger qualification helps sellers prioritize serious opportunities, avoid late stage surprises, and create more valuable customer conversations.

Knowledge

Do sellers know how to apply the methodology? Training should include examples, discovery questions, opportunity notes, and realistic deal reviews. Explaining the framework is not enough. Reps need to see what good execution looks like in their pipeline.

Ability

Can sellers use the methodology under real conditions? A rep may understand the process in training but struggle to apply it during a busy sales cycle. Managers should coach live opportunities, practice questioning, simplify CRM fields, and remove unnecessary steps.

Reinforcement

What will sustain the behavior? Managers can include the methodology in pipeline reviews, recognize strong use, update coaching guides, and connect adherence to the quality of forecast conversations. The process should become part of normal sales management rather than a temporary campaign.

Applying Kotter to the same change

Kotter would approach the same initiative from the organizational level.

First, leaders would create urgency by showing the impact of unreliable qualification on forecast confidence, sales productivity, and revenue planning. Next, they would build a guiding coalition that includes sales leadership, frontline managers, revenue operations, marketing, and respected sellers.

The coalition would form a strategic vision, such as: “Every forecasted opportunity is supported by customer evidence, a clear decision path, and a mutually agreed next step.” Leaders would enlist a volunteer army by involving early adopters, pilot teams, and peer advocates who can demonstrate the new process.

The organization would then remove barriers. This might require simplifying CRM fields, updating dashboards, revising opportunity stages, clarifying manager expectations, or integrating the methodology into deal review meetings. Short term wins could include a pilot team improving opportunity quality or identifying weak deals earlier in the quarter.

Leadership would sustain acceleration by expanding the approach, updating training based on feedback, and resolving new barriers. Finally, the organization would institute the change by incorporating the methodology into onboarding, forecasting, coaching, CRM design, and performance expectations.

Kotter addresses the conditions that make the change possible. ADKAR addresses whether individual sellers can and will adopt it.

How to combine the two frameworks

The strongest approach is often to use Kotter for the organizational transformation and ADKAR for individual adoption within that transformation.

Consider an organization introducing an AI assistant for sales research, meeting preparation, and follow up. The change involves technology, policy, process, training, management behavior, data governance, and customer trust.

Kotter can structure the enterprise initiative:

• Create urgency by showing the cost of manual research and inconsistent preparation.

• Build a coalition across sales, operations, IT, security, marketing, legal, and product.

• Form a vision for responsible AI that improves seller capacity while preserving human judgment.

• Enlist a volunteer army of managers and sellers to pilot practical workflows.

• Remove barriers by approving tools, clarifying data rules, and simplifying access.

• Generate short term wins through measurable pilot results.

• Sustain acceleration by expanding proven use cases.

• Institute the change through onboarding, policy, coaching, and operating rhythms.

• ADKAR can then be used at the individual and team level:

• Awareness: Does each seller understand why AI is being introduced?

• Desire: Does the seller believe the tool will improve work rather than increase surveillance?

• Knowledge: Does the seller know how to use the approved workflows and review generated content?

• Ability: Can the seller apply the workflow to a real account without creating privacy, accuracy, or customer trust problems?

• Reinforcement: Do managers coach appropriate usage and recognize value created through responsible adoption?

This combination creates a useful division of labor. Kotter helps the organization move. ADKAR helps people make the move successfully.

Choosing the right framework for your change

Use ADKAR when the main challenge is adoption

ADKAR is a strong fit when the organization has already chosen the change but is struggling to get people to use it. It is particularly useful for new tools, new workflows, new skills, new policies, and role specific behavior changes.

Use it when managers are asking questions such as:

• Why do employees understand the change but still avoid it?

• Why did training not translate into behavior?

• Which people or teams are stuck?

• What support does this role need next?

• Is the problem motivation, knowledge, skill, or reinforcement?

  
  

Use Kotter when the main challenge is organizational movement

Kotter is a strong fit when the change requires a broad shift in direction, leadership alignment, cross functional coordination, or cultural change. It is useful for mergers, reorganizations, digital transformation, major AI programs, new business models, and enterprise wide operating changes.

Use it when leaders are asking questions such as:

• How do we create shared urgency?

• Who must guide this transformation?

• How do we align multiple departments?

• What barriers are preventing progress?

• How do we keep momentum after the launch?

• How do we make the new behavior part of the organization?

Use both when the change is strategic and behavior dependent

Most important changes require both organizational movement and individual adoption. A new strategy does not work unless people change decisions. A new system does not produce value unless people use it. A new sales process does not improve results unless sellers and managers apply it consistently.

In those situations, Kotter can provide the macro plan and ADKAR can provide the adoption diagnostic.

Common mistakes when using change frameworks

Treating the framework as a checklist

Completing activities does not prove that change is happening. A company may publish a communication, conduct training, and launch a dashboard while employees continue using old behaviors. Measure adoption and outcomes, not only project completion.

Assuming training solves resistance

Training addresses Knowledge and sometimes Ability. It does not automatically create Awareness or Desire. If people do not understand the reason for change or believe the change will make their work worse, more training may increase frustration rather than adoption.

Using executive communication without manager reinforcement

Senior leaders can create urgency and direction, but managers translate change into daily work. Employees need practical guidance about priorities, workflows, performance expectations, and support.

Ignoring barriers in the system

Employees cannot reliably adopt a process that conflicts with incentives, technology, workload, or customer expectations. Change leaders must remove the obstacles that make the old behavior easier than the new behavior.

Declaring success too early

An initial launch or pilot is not the same as sustained change. Reinforcement requires continued coaching, measurement, recognition, system updates, and leadership attention.

Applying the same message to every audience

Executives, managers, sellers, customers, and technical teams may experience the same change differently. The business case, practical impact, concerns, and required behavior may vary by role. Both frameworks encourage leaders to connect the change to the people affected by it.

A practical implementation sequence

A company adopting a new sales methodology, AI tool, or operating process can use the following sequence.

First, describe the organizational change in one sentence. State what will be different, who will be affected, and why it matters.

Second, use Kotter to assess the organizational conditions. Is there urgency? Is there a credible coalition? Is the vision clear? Are barriers being removed? Are leaders prepared to sustain the effort?

Third, use ADKAR to assess each major audience. Do people understand the reason? Do they want to participate? Do they know what to do? Can they perform the new behavior? What will reinforce it?

Fourth, connect the assessment to actions. Create communications for Awareness, sponsor and manager conversations for Desire, training for Knowledge, practice and workflow support for Ability, and measurement and recognition for Reinforcement.

Fifth, review results regularly. Look for evidence that the organization is moving and that individuals are adopting. If momentum is weak, diagnose the specific barrier rather than restarting the entire program.

So, Which?

Prosci ADKAR and Kotter are not competing answers to the same question. They are complementary ways to understand change.

Kotter gives leaders a framework for creating urgency, building a coalition, defining a vision, removing organizational barriers, generating momentum, and embedding change. ADKAR gives leaders a framework for understanding whether individuals have the awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement required to adopt new behaviors.

For sales enablement and AI enablement teams, the combination is especially useful. Kotter can guide the organization through a major transformation, while ADKAR can help managers support sellers through the practical transition.

The most important lesson is that change is not complete when the new system launches, the training ends, or the policy is published. Change is complete when people consistently use the new way of working and the organization reinforces it. Use Kotter to create the conditions for movement. Use ADKAR to help people make the change real.