ADKAR, from Prosci, breaks change into five observable elements at the level of the individual. The exam tests the order, the definitions, and which element a described gap belongs to.
The five elements, in order
Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement.
- Awareness: understanding why the change is needed. First.
- Desire: choosing to participate in and support the change.
- Knowledge: knowing how to change and what success requires.
- Ability: putting new skills and behaviors into practice.
- Reinforcement: sustaining the new way and preventing backsliding.
Wrong sequences to reject: awareness, desire, knowledge, adoption, results (Kirkpatrick-style outcome words); assessment, design, knowledge, ability, reinforcement; awareness, decision, knowledge, action, review.
The Knowledge / Ability boundary
This is the single most tested distinction. Knowing how is Knowledge; doing it is Ability. Employees who can describe every step of a new HR system but revert to old spreadsheets under deadline pressure have an Ability gap, not a Knowledge gap - the stem tells you they know the steps. A Desire gap would show as resistance or refusal, not a performance lapse under pressure.
Ability and Reinforcement are the second-most confused pair: both concern behavior after training, but Ability is first performing the behavior and Reinforcement is sustaining it.
Scenario keys
- Employees do not yet see why the current method must change: the first communication targets Awareness.
- Six months in, managers are quietly returning to the old annual form: reinforce the new way through follow-up, feedback and accountability so the change is sustained and backsliding is prevented. Reissuing training retreats to Knowledge when knowledge is not the gap. Allowing both forms institutionalizes the reversion. Escalating each lapse for discipline does nothing to sustain the change.
One consulting-process item lives here
Implementation is the fourth and final stage of the BASK's consulting process - putting the agreed program into operation and supporting its adoption. Interviewing stakeholders is discovery; weighing designs against root causes is analysis and solution; presenting the preferred option is recommendation.