Change Readiness

"People don't resist change. They resist being changed." — Peter Senge

TL;DR

Evaluates organizational readiness for technology or process changes using the ADKAR model, identifies resistance sources, and designs targeted interventions to ensure successful adoption. Use this skill before major rollouts, platform migrations, or when previous change initiatives have struggled. [EXPLICIT]

Procedure

Step 1: Discover

• Identify the change scope: what is changing, who is affected, and what stays the same
• Assess the organization's change history and fatigue level
• Map affected groups by function, location, and change impact severity

Step 2: Analyze

• Evaluate each affected group on ADKAR dimensions (1-5 scale):
  • Awareness: Do they know why the change is happening?
  • Desire: Do they want to participate and support the change?
  • Knowledge: Do they know how to change?
  • Ability: Can they implement the change day-to-day?
  • Reinforcement: Are there mechanisms to sustain the change?
• Map resistance sources: fear of job loss, comfort with status quo, past failures, lack of trust
• Identify the weakest ADKAR dimension — this is the barrier point

Step 3: Execute

• Design targeted interventions for each barrier point per affected group
• Create a communication plan addressing Awareness and Desire gaps
• Design training programs addressing Knowledge gaps
• Plan coaching and support systems for Ability gaps
• Establish recognition and measurement systems for Reinforcement

Step 4: Validate

• Verify interventions target the actual barrier point, not assumed ones
• Confirm sponsors are trained and actively visible in their support
• Check that success metrics go beyond adoption rate (include satisfaction, productivity)
• Validate timeline allows for learning curves and adjustment periods

Quality Criteria

• All affected groups assessed on all 5 ADKAR dimensions
• Barrier points identified with specific interventions designed
• Communication plan addresses why before how
• Resistance mapping includes specific engagement strategies
• Evidence tags applied to all claims

Anti-Patterns

• Training-only change management (skipping Awareness and Desire)
• Big-bang rollout without pilot or phased approach
• Measuring adoption by tool login counts instead of outcome metrics

Related Skills

• stakeholder-mapping — identifies who is affected and their influence
• workshop-design — facilitates change readiness sessions
• executive-pitch — secures sponsor commitment for change initiatives

Usage

Example invocations:

• "/change-readiness" — Run the full change readiness workflow
• "change readiness on this project" — Apply to current context

Assumptions & Limits

• Assumes access to project artifacts (code, docs, configs) [EXPLICIT]
• Requires English-language output unless otherwise specified [EXPLICIT]
• Does not replace domain expert judgment for final decisions [EXPLICIT]

Edge Cases

Scenario	Handling
Empty or minimal input	Request clarification before proceeding
Conflicting requirements	Flag conflicts explicitly, propose resolution
Out-of-scope request	Redirect to appropriate skill or escalate