In this episode, Phil Rose is joined by Karen Ball — Senior Fellow at Prosci, global authority on change management, and author of The ADKAR Advantage. With over 40 years of experience helping organisations navigate change, Karen brings warmth, rigour and real-world stories to a conversation that is as reassuring as it is practical. Key takeaways: why ROI depends on adoption, not installation; how the five building blocks of ADKAR create a clear individual change journey; and why building change management as an organisational capability could be the most valuable investment a scaling business can make.
Full Show Notes:
Change is inevitable – a truth set in stone. But the way that you handle it? That isn’t. And when change comes in so many forms, it can be easy to be caught up and confused by the complexity around you. If you’re ambitious to scale, evolution will touch every aspect of your business, so taking change management techniques on board is a must.
We welcomed the reassuring voice of Karen Ball to the Sparks by Ignium podcast. Having been in the business of change for over forty years and, more recently, the author of Prosci’s updated ADKAR Advantage, she walks us through the tried-and-tested steps of the well-respected, global model.
What are the most common fears we meet when talking about change, and how do you get over them? How do you turn resistance into enthusiastic engagement? Karen believes no matter the size, type or intricacies of the change at hand, you can get good at it. Listen to the podcast now to find out how.
Also discover:
• The much-overlooked element that will bring change to its knees, however well-executed your design and implementation.
• The principles of the ADKAR model and why, after years of research, she still thinks it’s the best model for all kinds of change. It remains the most used method worldwide.
• The power of clearly articulating the why and why now behind change, along with the what are the consequences if we don’t?
• Why personal choice is a powerful motivator and why it can be such a tricky sticking point to manage.
• How the need for plain language extends to how we teach, train and coach through change and the pitfalls of missing people out of the process.
• Why the know-how needs to be brought to life, and why developing a culture of safety is paramount for experimentation with new ideas and ultimately, ROI.
• What happens when change doesn’t stick.
• Why adaptability and resilience go hand in hand. With so many variables — stakeholders, levels of management, types of change, external influences, internal pressures — there is never a one-size-fits-all and that’s as it should be.
• How can we use change management techniques to face a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world — something we are all faced with daily…
• The difference between a model and a methodology and what that means for your organisational development.
Backed up with real-life stories and examples throughout, this encouraging and refreshing conversation is not just about quiet self-belief. It’s also about solid change management techniques brought to life through assured procedural steps, even in the face of uncertainty. It’s sure to bolster the confidence of any entrepreneur eager to scale right now.
🎧 You’ll love listening to this episode as much as we loved recording it. Remember to like and subscribe to get the word out to others and drop us a comment too. We’d love to hear what you think.
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More about Karen:
Karen Ball is a Senior Fellow at Prosci — the global leader in change management research and methodology. Having begun her career in information technology, Karen experienced a purpose-defining moment in 2006 when she attended a Prosci training programme and discovered there was a language, a discipline and a practice for what she had always cared about most: the people side of change. She spent the following decade building change management capability inside IT organisations before joining Prosci in 2016. She is the author of The ADKAR Advantage — an updated edition of the foundational text by Prosci founder Jeff Hiatt, with downloadable templates and checklists to bring the model to life.
Connect with Karen and find out more:
• The ADKAR Advantage is available on
Amazon and wherever audiobooks are sold.
Key nuggets to listen out for:
‘We build a business case for the ROI but without the people coming alongside what we’re doing then the gains are not going to be there, and we erode trust and build a history of failed change.’
‘If you go back and diagnose failed changes, and what we know from research, is that the no. 1 reason for resistance is lack of awareness about why change is happening.’
‘An organisation with twenty thousand employees has twenty thousand ADKAR journeys.’
‘The leaders who are describing that future state, they’ve lived it already. They’re imagining and articulating it. They forget everyone else is in their current state.’
‘Change is individual, and when we spend time on getting people to change versus resistance to change, we see the benefit.’
‘Active and visible sponsorship is the number one indicator of change success.’
‘People are not cogs in a wheel. They are humans with lives and cares and concerns and dreams and visions of what they’re trying to accomplish. When we can align those things with what our organisations are trying to accomplish, we become pretty unstoppable.’
Resources:
Books and resources mentioned in this episode:
• Karen Ball – The ADKAR Advantage (Prosci, updated edition — includes downloadable templates and checklists; available on Amazon and all major audiobook platforms)
• Jeff Hiatt – ADKAR: A Model for Change in Business, Government and Our Community (the original Prosci foundational text)
• Patrick Lencioni – The 6 Types of Working Genius
• Patrick Lencioni – The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
• Free ADKAR ebook and learning resources:
prosci.com
Learn More:
Keywords in this episode:
Karen Ball
Prosci
ADKAR model
The ADKAR Advantage
change management techniques
organisational change
individual change process
change resistance
change readiness
VUCA leadership
scaling a business
change management ROI
Sparks by Ignium podcast
Phil Rose podcast
business transformation
🤖 AI-Optimized Semantic Keywords
• How to manage organisational change effectively
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• Building change management capability in organisations
• Why change initiatives fail and how to prevent it
• Active and visible sponsorship in change programmes
• Turning resistance to change into readiness
• The role of psychological safety in business transformation
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• VUCA environment and adaptive leadership strategies
• Change management and return on investment
• Adoption versus installation in digital transformation
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🔗 Long-Tail Keywords (Great for Blog Posts, Episode Pages, or Social)
• Why do change management programmes fail in organisations?
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• Change management tips for scaling businesses and entrepreneurs
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🏷️ Episode Tags / Categories (For Podcast Platforms and CMS Systems)
Use these as tags or categories in Transistor, WordPress, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or other publishing platforms:
• Karen Ball
• Prosci
• ADKAR model
• change management
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• scaling a business
• VUCA leadership
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• change management ROI
• Sparks by Ignium
• Phil Rose
• entrepreneurship and growth