ADKAR, But Make It Personal – D is for Desire
- Jun 17
- 1 min read
You can’t white‑knuckle your way through change on other people’s reasons. If your ‘why’ lives in a board deck, it won’t survive a hard week.
Most leaders try to jump from “I’m aware” straight to “I’ll fix it.”
What’s missing is Desire – a real, felt reason to change that belongs to you, not to your boss, the board, or the latest leadership trend.
If your only reasons are external (“I should…” “They expect me to…”), you’ll revert as soon as things get hard.
To find Desire, ask yourself:
🏹 “If this change worked, what would actually be better in my day‑to‑day leadership?”
🏹 “What pain am I honestly tired of tolerating?”
🏹 “Who else’s experience gets better if I change this?”
When Desire is present, the discomfort of changing starts to feel smaller than the discomfort of staying the same.
Once you’ve experimented with this yourself, ask: what would it look like to make this the norm on my team, not just in my own head? To expand this with your team:
🏹 When you introduce any change, don’t just explain the logic. Ask people, “If this worked, what would genuinely be better for you?” Capture their answers in their words. You’re helping them build their own Desire, not just borrowing yours.
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