Lab 4 — Apply ADKAR, Kotter, and Bridges to the Same Described Programme

COMPEL Specialization — AITE-WCT: AI Workforce Transformation Expert Lab 4 of 5

Lab objective

Apply Prosci ADKAR, Kotter 8-step, and Bridges Transitions to the same described AI workforce programme. Produce three methodology-specific plans of moderate depth, then synthesise a comparative memo recommending the combination approach appropriate to the programme’s characteristics.

Prerequisites

• Completion of Articles 18 (choice framework), 19 (ADKAR), 20 (Kotter), 21 (Bridges), 22 (saturation), and 23 (resistance) of this credential.

The programme — NovaCare Hospital Group AI-Augmented Radiology Transition

NovaCare Hospital Group operates 12 hospitals across a major European country. The radiology department employs approximately 450 radiologists across the group. The group has decided to roll out AI-assisted image-analysis tools across all 12 hospitals over a 24-month period; the tools produce preliminary reads on images that radiologists review, adjust, and approve.

The radiology population has characteristics relevant to the methodology choice:

• Strong professional identity; radiologists are medically trained; the AI assistance touches a core part of the professional work.
• Mixed attitudes to the change: approximately 30% are early adopters; 40% are cautious but engaged; 20% are sceptical; 10% are actively opposed (expressing values-based and rational concerns about AI in diagnostic work).
• The chief radiologist (the head of the radiology function across the group) is engaged and supportive; the CMO (Chief Medical Officer) is mildly sceptical; the CEO is strongly supportive for operational-efficiency reasons.
• No works council in the traditional sense; the national medical association has engagement rights on significant changes to medical practice.
• Change history: the group completed a major electronic-records transformation in 2021; the experience was mixed, with widespread complaints about disruption and inadequate training, though the end state is now broadly accepted.
• Existing tools: the group has an LMS (Cornerstone) and an engagement platform (CultureAmp); there is no dedicated internal communications function beyond the standard corporate team.

The programme scope: literacy for all 450 radiologists; role redesign (the radiologist role shifts from primary-read to review-and-verify for AI-suitable cases); manager enablement for the 14 department heads; measurement infrastructure.

Step-by-step method

Step 1 — ADKAR plan (30 minutes)

Produce an ADKAR plan for the radiology population. Include:

• Expected dominant blocker stage(s) for this population, with reasoning.
• Interventions at each of the five stages (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement), targeted at the dominant stage and the next-most-important stage.
• Segmentation approach (which segments need differentiated interventions).
• Movement-measurement approach (how you will know the population is progressing).

Length: approximately 2–3 pages.

Step 2 — Kotter plan (30 minutes)

Produce a Kotter-based plan for the programme at organisational level. Include:

• Sense of urgency composition (what specific evidence, framed honestly).
• Guiding coalition composition (who, with rationale).
• Strategic vision text (2–3 sentences that survive translation).
• Short-term-wins roadmap (three expected wins in the first 9 months).
• Barrier-removal agenda (top three barriers and responsible parties).
• Institutionalisation plan (what structural artefacts carry the change forward).

Length: approximately 2–3 pages.

Step 3 — Bridges plan (30 minutes)

Produce a Bridges-based plan for the transition the radiologists are going through. Include:

• Ending: what is ending for the radiologists in this change, specifically; how the ending is acknowledged and honoured; rituals or markers.
• Neutral Zone: expected duration for this population; support interventions; productivity-dip tolerance.
• New Beginning: clear picture of the new radiologist role; personal wins framework; symbolic markers of arrival.

Length: approximately 2 pages.

Step 4 — Comparative memo (30 minutes)

Synthesise a methodology-choice memo, 3–5 pages. Include:

• Population characteristics argument: what is specifically true about this population that determines methodology choice.
• Dominant blocker analysis: where is the actual blockage and what does that imply for methodology.
• Recommended combination pattern (from Article 18): which methodologies as primary/supporting; how they combine; specific interlock.
• Integration rhythm: how the three methodologies sequence across the 24-month programme without producing ceremony fatigue.
• Resistance treatment: how the combination handles the known 20% sceptical + 10% actively-opposed segments (per Article 23 typology).
• Saturation pacing: how the programme is paced against the group’s recent electronic-records-transformation memory.

The memo is written to the executive sponsor coalition (CEO, CMO, chief radiologist, CHRO). It makes a specific recommendation with reasoning and defends the recommendation against the most likely objection.

Deliverable

Four documents:

• ADKAR plan (Step 1 output).
• Kotter plan (Step 2 output).
• Bridges plan (Step 3 output).
• Comparative memo with recommendation (Step 4 output).

Total: 9–13 pages across the four documents.

Scoring rubric

Passing standard: 75 points.

Worked example — partial reference

ADKAR dominant-blocker analysis (partial):

Given the population characteristics — strong professional identity, mixed attitudes, values-based concerns from the sceptical segment — the dominant blocker for the majority population is Desire (the 40% cautious-but-engaged need their concerns heard and addressed; the 20% sceptical need principled engagement before knowledge or ability work will land). For the 30% early adopters, the blocker is Ability (they have accepted the change cognitively and want to use the tool well; the intervention is applied practice with feedback). For the 10% actively-opposed, ADKAR alone is insufficient; Bridges engagement on Ending (the professional-identity work) plus Article 23 values-based resistance response are required.

The implication: a pure-ADKAR framing is under-powered. ADKAR works as the individual-level campaign for the majority, but Bridges is required as overlay for the professional-identity content, and Kotter is required at organisational level to hold the coalition and institutionalise the change across the 24-month horizon.

Expected depth: similar across the three methodology plans and into the synthesis memo.

Lab discussion questions

• Were you drawn toward one methodology as the “right” one early in the lab? What did the other two methodologies surface that the first did not?
• How did your segmentation approach differ across the three methodologies?
• Which of the four failure modes from Article 23 did you encounter in the sceptical/opposed segments, and how does your combination address each?
• If the CMO remained skeptical after your memo, what would you change?

Connection to other labs

This programme scenario reappears in Lab 5 at the role-redesign level: the radiologist role redesign is executed under the methodology combination this lab produces.

Quality rubric — self-assessment of lab