Change is constant at UC Berkeley.
New systems, restructured teams, evolving processes. When you're leading a project, sponsoring an initiative, or simply trying to keep up with what's changing around you, how you manage the people side of change determines whether it succeeds. Change management is the structured approach to guiding individuals, teams, and organizations through transitions so that changes land, stick, and deliver real results.
Change Happens on Three Levels
Change doesn't happen to organizations. It happens to people. And depending on your role, you experience it differently.
At the individual level, change management is about helping each person understand why the change is happening, building their motivation to get on board, and giving them the knowledge and support to succeed in the new way of working.
At the project level, change management is integrated directly into how the project is run. It ensures that the people affected by the project are prepared, engaged, and supported throughout the process, not just handed a new system on go-live day.
At the enterprise level, change management becomes a core organizational capability. It's embedded into how the institution operates so that managing change well isn't dependent on one person or one project. It's just how things get done.
At UC Berkeley, we address all three levels through our Integrated Project and Change Management methodology and the resources available on this portal.
Individual Change: The ADKAR Model
What is ADKAR?
Change is predictable. That's actually good news, because it means we can plan for it.
The ADKAR model, developed by Prosci, describes the five building blocks every person needs to move through successfully for change to take hold. The order matters. You can't skip steps.
Awareness of why the change is necessary
Desire to participate and support the change
Knowledge of how to change
Ability to implement the new skills and behaviors
Reinforcement to sustain the change over time
If a change effort is struggling, it's usually because one of these building blocks is missing or weak. Someone who hasn't heard why the change is happening isn't going to show up to training ready to learn. Someone who understands the why but doesn't see what's in it for them isn't going to put in the effort to change how they work. ADKAR gives you a diagnostic lens, not just a checklist.
For a deeper dive into ADKAR and how we apply it at UC Berkeley, check out the Change Management Playbook.
Change Management for Projects
How it works in projects
At the project level, change management isn't a separate workstream you bolt on at the end. It runs alongside the project from day one. That means identifying who is affected, understanding their concerns, building a communication plan, engaging sponsors, and preparing people to adopt the change before go-live, not after.
At UC Berkeley, this work is built directly into our Integrated Project and Change Management (IPCM) methodology.
Enterprise Change Management
Building the capability
At the enterprise level, the goal is to build change management as an organizational muscle, not just a project skill. That means standardizing how change is managed across the institution, developing internal capabilities, and creating a culture where change is something people know how to navigate, not something that happens to them.