Prosci ADKAR Change Sponsorship for Executive Leaders Training Course

Course overview

Executives are often named as sponsors of transformation but receive little guidance on the work only they can perform: setting the business case, visibly committing resources, aligning peers, removing barriers, and holding leaders accountable for adoption. When sponsorship is delegated to a project team or limited to launch communications, employees may understand a change without building the desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement needed to use it. This course equips executive leaders to sponsor enterprise, functional, digital, operating-model, and people changes using the Prosci ADKAR framework.

Participants examine how executive actions affect each ADKAR outcome—Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement—and how to distinguish executive sponsorship from change management delivery. They learn to build a sponsor roadmap, assess sponsor effectiveness, identify stakeholder groups requiring active executive engagement, prepare leadership messages, and use adoption evidence to make intervention decisions. The course also applies the Prosci PCT Model and 3-Phase Process to connect sponsorship activity with project objectives, change plans, and measurable business results.

Instructor-led briefings are paired with executive-level case discussions, sponsor-role simulations, stakeholder mapping workshops, and practical review sessions. Participants work on a current or realistic organisational change and leave with an executive sponsorship action plan, stakeholder engagement priorities, a sponsor communication agenda, and a 90-day cadence for tracking adoption risks and sponsor commitments. A certificate of completion is awarded at the end of the five-day programme.

The programme suits senior leaders who must personally lead adoption, not merely approve a project budget. It is equally valuable for transformation leaders and change practitioners who need to establish clearer expectations, routines, and accountability with their executive sponsors.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Apply the Prosci ADKAR Model to diagnose adoption barriers across Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement
• Define the executive sponsor role using a sponsorship responsibility matrix and decision-rights map
• Create a sponsor roadmap with visible leadership actions, stakeholder engagements, and escalation points
• Assess sponsor effectiveness using the Prosci PCT Model and targeted sponsorship indicators
• Map stakeholder groups by impact, influence, adoption risk, and required executive engagement
• Draft executive change messages that establish the case for change and reinforce desired behaviours
• Use adoption data and resistance signals to prioritise sponsor interventions and remove barriers
• Produce a 90-day executive sponsorship action plan aligned to a live or simulated change initiative

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Chief Executives and Executive Directors — who must visibly own high-impact enterprise changes
• Business Unit Leaders — who translate strategic change into operational adoption across functions
• Transformation Directors — who need a disciplined model for mobilising and supporting executive sponsors
• Programme Sponsors — who are accountable for benefits realisation beyond project delivery
• HR and People Directors — who lead workforce changes requiring sustained leadership commitment
• Senior Change Managers — who must coach executives and structure effective sponsor engagement

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience leading a function, programme, major project, or business change, and should be able to describe a current organisational initiative with clear business objectives. Familiarity with basic project concepts such as scope, milestones, stakeholders, risks, and benefits is useful. No prior Prosci certification or formal change-management qualification is required; the ADKAR Model, Prosci PCT Model, and Prosci 3-Phase Process are introduced and applied during the course. A complete beginner in change management can attend, but should expect to work with executive-level decisions, stakeholder trade-offs, and practical adoption scenarios rather than introductory leadership theory.

Training methodology

The programme combines focused instructor-led teaching with sponsor-level application. Participants analyse case evidence, map stakeholders, rehearse executive conversations, and test sponsorship decisions against ADKAR adoption barriers. Small-group workshops use a transformation scenario or participants’ own initiatives to develop sponsorship roadmaps, communication messages, and escalation responses. The instructor facilitates peer challenge on realistic executive constraints, including competing priorities, leadership misalignment, resistance, and limited visibility. On day five, participants consolidate their work into a 90-day sponsorship action plan and receive structured feedback against Prosci models.

Course outline

Day 1: Executive sponsorship and the ADKAR case for change

• Executive sponsor accountabilities versus project and change-manager responsibilities
• Prosci ADKAR Model foundations and individual adoption outcomes
• Linking business objectives, benefits realisation, and employee adoption
• Consequences of weak or absent active sponsorship
• The sponsor coalition and peer alignment requirements
• Awareness and Desire as executive-led outcomes
• Diagnosing adoption barriers through ADKAR assessment questions

Workshop: Participants analyse a failed transformation case and produce an ADKAR-based diagnosis of the sponsorship gaps that undermined adoption.

Day 2: Building the sponsorship architecture

• Prosci PCT Model dimensions and change health assessment
• Prosci 3-Phase Process and sponsorship integration points
• Sponsor role mapping, decision rights, and governance interfaces
• Primary sponsor selection and sponsor coalition design
• Stakeholder impact and influence mapping
• Executive engagement prioritisation by adoption risk
• Sponsorship roadmap structure, milestones, and ownership

Workshop: Participants create a sponsor coalition map and a draft sponsorship roadmap for a strategic change initiative.

Day 3: Leading stakeholder commitment and communication

• Executive messaging for the case for change
• Visible sponsorship actions that build awareness and desire
• Leader alignment conversations and commitment testing
• Manager enablement as the bridge to employee adoption
• Resistance identification, listening channels, and escalation routes
• Stakeholder-specific communication and engagement strategies
• Communication cadence design for executive sponsors

Workshop: Participants conduct a sponsor-role simulation and produce a stakeholder communication agenda with tailored leadership messages.

Day 4: Using sponsorship to remove adoption barriers

• Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement sponsorship interventions
• Reading adoption measures, readiness data, and resistance signals
• Sponsor-led barrier removal and resource decisions
• Escalation criteria for leadership and governance forums
• Reinforcement mechanisms, recognition, and consequence management
• Managing sponsor fatigue and competing transformation demands
• Corrective action planning for low-adoption workstreams

Workshop: Participants review an adoption dashboard, identify priority barriers, and produce a sponsor intervention and escalation plan.

Day 5: Executing the executive sponsorship plan

• Sequencing sponsor actions across the change lifecycle
• Ninety-day sponsorship action planning
• Executive meeting agendas and sponsorship cadence
• Sponsor performance indicators and review questions
• Integrating sponsorship actions with programme governance
• Coaching conversations between change leaders and sponsors
• Personal commitments and implementation risk controls

Workshop: Participants present a completed 90-day executive sponsorship action plan and receive peer and instructor feedback against ADKAR and PCT criteria.

Tools & standards covered

Prosci ADKAR Model, Prosci PCT Model, Prosci 3-Phase Process, Microsoft Excel

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions