The Workday Change & Adoption Playbook
Change does not happen all at once. Throughout a Workday implementation, organizations move through different stages of awareness, understanding, readiness, and adoption. Each phase has a dominant change objective, with reinforcing elements underneath.
Using the ADKAR framework, this guide shows how change management priorities evolve across the implementation lifecycle, from building early awareness to reinforcing new ways of working after deployment.
The ADKAR Framework
ADKAR provides a way to think about what people need as they move through change.
Awareness
Does the organization understand why the change is happening?
Desire
Is there a desire to support the change?
Knowledge
How is the change going to impact people and their work?
Ability
Can the organization do this? Have people been properly trained and readied to move through the change?
Reinforcement
How does it “stick”?
During a Workday implementation, these objectives build on one another. The emphasis changes as the organization moves from planning through design, testing, and deployment.
Phase 1: Planning
Awareness & Early Desire
At the beginning of the project, the focus is on helping people understand why the change is happening and beginning to build support for it.
If people do not understand why change is happening, they may create their own explanations. Confusion, rumors and misaligned narratives can fill the gap.
Create Awareness
Establish a clear understanding of:
- Why this project
- Why now
- What happens if the organization does not change
Begin Building Desire
Early support is reinforced through:
- Visible executive sponsorship
- Helping people understand what the change means for their area
- Early involvement in the process
What People May Be Thinking
At this stage, organizational sentiment may be cautious, skeptical and watchful, thinking:
- Why are we doing this?
- Is something broken?
- Is this about cost cutting?
- This feels imposed.
Change in Action
Activities can include:
- Aligning executive messaging before broad communication
- Clearly articulating institutional pain points
- Explaining “Why now?” and “Why Workday?”
- Clarifying what is and is not changing
- Hosting kickoff forums and leadership briefings
What Success Looks Like
Progress is visible when:
- Leaders can explain the purpose in their own words
- The “why” is consistent across the institution
- The organization understands scope boundaries
- Resistance is surfaced rather than hidden
Phase 2: Architect & Configure
Desire & Knowledge
As the project moves into design and configuration, the focus begins to shift from understanding why the change is happening to understanding how the future state will work.
Create Desire
Build participation and ownership through:
- Participation in design sessions
- Connecting design decisions back to institutional pain points
- Explaining tradeoffs transparently
Build Knowledge
Knowledge begins early and becomes more role-aware through:
- Understanding how Workday works conceptually
- Shifting toward “mental model training”
- Introducing data, security, and IAM personas
What Success Looks Like
Progress is visible when:
- Leaders can articulate how the future state works
- Design decisions are owned, not simply accepted
Phase 3: Testing
Knowledge & Ability
Testing is where understanding begins to turn into ability. People need opportunities to see how processes work, understand downstream impacts, and practice in realistic scenarios before deployment.
Build Knowledge
Focus on:
- Role-based process walkthroughs
- “Day in the life” scenarios
- Understanding downstream impacts
Create Ability
Build confidence through:
- Hands-on practice in realistic scenarios
- Payroll parallel as a confidence builder
- Analytics validation to build trust in the data
What Success Looks Like
The organization is moving toward readiness when:
- Users can complete critical tasks without coaching
- Errors decrease across test cycles
- Confidence increases even when issues surface
- Readiness for deployment is established
Phase 4: Deployment
Ability & Institutionalization Reinforcement
Deployment is where the organization begins demonstrating its ability to operate in the new environment and reinforcing the changes that have been introduced.
Demonstrate Ability
This includes:
- Execution of critical “firsts”
- Command center support
- Clearly transferring ownership to the organization
Reinforce the Change
Reinforcement continues through:
- Governance operating rhythms
- Ongoing training embedded in onboarding
- Performance metrics tied to new processes
What Success Looks Like
The change is becoming part of the organization when:
- New ways of working become “just how we do it”
- The organization avoids nostalgia-driven regression
- A continuous improvement mindset begins to emerge