The AVTAR™ Model: How Value Turns Awareness into Action

Change is the engine of growth, yet for most leaders and organizations, it remains one of the most misunderstood-and often resisted-forces in business. Why do some teams transform seemingly overnight while others remain stuck, even when the need for change is obvious?

The answer isn’t willpower or luck. It’s understanding the true psychology of change: people don’t resist change itself; they resist change that doesn’t solve a problem or fulfill a need.

What Is the Guide to Greatness® AVTAR™ Model?

The AVTAR™ model is a practical, fractal framework for creating lasting change at any level-individual, team, or organization. It’s built on a simple but profound insight: awareness alone never leads to change; value is the hinge that turns insight into action.

The Five Steps of AVTAR™:

1. A – Awareness
   Recognizing that change is needed. This is the spark; without awareness, nothing moves.

2. V – Value in the Awareness
   The critical hinge. Change only happens when people see a clear, compelling value-when the change will solve a problem or fulfill a need that matters to them.

3. T – Thinking
   When the value is clear, thinking naturally shifts. New perspectives and possibilities emerge.

4. A – Action
   Changed thinking leads to new actions and behaviors. This is where intention becomes reality.

5. R – Results
   Actions produce results, which reinforce the cycle and set the stage for future change.

Why AVTAR™ Works When Other Models Stall

Traditional change management models often emphasize awareness and desire, but many organizations stall after awareness, unable to move people from knowing a change is needed to actually making it happen. The missing ingredient? Value.

“People don’t resist change. They resist change when they don’t see the value-when the change doesn’t solve a problem or fulfill a need.”
Dr. Cyndi Laurin, from Orchestrated Randomness, Chapter 4

At every keynote speaking event where I've asked the audience, "Raise your hand if you would reject my offer to give you a million dollars after my presentation." Take a wild guess as to how many raise their hand...no one.

Would one million dollars change your life? I bet it would.

So why doesn't anyone reject an offer of being given one million dollars knowing their life would change?

People don't naturally resist change—they resist change that doesn’t come with a clear, compelling value. When the value is obvious and personal, resistance disappears immediately.

AVTAR™ in Action: From Insight to Impact

• Individual Level:
  A leader recognizes burnout (Awareness), sees the value in modeling self-care for their team (Value), shifts their thinking about boundaries (Thinking), starts delegating (Action), and sees improved team morale and results (Results).

• Team Level:
  A sales team becomes aware of declining numbers, finds value in collaboration over competition, changes their approach, and achieves record growth.

• Organizational Level:
  A company faces market disruption, recognizes the need to innovate, finds value in adapting, shifts its culture, and emerges stronger.

In every case, the turning point is not just seeing the need for change, but connecting that need to a value that solves a real problem or fulfills a real need.

How to Apply AVTAR™ in Your Organization:

1. Start with Awareness:
   Use data, feedback, and observation to surface blind spots and opportunities.

2. Clarify Value:
   Don’t assume people see the benefit. Just like the million-dollar question above, you have to successfully communicate how the change will solve their problems or fulfill their needs. Listen for what matters most to them.

3. Shift Thinking:
   Facilitate conversations that help people reframe challenges and see new possibilities.

4. Support Action:
   Remove barriers, provide resources, and model the behaviors you want to see.

5. Measure Results:
   Celebrate progress, learn from setbacks, and make refinement a visible, ongoing part of your culture.

Reflection Exercise

• Think of a change you or your organization have struggled to make. Where did the process break down-awareness, value, thinking, action, or results?

• What problem could this change solve, or what need could it fulfill, if communicated differently?

• How could you reframe the value proposition to make change inevitable?

Key Takeaway

Sustainable change is never random. The AVTAR™ model shows that when you align awareness with deeply held value-when the change clearly solves a problem or fulfills a need-new thinking and actions follow naturally, and so do the results. This is how you orchestrate the kind of “randomness” that leads to lasting growth and greatness.

Ready to move beyond stalled initiatives and resistance? Start with AVTAR™, and unlock the psychology of real, repeatable change.