Change Personas – How to Read the Resistance

When you begin an implementation, it’s essential to consider the makeup of your end users.

Whether dealing with your colleagues and friends or meeting folks for the first time, you’ll want to know the data.

And here’s what the data is saying about your end users.

The Law of Diffusion of Innovation roughly states that introducing new technology (or ideas) follows a particular pattern. Approximately 84% of your end users (the Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards) will resist to some degree. At the same time, 16% of your end users (the Innovators and Early Adopters) will quickly accept the new change.

Separately, Gallup found that 70% of US workers are disengaged in their work, with a portion of that number being active detractors. Similarly, Gallup found that 55% of managers are disengaged.

This may not indicate that these workers map correctly to resistors for change. Still, it should tell you that most workers will not necessarily invest in the success factors and reasons for the technological change.

So, these are your end users, and you should know that when you start. Most people that are asked to adopt a new technological solution will likely not be excited by either the reasons for the change or the change itself.

To overcome this, you will need to figure out who your Innovators and Early Adopters are – they will be your Champions. Champions are the end users that will drive the change across the organization.

As for the disengaged employees, you will need to make the change personal for them. If you can make the benefits of success about them rather than the organization – you’ll have a shot. And if you need to keep a chart of where all of the end-users stand on the Law of Diffusion of Innovation curve – do so. This will allow you to keep track of individual progress.

References and Resources

Flawless Consulting by Peter Block; Type: Book

How to address disengaged employees

Gallup Survey Data

The Law of Diffusion of Innovation

Supporting Music

No Surprises by Radiohead

In the End by Linkin Park

Originally Posted March 26, 2018