Theory of Innovation Diffusion – Explain
Mary story – I could have taught her six things that would make her life easier, but she needed to know about one thing first.
People change on a continuum. In the past we didn’t worry about laggards. The notion was that they wouldn’t come along no matter what kind of exciting adoption plans we provided. They would come along kicking and screaming at the end when they were forced to change.
So what impact has COVID-19 had on them. They were forced in a matter of days to change the way they work, to use tools they might never have even heard of at a time when everything else in their life was topsy-turvy.
Did we do them a disservice by not paying more attention to them in the past? If so, what would we/could we have done differently?
Some thoughts:
- Personas – Identify personas without your organization and note job roles that have low adoption rates of collaborative tools.
- Create a Community of Practice (COP) for those individuals.
- Empower them to identify their own work inefficiencies and help them create solutions. (See blog post on the role empowerment plays in changing behaviors.)
Time will tell the impact this pandemic has had on the way we work. But I for one plan to keep a close watch on those at the tail end of the change continuum curve.