Change Management - Influencing the Early Adopters

In the study of marketing the categories of innovativeness (diagram below) is used to describe the speed a which new technology penetrates the marketplace - for example the introduction and proliferation of the iphone.

Another application I came across last week was in change management. It proposed that the same model applies to the introduction and adoption of organizational changes.

There are several key points to examining the model as a change management tool:

• There are two powerful influencer groups - the positive early adopters and the negative laggards
• The early majority and the late majority are more influenced by peers than by leaders - they require third party validation
• The early adopters can accelerate change whereas the laggards stifle change
• Leaders should invest their time in motivating and engaging the early adopters - they can have the greatest influence on other staff 

It is common for leaders to focus on the Laggards, trying to convince them to change, this attention on the negative will reduce the speed and which change occurs