Adoption Curve: Episode 23

Field Insights

Where the patterns emerge.

Not interviews. Not opinions.
These episodes distill the most practical lessons from dozens of leaders on The Adoption Curve into tactical playbooks you can apply immediately.

These leaders have shared firsthand experiences launching new platforms, enablement programs, and global rollouts. And while their contexts differ, their insights point to the same reality:

Successful adoption isn’t just about great training.

It’s about preparing people emotionally for change.

Background and Context

Most product launches and transformation initiatives fail long before the first training session ever goes live.

It’s rarely because the technology is wrong. It’s rarely because the content is poor. In many cases the tools are powerful, the documentation is thorough, and the enablement teams involved are experienced.

The real breakdown happens earlier.

By the time training launches, many learners have already decided how they feel about the change. That emotional judgment quietly shapes their behavior before they’ve ever logged into the system or opened a learning module.

Across conversations with leaders on The Adoption Curve, one pattern appears repeatedly: adoption is largely determined during the pre-launch window.

This is the moment when employees are first hearing about the initiative, trying to understand how it affects their work, and deciding whether they should be curious or cautious.

And yet this stage of the rollout is often underdeveloped.

Many teams move quickly from project planning into launch communications without intentionally designing the psychological runway that helps people accept the change. Instead of preparing learners emotionally and contextually, teams rely on traditional enablement mechanisms later in the process: training sessions, documentation, reminders, and mandatory programs.

That approach turns adoption into a push problem.

But the most effective organizations treat the pre-launch period differently. They design anticipation. They design context. They design hype.

Not hype in the superficial sense of loud marketing or excitement for its own sake.

Hype as psychological readiness.

When hype is intentionally engineered, learners arrive at launch day already oriented to the change, already curious about the new system, and already willing to experiment.

The difference is profound.

Without hype, teams spend months trying to force participation.

With hype, momentum already exists.

Hype Is Not JUST Excitement — It’s Fear Reduction

One of the biggest misconceptions about hype is that it exists to generate excitement.

In reality, its most important function is something quieter and more practical.

Hype reduces fear.

Every meaningful change introduces some level of personal risk for the people expected to adopt it. Even when employees intellectually agree that the initiative is beneficial, they are simultaneously evaluating how it affects their own competence, reputation, and daily workflow.

These concerns rarely appear in project plans, but they show up in the minds of every learner:

Will this slow me down when I already have too much to do?
Will I look inexperienced in front of colleagues who already expect me to know my job?
Will this disrupt the routines that currently help me get through the day efficiently?

If those questions remain unanswered before launch, resistance rarely appears in the form of open complaints. Instead, it surfaces as something quieter.

Disengagement.

People attend the training but do not fully commit. They skim the documentation but revert to familiar tools. They wait to see whether the initiative actually sticks before investing their time.

This is where hype becomes essential.

When leaders intentionally build anticipation and orientation before launch, they help learners replace uncertainty with understanding. Instead of imagining worst-case scenarios, employees begin forming a clearer picture of how the change will affect them.

Hype creates tolerance. It gives people emotional runway to push through early friction because they understand the direction and intent of the change, even if the execution isn’t flawless yet.

If “What’s in It for Me” Isn’t Clear, People Default to the Old Way

Most adoption resistance isn’t emotional — it’s rational.

Early adoption almost always makes people temporarily worse at their jobs. There’s a learning curve, new muscle memory, and a short-term productivity dip. If the personal payoff isn’t obvious, sticking with the old way is a logical choice.

Matt Gjertsen captured this tension directly:

This is where many launches quietly fail. Teams communicate what is changing, but not why it matters to the individual. Messaging gets framed in organizational benefits — efficiency, alignment, scale — while learners are deciding whether this helps or hurts them.

L&D and enablement teams are uniquely positioned here because they’re often the only ones advocating for the learner’s perspective. Megan Torrance articulated this role clearly:

Pre-launch hype should translate organizational intent into personal advantage:

What gets easier?
What gets faster?
What frustration goes away?
What risk is reduced?

If that translation doesn’t happen early, no amount of training polish will create pull later.

Hype Comes From Involvement, Not Announcements

Another pattern that shows up repeatedly: hype dies when change feels imposed.

People don’t need full control, but they do need visibility. Silence creates speculation. Speculation breeds resistance.

Sean Adams pointed out how even lightweight involvement changes perception:

This doesn’t mean running endless feedback sessions. It means signaling that the change is being built with awareness of real work, not in isolation.

From a systems perspective, Pasha Irshad emphasized the importance of feedback loops:

When people believe their experience will be heard — even if not every suggestion is implemented — they’re far more willing to engage early. Hype grows when trust exists.

Momentum Builds Socially, Not Institutionally

Hype doesn’t scale through announcements. It scales through people.

Megan Torrance described how successful launches deliberately sequence adoption:

Champions serve a dual purpose. They validate the change socially, and they help refine the message before it hits the broader audience. Their questions surface where language breaks down. Their wins become stories others recognize.

Kevin Dunn reinforced this idea from a customer education lens, emphasizing crawl-walk-run adoption:

Hype grows when people see peers succeeding — not when leadership insists success is inevitable.

Sustained Hype Beats the Big-Bang Launch

Many teams treat hype as a single pre-launch moment: a teaser email, a kickoff meeting, a slide deck.

The teams that get real adoption treat hype as a continuous narrative.

Nia Li described building a steady drumbeat through newsletters, Teams channels, and engagement rituals:

This ongoing presence matters because adoption is not a one-time decision. People re-decide whether to engage every time friction shows up.

And the signal that predicts whether they’ll persist isn’t completion — it’s confidence. Heidi articulated this gap clearly:

Hype works when it steadily increases belief: I can do this. I know where to go. I won’t be left alone.

The Real Shift

Building hype isn’t about getting louder.

It’s about getting people ready.

When hype is designed intentionally, training feels timely instead of forced. Early friction feels survivable instead of threatening. Learners show up curious instead of defensive.

The best adoption leaders understand this:

Effective adoption isn’t about pushing harder.

It’s about designing enough pull that people choose to engage.

Free Adoption Template: The Attrition-to-Adoption Playbook

The Problem: High early-stage attrition caused by tool overwhelm and low confidence. Most onboarding programs focus on content completion. Few focus on psychological readiness.

The Solution:

1. Identify the Drop-Off Moment - Pinpoint exactly when attrition spikes occur.

2. Run a Root Cause Analysis - Is it manager support? Culture? Tools? Clarity?

3. Simulate Before Access - Don't wait for provisioning. Create interactive system simulations.

4. Pilot in Parallel - Run A/B cohorts to measure confidence and retention.

5. Scale what Reduces Anxiety. Find what works and double down on it.

🎤 “Exposure builds confidence before performance is required."— Stephanie Flint

Why it works:

The framework shifts training from knowledge transfer to capability building.

Instead of asking "did they complete the course", you ask, "do they feel ready to perform". That distinction determines retention.