Adoption of an innovation, a change, a new technology is hard. There are some fundamental ways to support changes in systematic and sustainable ways to achieve transformation.

1. Moving Educational Technology from Enhancement to Transformation
February 22, 2014
#bcedsfu
SFU Symposium
Brian Kuhn
My Coordinates…
Director of Technology / CIO
Vancouver School Board
bkuhn@vsb.bc.ca / @bkuhn
http://www.shift2future.com
http://www.slideshare.net/bkuhn
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kuhnbrian

2. istockphoto.com # 16760119

3. The more ideas are shared the more they
breed, mutate and multiply, and that
process is ultimately the source of our
creativity, innovation and well-being.
(We Think, Charles Leadbeater, Kindle Locations 461-462)
Successful innovation comes from a
creative conversation between people
who combine their different skills, insights
and knowledge to explore a problem.
istockphoto.com # 11412469
(Kindle Locations 1215-1216)

4. Experience is the best teacher. A
compelling story is a close second.
(Lead with a Story, Paul Smith, p. 2)
People, even children, aren’t
really afraid of change. They’re
afraid of not being prepared for
the change.
(p. 29)
Fear is really about their own
preparedness, not the change itself. The
harder they work to prepare for the
change, the more their fear will abate.
(p. 30)

5. istockphoto.com # 21022342
People will persevere only
if they perceive falling
down as learning rather
than as failing.
(Switch, Chip & Dan Heath, Kindle Locations 2310-2311)
People love change as long as it isn’t done to them

6. Because of the elasticity of circulasticity,
“innovation” stretches the core environment, but is
eventually brought back to the central traditional
core and becomes more of an “improvement” than a
change catalyst.
(http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/innovation-vs-circulasticity)
Lessons from a
story about a
portal called my43
istockphoto.com # 5892384

7. They have been doing it the
same way for so long that
their ability to compete
against a new technology or
see a new perspective
becomes a daunting task.
(Start with Why, Simon Sinek, Kindle Locations 748-749)
istockphoto.com # 1563122

8. Change is hard because people wear
themselves out. And that’s the second
surprise about change: What looks like
laziness is often exhaustion.
(Switch, Chip & Dan Heath, Kindle Location 167)
There are two routes to building
people’s confidence so that they feel
“big” relative to their challenge. You
can shrink the change or grow your
people (or, preferably, both).
(Kindle Locations 2394-2395)

9. Innovativeness, the degree to which an
individual or other unit of adoption is
relatively earlier in adopting new ideas
than other members of a social system.
(Diffusion of Innovation 5th Ed., Everett Rogers, Kindle Locations 5247-5248)

10. The innovator must be able to cope with a high
degree of uncertainty about an innovation at the time
he or she adopts and be willing to accept setbacks
(Diffusion of Innovation, Kindle Location 5299-5301)
2.5%
An innovator may not be respected by
other members of a local system, but plays
a gatekeeping role in the flow of new ideas.
(Kindle Locations 5301-5303)
istockphoto.com # 11825660
Venturesomeness is almost an obsession w/innovators
(Diffusion of Innovation, Kindle Location 5295)

11. The early adopter is considered by many to be “the
individual to check with” before adopting a new idea
and are generally sought by change agents as a local
missionary for speeding the diffusion process.
(Diffusion of Innovation, Kindle Locations 5307-5308)
Early adopters put their
stamp of approval on a
new idea by adopting it.
(Kindle Locations 5313-5314)
istockphoto.com # 6218186
Early Adopter (13.5%)

12. They follow with deliberate willingness in adopting
innovations but seldom lead.
(Diffusion of Innovation, Kindle Locations 5321-5322)
The early majority adopt
new ideas just before the
average member of a
They provide
system.
interconnectedness in the
system’s interpersonal
networks.
Early Majority (34%)
istockphoto.com # 7755704
(Kindle Location 5315)
(Kindle Locations 5317)

13. It’s safe
to adopt
now!
Most of the
uncertainty about a
new idea must be
removed before the
late majority feel that
it is safe to adopt.
(Kindle Locations 5327-5328)
Adoption may be the result of increasing peer
pressures, approached with a skeptical and
cautious air, and after most others in their system
have already done so.
(Kindle Locations 5324-5326)
istockphoto.com # 17354272
Late Majority (34%)

14. Laggards tend to be
suspicious of innovations
and of change agents.
(Kindle Location 5332)
Resistance to innovations on the part of laggards may
be entirely rational from the laggards’ viewpoint, and
they must be certain that a new idea will not fail
before they can adopt.
(Kindle Locations 5333-5335)
flickr-com-photos-wespeck-4960579336
Laggards (16%)

15. istockphoto.com # 16027894

16. Connectors Spread the Change
Sherri, show
me how your
class uses
tablets.
?
Could you help
me setup my
virtual
classroom? Tom, I can
help you
make the
switch.

17. For anything to change, someone
has to start acting differently.
(Switch, Kindle Location 54)
Opinion
Leader
istockphoto.com # 4533821
Those who are able to inspire will create a following
of people— supporters, voters, customers,
workers— who act for the good of the whole not
because they have to, but because they want to.
(Kindle Locations 167-168)

18. Vision
Cause
Belief
Action
Results
Outcomes
Strategy:
The Way
forward
www.startwithwhy.com

19. If you want to change things, you’ve got to appeal to
both. The Rider provides the planning and direction,
and the Elephant provides the energy.
(Switch, Kindle Locations 114-115)
Chip and Dan Heath (Switch: How to Change things when Change is Hard)
Rational
Emotional
http://tradingaprofit.blogspot.ca/2011/09/elephants-riders-and-paths.html

20. istockphoto.com # 8173342
If you reach the Riders of your
team but not the Elephants, team
members will have understanding
without motivation. If you reach
their Elephants but not their
Riders, they’ll have passion
without direction.
(Kindle Locations 115-116)
Changes often fail because the
Rider simply can’t keep the
Elephant on the road long enough
to reach the destination.
(Switch, Kindle Locations 103-104)

21. What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity.
(Switch, Kindle Location 210)
We want what we might call a destination postcard—
a vivid picture from the near-term future that shows
what could be possible.
(Kindle Locations 1020-1021)
Ambiguity is the enemy. Any successful change
requires a translation of ambiguous goals into
concrete behaviors. In short, to make a switch, you
need to script the critical moves.
(Kindle Locations 718-719)

22. Instead of [just] using
rational or emotional
appeals, change the
environment so it’s
difficult or impossible not
to change.
(Lead with a Story, p. 31)
istockphoto.com # 7192634

23. In almost all successful change efforts, the
sequence of change is not ANALYZE-THINKCHANGE, but rather SEE-FEEL-CHANGE.
(Switch, Kindle Locations 1427-1428)
istockphoto.com # 25885857
Stories are contagious. They can spread like wildfire
without any additional effort
(Lead with a Story, p 11)