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Article 3 – Adoption Requires Difficult Conversations
08 Dec, 2025
Adoption Requires Difficult Conversations
There is a moment in nearly every project where the real conversation is waiting just under the surface. People are nodding, agreeing, maybe even smiling. But something is off. A leader avoids eye contact. A team member is uncharacteristically quiet. A sponsor’s words don’t match their behavior.
Everyone knows there’s something that needs to be said. But no one wants to say it.
This is where adoption begins - or ends.
Because until we’re willing to name what’s uncomfortable, change remains theoretical. We might train users, update documentation, and launch the system, but if we don’t address the things people are actually worried about - relevance, control, fear of failure, shifting power - we’re only managing the surface.
Change conversations often default to performance reviews, timelines, dashboards, and KPIs. Those are easier to talk about. But adoption is personal. It lives in how people see themselves. In how safe they feel. In whether or not they believe they can succeed in the future that’s being presented to them.
And personal change does not happen without personal conversation.
This is where many well-intentioned efforts fall short. We substitute structure for courage. We host another Q&A. We write another all-staff email. We pretend that silence equals alignment. We avoid one-on-one conversations because we’re afraid of what we might hear.
But avoidance has a cost. It creates delay, confusion, resentment, and ultimately, disengagement. And no amount of technical readiness can overcome cultural silence.
The teams that adopt well are the ones that create space for honesty. They normalize discomfort. They allow for disagreement. They assume resistance is not dysfunction, but data. They understand that beneath every delayed decision or passive behavior is a story - and that story needs to be heard before it can be changed.
This isn’t about becoming therapists. It’s about becoming present. Curious. Willing to listen long enough to understand what’s not being said.
For consultants and internal leaders alike, this requires a shift. It means valuing insight over comfort. It means sitting with ambiguity. It means holding space for people to wrestle with change without trying to fix them too quickly.
It also means having difficult conversations with sponsors. When the tone doesn’t match the message. When the words are there, but the behavior isn’t. When decisions are made without thinking through their impact downstream.
Adoption work is people work. And people work is messy. It can’t be outsourced to a task list.
If we want real adoption, we need to stop managing around discomfort - and start walking through it.
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What’s one difficult conversation you’ve seen unlock a stalled change? Or one that should’ve happened, but never did?
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