The Diffusion of Innovation: A Coaching Framework

The coach to Early Adopters will also be of great value in encouraging reflection—particularly with regard to the lessons to be learned from both successful and unsuccessful projects. The Early Adopter is not only a risk-taker but also someone who often jumps from one bright new idea to another. What can be learned from the project already engaged? Were the time and resources devoted to this project worth the outcome that was achieved? While Early Adopter are to be commended for supporting new ideas and innovations, they are also likely to become disillusioned when many of the new ideas and projects they embrace don’t work out. Rather than backing away from support for new ideas, the Early Adopter needs to begin asking the right questions before supporting the new idea. He should begin asking the right questions in the midst of (formative learning) and at the end of (summative learning) of a new project. A thoughtful and provocative coach can assist the Early Adopter in identifying these questions and, more generally, by encouraging her client to pause and become more of a learner throughout the process of engaging a new idea. As pioneers the Early Adopters have much to learn about the new terrain in which they are traveling and a skillful coach can assist in this challenging process of continuous learning.