Digital transformation often begins with a system; a new platform, workflow, dashboard, and promise that the business will move faster once everyone gets on board.
But at the Digital Momentum Summit, Kendra Johnson, CEO and Founder of The Venned Group, made the case that technology better begins with the conditions leaders create around it.
"The number one tool that I always turn too, which I think has the biggest impact and that you've all heard of it, and it's free, is communication," Johnson told the room.
Communication is often treated as the announcement layer of change. Something that happens after a decision has been made. A message goes out, a meeting is held, a training session is booked, and leaders explain what is changing, then assume clarity has been created.
The trouble is that explanation is not the same as security.
When Technology Isn't the Problem
Johnson brought that distinction to life through the story of a manufacturing company that had invested in a project management tool, then watched it sit unused.
Information still lived in notebooks, verbal updates, and hallway check ins. One leader carried a black Moleskin notebook from office to office, then drove to another plant to repeat the same updates. Timelines slipped and clients were unhappy.
The technology to address these bottlenecks existed, but the organization had not yet created the conditions for people to trust it. The leadership team assumed the problem was resistance and that the team was stuck in its ways.
Then Johnson met Rob, the longest serving employee and informal center of influence. Leadership had warned her that she might never see him. He missed the first session, but when he walked into the second, everyone else watched him and his participation shaped the room.
When he finally spoke during a discussion, Johnson used it as an opening to ask his perspective.
"No one's ever asked me that before."
And that reaction changed the room. Rob had context, history, and credibility, and once he was invited into the conversation, others opened up too. The resistance was not about the software, it was about being directed into change without being heard inside of it.
This aligns with a broader body of research on team performance. Harvard Business School notes that Amy Edmondson coined the term "team psychological safety" to describe environments where candor is expected and people can speak up without fear of retribution.
Google re:Work's Project Aristotle also found that what mattered most was less about who was on a team and more about how the team worked together, with psychological safety and structure and clarity among the critical dynamics of effective teams.
"People Don't Resist Change. They Resist Threats to Their Security."
Johnson's perspective reframes the entire adoption conversation, where resistance isn't stubbornness, it's a signal.
A person may be protecting financial security, wondering if the tool threatens their role or livelihood, or protecting emotional security, asking whether it is safe to admit confusion. They may even be protecting mental security, trying to find the capacity to absorb one more change.
In the manufacturing case, Johnson spent 15 minutes with each of the 11 leaders. In 165 minutes, the barrier became clear: "We're really fearful of this new tool. It's different. It's uncomfortable."
The fix become technology focused rather than an executive mandate. The team logged into the tool together, explored it, asked questions, and became familiar with it. After 60 days, the leadership team had full adoption across two geographies, and delivery times improved by 90%.
The Conditions for Adoption
Johnson described these as three conditions leaders must build for adoption:
- Security creates willingness
- Expectations create clarity
- Knowledge creates capability
For leaders, the work is practical. Define what good looks like, explain why a decision was made, clarify what changes and what stays the same, make timelines explicit, and create space for questions.
"It should be direct. It should be useful information. It should be specific... and there should be some timeliness factor to it," explained Johnson.
A company can buy the tool, launch the workflow, migrate the data, and still fail to change how work actually happens. Momentum comes when people understand the direction, trust the conditions, and know what success looks like on the other side.
About The Venned Group
The Venned Group is a leadership development and soft skills training firm founded by Kendra Johnson to close the leadership gap in middle management. Fir firm build shared leadership language through structure programs.