How to Drive Real Engagement—In Alignd or Any New Way of Working

When teams begin using Alignd, one of the most common questions we hear is:

“How do we make sure people actually use it?”
“How do we get over the hump?”
Or: “The value for leadership is obvious—but how do we help the rest of the team find value too?”

These are the right questions. And they point to something deeper than software adoption. They speak to the real mechanics of change — how new behaviors actually take root across an organization.

There are five key conditions that make organizational change stick (hint - it’s not about top-down messaging—it’s tapping into the informal networks that already shape how your teams operate).

The Insight That Changed Our Thinking

Early Alignd team member and organizational psychologist Rebecca Noskeau* helped us understand this more clearly than ever. She introduced us to the work of Damon Centola, whose research on complex contagion shows that behavior doesn’t spread like information—it spreads through networks of trust.

People don’t change because someone says they should.
They change when they see someone they trust doing something new.
Then they see it again.
Then again.
And then it starts to feel real.
That’s when it moves.

Five Conditions That Make Change Stick

1. Repeated Touchpoints – One announcement is a moment. Several exposures create momentum.
   
   

2. Credible Messengers – Change spreads faster from those we trust day-to-day than from titles on an org chart.
   
   

3. Strong-Tie Channels – Teams with tight connections influence each other faster and more deeply.
   
   

4. Visible Behavior – When people see a new behavior in action—especially in moments that matter—it starts to feel normal.
   
   

5. Ongoing Reinforcement – Rituals, not rollouts, are what turn new behavior into second nature.
   
   

Earlier in my career, I focused on these principles (without the benefit of Centola's clear distillation). I worked at a creative agency called Select, and, together with an incredible team, focused on "Invertising." If "advertising" is articulating the value proposition (the reason to believe) to the end consumer, "invertising" is about making internal stakeholders believers. Our work often focused on building belief within an organization about a key change — a strategic pivot, a new cultural initiative, a new product launch.

So, the irony of this post is that it is both a reflection on how to drive engagement in new ways of working, like Alignd, and a reminder of why Alignd exists in the first place - to enable teams to have shared clarity on the things that matter most.

In Summary…Any Meaningful Change Requires:

Starting with the connectors
Bring in the people others naturally follow. Their visible use and buy-in sets the tone faster than any broadcast.

Keeping it simple, and light
Start small. No big learning curve. No heavy lift. The simpler the behavior, the easier it spreads.

Building it into the rhythm
Find ways to have it enhance your leadership reviews, standups, or project syncs. It works best when it replaces friction—not adds to it.

Sharing real examples early and often
“Jess saw another team focused on a similar objective — because it showed up in Alignd.” Those little stories build belief.

Repeating when possible
Skip the fanfare. Just keep using it. That steady repetition builds confidence and adoption without forcing anything.

Final thought…adoption doesn’t come from a push. It comes from a ripple.

That’s how meaningful change actually takes hold—quietly at first, then all at once.

*Rebecca Noskeau helped shape Alignd’s earliest adoption playbooks and continues to influence how we design for simplicity, trust, and lasting engagement.