Three Employee Segments in Transformation

The Three-Segment Model for Organizational Transformation

Brian Balfour identifies a pattern that emerges during any major organizational transformation (like AI adoption), where employees naturally sort into three distinct segments:

The Three Segments

1. Catalysts

   • The people leading the charge on their own initiative
   • Experiment with new tools and approaches without being asked
   • Invest their own time to learn and implement new methods
   • Naturally embrace change and see opportunities in transformation
   • Often become internal evangelists for the new approach

2. Converts

   • Will make the transformation but need structure and guidance
   • Require clear permission and explicit direction
   • Need a well-defined plan with specific steps to follow
   • Respond to formal incentives and organizational support
   • Will adapt when given the right framework and encouragement

3. Anchors

   • Actively or passively resist the transformation
   • Create friction in the background
   • May verbally agree but fail to change behaviors
   • Slow down adoption through various forms of resistance
   • Often have deep investment in existing ways of working

How Companies Handle These Segments

The most successful companies implementing transformations:

• Identify which employees fall into which segments
• Provide catalysts with resources and remove barriers to their adoption
• Create structured programs with clear incentives for converts
• Set hard deadlines for anchors to adapt or exit the organization

Why This Matters

• Culture thrives on density - you can't have 30% of people operating in a completely different way
• The slowest part of your system constrains your overall output
• Passive approaches to anchors significantly slow transformation
• Companies that take a harder stance on anchors see faster and more successful transformations

Implementation Insights

• Measure actual adoption at the ground level (executives are often disconnected from reality)
• Create hard constraints that force adaptation (e.g., "teams will be 1/5 the size of competitors")
• Address systemic bottlenecks like IT, legal, and procurement that may be slowing adoption
• Recognize that transformation is not just about new tools but a fundamental culture change

This model provides a framework for diagnosing where your organization stands in any transformation effort and developing targeted strategies for each segment.