We often refer to the gaining of support as BUY-IN. Too often that phrase is thought of in the past tense, as if it's already in the books, a done deal, a ship sailed.
Not so. The work of gaining and maintaining BUY-IN is an ongoing process, not an event.
Masters at the craft of garnering BUY-IN consistently engage in the following behaviors. They...
- Start always with the WHY, before getting into the weeds of the WHAT and HOW.
- Assume all voices matter, and should have opportunity to participate.
- Create an environment of equality, in which rank doesn't matter as consensus is sought.
- Value, invite, and highlight different perspectives.
- Gather and engage both data and people.
- Understand that contexts are fluid/dynamic, thus structures/processes/decisions must be also.
- Calendar "re-visitation" conversations for months/years to come.
Sounds messy, huh? However, the messiness is nothing compared to trying to proceed without BUY-IN.
