BUY(ing)IN

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.