If you have an important project or initiative, then you need to commit to getting employee buy-in. Often, you’re excited about the idea but it doesn’t seem like anyone else is embracing it with the urgency you desire.
Often this is due to a communication breakdown. You’re not able to convey your excitement or express the need for the plan to succeed. Mind control or mass hypnosis are not options.
Getting employee buy-in can play a key role in this motivation process. You need to paint a picture that will get people to embrace a new way of doing things and let go of old habits. Here are some things to consider:
You Skipped the Why
A lack of buy-in usually is rooted in not letting people know why your plan matters. You need to say what is its ultimate benefit.
This could be more sales, bookings, revenue, gains in productivity, or something else. Clearly tell people, “If you do this, then we should get that.”
If people don’t understand why they need to do something and possibly get out of their comfort zones, then is it any surprise if there is resistance to change?
Communicate Urgency with Transparency
As a leader, you have a different view of your organization. From your perspective, a big change makes perfect sense. Others may not make the connection or feel a sense of urgency.
What often happens is that on day one, everyone does what you want. But after a while, either frustration or a lack of understanding leads to people choosing to do things the old way or create undermining performance shortcuts in your process.
When you announce the new important strategy, provide transparency to boost buy-in. You’ll have to decide the right level. Here are some examples from low urgency to high:
- We need you to do this new thing because it will allow our business to grow in exciting new ways;
- This plan is our answer to challenging market conditions we are facing and your support is needed;
- We need you to support this plan because if it doesn’t work, our business may not survive.
Think where you are on the spectrum between encouragement and a frightening truth. Keep in mind, you can’t scare people to death every day.
You Stopped Caring About Your Plan
Not every plan will be successful. Have you ever heard a new strategy announced with great fanfare, it’s executed for a little while but never catches on, and after a few months, it’s never mentioned?
Before long, a new strategy is unveiled, almost as if the previous one never happened. For employees, they may feel like you’re channeling a workplace version of the story, The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
People remember the past and if you gloss over their contributions to past plans, then they’ll be less likely to support new ones. They’ll simply tune you out.
Don’t miss the opportunity to acknowledge past failures, let people know why you think this new attempt will succeed, and ask for their support. Getting employee buy-in sometimes requires you to be humble.
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