Looking to Get Buy-in? Don’t Miss This Critical Step.
The way leaders introduce a new initiative might go something like this:
(1) They have a bright idea at 3am and then spend a few days thinking through the implications and trade offs. If everything checks out, they to unveil it to the team
(2) by means of a scintillating 300-slide PowerPoint presentation.
(3) By the end of the presentation, team members are assumed to understand and be fully bought-into the idea.
(4) The next day, the leader is surprised the team is demonstrating things like: indifference, not doing what they said, pushback, resistance, fresh graffiti suggesting the leader and/or their idea might actually be terrible.
(5) The initiative they thought up at 3am doesn’t have the intended effect, and the leader’s credibility nosedives… at least until the next bright idea, when they do the same thing again and expect different results.
Of course, the way you introduce new ideas might not be the same as this. Maybe you’re more enlightened and self-aware, so your PowerPoint presentations contain only 100 slides.
Whatever the case, leaders often assume their people will swiftly get on board with any new initiative.
In reality, announcing the idea is just the beginning.
To achieve alignment and buy-in, a period of learning is usually required… and this learning takes place in stages.
Now, a metaphor I like to use to illustrate these stages is what I call the “Staging the Ascent.” It’s a metaphor for how people get up Everest. There are 5 camps or stages along the way to the summit.
Base Camp is Awareness. This is where your people know about your idea. Maybe they’ve survived your PowerPoint presentation. They don’t have to agree with your idea, or even care about it, but hopefully they can remember the catchy name you’ve given it.
Camp 2 is Understanding. At this stage, they “get” your idea. They still may not agree with or care about it, but at least they can explain it to others and understand its implications.
By the way, this stage is the one most often skipped by leaders... because they don’t realize it’s a necessary step in learning, and a critical part of achieving buy-in.
Camp 3 is Enrollment. At this stage, people are actually on board with your initiative and have consciously choice to fully participate.
Camp 4 is Ownership. Here the idea belongs to your people. They feel accountable for it and execute on their own.
The Summit is Leadership, where they fully integrate the initiative and are actually innovating and improving the idea, driving it forward without any participation from you.
The last two camps are actually bonuses, but your primary goal is to get your people to Enrollment. If that happens, you win!
Now, this “Staging the Ascent” process doesn’t tell you how to climb the mountain. But it sets far more realistic goals and expectations.
It reveals one of the most powerful realities of leading change in a team or organization. You see, “change management” is really just pain management. All change, even good change, when not properly introduced can be painful and cause a system to lock up.
Change is fundamentally an emotional journey. By understanding this framework and properly staging the change and introduction of new directions, you will dramatically accelerate the buy-in of your people.
Use it as a road map whenever you want to introduce a new initiative.
Alternatively, you could… ummm… I don’t know, uhh...
Look, the alternatives are probably too horrible for you to contemplate (and for me to write out)... so to be safe, it’s probably best to just run with this “Staging the Ascent” idea from now on, okay?
