Element5 Digital via Unsplash
We’d all like to think that decisions get made in a rational way - that the best idea wins. But unfortunately that’s not true. Your ability to move your initiatives forward requires an integrated set of skills that allow you to build up the political capital you need for people to “vote for you” when the time comes.
As an executive coach, I’ve seen the need for executives in even the highest levels of an organization’s hierarchy to get buy-in for their ideas before they can move forward.
Take, for example, one of my clients, Barry. Barry is the Chief Information Officer of a big financial services company. His team had created a unique data dashboard that the employees absolutely loved. They said it was clear, beautifully designed, and easy to use. Barry saw potential to move beyond using it internally. He thought they could create a business and sell this and other new data products to their existing customer base. Barry had always dreamed of being an entrepreneur. With this new product he saw his opportunity. But it was not a slam dunk. This was the first time the company had even contemplated starting up a business internally, so he realized he’d have to thoroughly think through how to get this done. He had created a solid business plan, but he also had to “work the crowd,” even as everyone was working virtually.
Luckily Barry had some time. He began the process in the summer and under the best circumstances the business would be launched next year, so we crafted a plan to shore up his support.
Build strong relationships before you need them.
One of the key insights from the seminal work about influence by the world’s leading expert, Robert Cialdini, is that people will support your initiative for two interlocking reasons: they like you and you’ve done them favors.
This means you have to build strong business relationships over a period of time. When you share a few laughs together and you have experiences of mutually helping each other, you have people who will support you and your ideas when the time comes.
When we drew a quick chart of Barry’s peers on the executive team and evaluated his relationships with each of them, it was easy to see that the more organic contact he had with someone the better relationship he had. He realized that there were a few key connections he should upgrade: the Chief People Officer who would have to sign off on anything related to a new entity and the Chief Marketing Officer who was particularly influential because everyone knew he had the ear of the CEO.
To build these alliances, Barry had to increase the frequency of contact. He offered to sit in on the Marketing/IT task force meetings that the CMO ran. His presence allowed quicker decision-making and more thoughtfulness in discussions, which was particularly useful now that these meetings took place on video because of the pandemic. His personal attention also helped him develop an easier rapport with the CMO and, predictably, created even more contact in follow ups, building a stronger rapport between the two of them.
Barry also set up a monthly check-in with the Chief People Officer to do a business health check. After a few months of regular discussions they got to know each other better, and they helped each other in small ways – she gave Barry some good ideas about dealing with a difficult employee and Barry lent her a resource to help with an internal project. Favor exchange is a great way to build alliances.
Think big but start small.
Sometimes people are ready to “vote” for a big idea all at once. Most often, though, they are more comfortable moving forward with a pilot or proof of concept. Many people feel more comfortable going in stages.
Barry didn’t quite know how to create a “pilot” out of an entire new business. As we discussed it together, we realized that he could manage a “proof of concept.” His group was already deploying the software internally and it worked well. He decided to simply ask the executive team to approve an implementation within one or two existing customer sites. It would allow his team to get feedback on the product, and they would learn about the process implementing it with actual customers. Once they had that up and running for a few months, Barry figured they could use the feedback to refine the product and the implementation. Starting small and getting feedback would help the executive team vote “yes” on the bigger idea of creating a new business.Luckily Barry had an exceptional relationship with the Chief Revenue Officer, who thought it would actually help her sales team by creating some goodwill. She supported this idea to the rest of the executives, and Barry’s team conducted the test.
Create enlightened self-interest.
People you need to get buy-in from have their own agendas. It’s just the way the world works, and if you’re being honest about it you will admit you have your own agenda, too.
These agendas can be perfectly appropriate: expanding revenue, helping customers, running a capital efficient business - these are all agenda items all executives should take on personally.
Everyone, though, legitimately, has different assumptions and experiences, different ways of thinking, and different lines of sight. Add to that people’s personal agendas to be successful, build their careers, move forward a pet project, and it’s a wonder anyone can agree on anything in the corporate world.
Barry had no illusions about this. He knew his new business would collide with other’s self-interest. Just as a starting point he would have to poach people from his peers to run the pilot and then, ultimately, start the business up.
Here he decided to engage the Chief People Officer to help, after he had gotten to know her better.
Barry had discovered during their monthly meetings that she craved to work on something new and to be known as a more innovative leader. So he made her a partner. He asked her for her help to set up the new organization with existing staff without alienating the executive team. She came up with the idea of rolling it up into a career developing “rotational program” for high potential employees. They both felt very optimistic that could be sold to the executive team, since they had been clamoring for a program to use to develop their high potentials.
When you want to get others on board, it’s not enough to have brilliant ideas. You have to craft a strategy for buy-in so that others can get on board to help you see your vision come to light.
