The true source of power for a leader is not authority but buy-in. The more team members believe in and endorse whatever the leader is driving toward, the more likely they will execute with vigor and precision.
Getting others on board and fully subscribed to the direction, vision, decisions, and changes leaders want is the never-ending challenge good leaders face. How to create more buy-in is the master skill of great leadership.
Good leaders recognize that team members must grant their cooperation for any idea or decision to work and take hold. When team members are not on board, are suspicious of why they are being asked to execute a change, or they distrust the intended impact of a change, they comply but do not deliver.
Without buy-in, even a great decision or strategy is abandoned by the team and only realizes a small part of its full potential. The power of creating buy-in can’t be overestimated.
The best practices for creating subscription to ideas and decisions are relatively well-known. Leaders who gain buy-in ask others early in the process for their opinions and views and involve them as much as they can in the idea or change. They find early champions within the team and lean on these followers to sell the decision. They provide a roadmap of milestones so people can understand how to measure progress, and they clearly articulate the benefits of the change and what success will look like.
What is less obvious is the work done by great leaders behind the scenes. They never delegate the task of working consensus through multiple conversations, especially with those who are on the fence or are resistant to the change. They are quick to demonstrate their own buy-in before asking others to do so, often going to great lengths to showcase their conviction in group settings.
But most of all, the best leaders refrain from giving people answers, decisions, or directions. They almost never tell people what they want them to do or why they should do it. Instead, they offer a view and ask others to get involved with a simple question: What do they want to do together?
People get on board slow-moving trains where leaders ask them to collaborate to build a railroad. Buy-in always starts with collaboration and gains steam from the dialogue that ensues.
The most skillful leaders know exactly where they want the team and organization to go, but they get there by asking others. They aren’t scared that the team will forge a different path or set a poor direction because they have planted the seed in many conversations before the idea or change fully materializes. They don’t sell or direct. They involve and collaborate. And buy-in is the result.
A Daily Dispatch from the Front Lines of Leadership.
