As CEO, my job description, according to the organizational chart, does not require that I need to get buy in on decisions. In many cases, I suppose I could make most decisions without any input at all. But that’s not my style. In my experience, it’s good practice to intentionally gain buy in from key stakeholders when making changes or strategic shifts in the organization.
Next year Marco will move its headquarters to a new facility on the south side of St. Cloud. I felt this location was best suited for the company when we started this relocation process a year ago. But rather than making the decision on my own, we assembled a site evaluation team to assess a variety of locations and collectively select the one that best suited our criteria.
The process took time – much longer than if I had simply made the decision. However, in order to make this significant decision successful, I felt it was important to get “buy in” from not only the facility team, but also the employees that will be working at this location for the next two to three decades. I had an end in mind, but with the support of the stakeholders, I’m more confident this project will be a success and well received.
Missed Results
I’ve learned firsthand that if you don’t get support for implementing an initiative, you will jeopardize the potential for its success. Whether it’s a new sales structure, a CRM system integration, or implementing a quality improvement process (LEAN), I’ve seen great ideas fail at Marco because they lacked buy in. Conversely, we experience positive results when there is broad support.
For example, as pathetic as this may sound, we have implemented at least four different CRM software systems at Marco over the past decade. Each time, instead of gaining buy in on how it would assist our sales reps in better managing their accounts, we’ve attempted to mandate usage. And as a result, it’s still a work in progress today. Obviously, we need to better demonstrate the value of the system to the users and gain better support if we are ever going to achieve the desired success.
Better Results
On the other hand, when we do achieve buy in as we did with our LEAN continuous improvement process, we are seeing the results we expected. Our vice president of operations took ownership and sponsored the initiative by engaging leadership at all levels. With positive results from our first LEAN process improvement event, we experienced the motivation and achieved the buy in we needed to make it a part of our culture.
I invest time every day in gaining buy in – or encouraging other members of our leadership team to do the same. Here are a few steps I take:
- Seek out trusted advisors in the company.
For me, this includes leaders (not necessarily by their title) in respective areas of the business. It’s not enough to only get the leadership team on board. Buy in needs to go farther. Gaining honest feedback from people who are good agents of change determines if you’re on the right track. - Connect with all stakeholders.
Remember change is always good - as long as it’s happening to someone else. Don’t be afraid to communicate with those who are affected by the change before the decision is made. It will minimize surprises and help facilitate a more effective implementation process. - Be open to suggestions.
I may think I have a good idea, but someone else may have a better one. If you want meaningful feedback as a leader, you have to be prepared to listen, be open to alternative suggestions, and shift directions when necessary. Recently, I was certain of a leadership hire for one of our new markets and as I was trying to get buy in from other team members, a suggestion was made to go a different direction. My plan was to hire a known leader in the marketplace. The suggestion was made to promote two current Marco employees with less experience to share the responsibility and potentially better prepare us for continued growth. We ran with their suggestion and so far it appears to be working well. I’m glad I listened. Part of the buy-in process is paying attention to others and being prepared to compromise if a better option presents itself.
So, if you want to improve your execution skills, I believe it is essential that you recognize the importance of good collaboration and getting buy in. Along the way, you might find a better solution, and for sure you’ll get better results. It can take a little extra time on the front end, but you’ll realize the benefits of your extra efforts.
