Buy-In

[I]“Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed.”[/I] —Abraham Lincoln

A linchpin leadership skill that determines the successful outcome of any endeavor is the ability to gain buy-in from key people. This is true whether you are the president of a major corporation, a political leader, or a parent. To gain support for your proposal, product, service, philosophy or idea, you must have the understanding, commitment, and support from those who will be impacted.

An excellent example of this is the recent Marine National Monument proposal that was presented to the CNMI by the Pew Charitable Trust Fund. Many interesting comments have been published in the last few months from ardent supporters and non-supporters.

With all the wonderful things it proposes to offer, why didn’t it garner enough support? The answer to that question was given in an insightful letter to the editor by Richard Benavente Seman when he pointed out that the primary stakeholders were left in the dark from the very beginning, and had no say in the proposal’s mission and objectives. He states: “The route and manner the Pew Charitable Trust Fund is going about with its proposal is a direct insult of our people and ignorance of our battered but still-alive self-governance.”

He then gave some specific examples of Pew’s activities that violated the “buy-in” concept: developing and drafting a proposed National Monument for the CNMI without any collaboration; deciding what is best for the CNMI without consulting anyone; delivering their proposal to the people for acceptance and support, not opposition; and ignoring the position of the government.

So what does it take to get buy-in from people? A leader must be able to communicate a message that inspires the thoughts and touches the emotions of others, and this is best accomplished through strategic stories. Napoleon Bonaparte understood this principle when he stated: “The human race is governed by its imagination.” He believed that knowing how to capture and manage that imagination is the key to influence and power.

Good strategic stories trigger emotions, and act as mental software to program us to repeat the story endlessly in our minds-eye for greater impact until we take action. If you think about it, all great leaders are able to mold the beliefs and behaviors of people by promising a better future that captivates them. The U.S. was conceived on the belief of a future that promised life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Mark S. Walton offers a simple formula to develop a strategic story in his book, Generating Buy-In. Before you start, you must determine your buy-in objective. It sounds obvious, but you must have a clear picture of the action you want others to take regarding your idea, proposal, product, or organization. Action is the bottom line of buy-in.

The first step is to establish a strategic storyline that will generate the action you want. This is the central message or theme, and its purpose is to grab attention and communicate the vision or “big picture” of a positive future in a way that lets people see and understand how it benefits them. This means you must understand their needs, wants, and goals so you can create a story that “connects the dots” between the future you desire and the future they want. It is vital that you connect with people’s gut concerns.

The second step is to develop your storyline using the “rule of three.” Walton states that communicating in threes has been used successfully for centuries to enhance audience reception, retention, and recall. Therefore, your storyline should be divided into three sections or steps that stress the most important ways in which your target audience’s needs, wants, and goals will be fulfilled.

Each section should be supported by evidence that the assertion you are making is credible. The best supporting evidence for a story about the future is the real-life examples of others from yesterday or today.

The last step is a call to action by asking for a commitment or first step toward the action you want. If your strategic storyline has done its job, the people you address should be ready and excited about getting involved and taking action.

The best way out of a crisis or bad situation is not to dwell on the problems of the past, but to share a positive future that generates buy-in. This is accomplished by knowing what you want, creating a strategic story with three targeted sections supported by evidence that appeals to what your audience wants, and asking them for a commitment to take action.

[I]Rik is a business instructor at NMC and Janel is a partner with BizResults, LLC (www.bizresults.org). They can be contacted at biz_results@yahoo.com.[/I]