It's happened to all of us: You've been given a project that will require people beyond your imitate team to achieve success. However, how do you make sure that your project will get the time it requires from the greater team?
You need to get stakeholder buy in to make sure that your project happens. Using a blend of investigating, communicating, and utilizing the principles of persuasion you'll be able to get stakeholder buy in easily.
Grab the Deets:
For many large to enterprise level businesses, it is likely that you either have never worked with people you need buy in from or only know of them tangentially. The beginning is a key time to set the tone, gather information / ask "stupid" questions, and fully scope the project. Talk to the person who brought you in, find out who's brainchild it is from, and get some time on the books with said individual. Find out why they are pushing for the project to happen, what areas of the organization will benefit from the project coming to fruition, and any history of the project or similar initiatives that have failed and why they have failed. Most importantly, find out what success looks like for this project. Getting this information will help you find out who to ask for help and who to ask for more context. Now, you actually have to communicate with people.
Tighten the Screws and Grease the Wheels:
Communicate, communicate, over communicate! A good rule of thumb is to communicate as if the people you need to help from are extremely busy. Communicating concisely is paramount to your success. Utilize agenda's, let people know what a meeting invite is ahead of time, and follow up after every interaction with a recap of what was said and any actionable's. But hey, that's just good project management. Sometimes, you will need to go above and beyond to get people on your side. This is where a bit of psychology can come into play. The following are principals taken from Robert Cialdini's book Pre-Susasion: Channeling Attention for Change.
People respect, like, and are most easily influenced by people who they perceive to be similar to themselves.
When talking to your stakeholders, try to use similar vocabulary and phrases to build trust. In person, try standing in a similar way or mirroring body language which often goes unnoticed by the person you are mirroring. Inherently, we like people who are like us and are more willing to say 'yes' to their requests, often without much critical consideration. The next thing you should be sure to do is to compliment your stakeholder on something genuine. I know it may seem apparent to get someone to like you, you give them a compliment; however, I need to iterate that amazing things happen when you give someone a compliment. For example;
- We smile – which burns calories!
- The striatum (part of the brain that is a critical component of the reward system) is activated.
- Sincere compliments build trust.
- Shows notice of praise-worthy actions.
Genuine compliments have real power and should be used thoughtfully when building relationships with your stakeholders.
Show and Tell:
Measure your progress and present to stakeholders. With every scoped project, being able to communicate and measure your progress is key to overall success. Checking in with your stakeholders along the way will help you see what’s working and what’s not, so you can make adjustments along the way.
What other ways have you found to gain stakeholder buy in? Let us know in the comments below.