How to Gain Team Buy-In Through Collaboration
May 16, 2022
Buy-in doesn't just benefit the organization; collaboration can also increase job satisfaction and lead to better company outcomes.
By emphasizing the value of teamwork and collaboration, you spotlight the importance of individual contributions to the greater whole. When workers understand that their level of performance has a ripple effect, the value of doing a good job and working together as a cohesive unit soon becomes self-evident to everyone involved.
TEAM MEMBERS MUST BE ABLE TO TRUST THEIR LEADERS
- Trustworthy leaders do not have an “us vs. them” mentality. They view their employees as peers whose ideas, opinions, and skills are valuable.
- Trustworthy leaders have integrity. Their words match their actions. They are ethical, and their actions are above reproach.
- Trustworthy leaders are honest. They are not secretive, and they are transparent about the state of the business.
- Trustworthy leaders put their employees ahead of their own ambition. They are others-focused and want to see their employees succeed and grow.
- Trustworthy leaders are competent. They have the knowledge and skills to do their job well.
Effective communication is a critical link between a manager and an effective leader. In that training module, you will learn more about best practices and habits for more effective communication. However, we cannot skip emphasizing the importance of your communication skills to gain employee buy-in and commitment during this lesson.
LEADERS MUST PRIORITIZE TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION
- Leaders must put processes in place to ensure that every employee understands the agency’s vision and goals and their part toward achieving them.
- Leaders must regularly communicate the team's progress toward their goals and recognize both group and individual employee contributions.
- Leaders must solicit employees' feedback on the goals themselves, objectives to achieve them, and improvements.
- Leaders must prioritize face-to-face, two-way communication vs. impersonal, directive emails.
All of the tech solutions to communication are awesome when effectively used. However, this valuable handy tool is misused and sometimes abused by unknowing managers. Be careful to consider the best ways to gain trust and buy-in by the method of communication you choose to use.
In many, if not most, situations, you need others to support your ideas to have their best chances of succeeding. As a manager, you cannot obtain the level of expected results for your organization without getting collaborative buy-in from those you work with, those who work for you, and your boss if you work for someone. Results-Driven Managers proactively take steps to get committed support for ideas, plans, and, in general, what they want to get done. I will collectively refer to all these things as your “ideas” in this program.
Workers are engaged and connected with management when a company has excellent employee buy-in. They have a keen sense of belonging to a team. They collaborate. Workplace relationships are built on transparency and mutual respect.
Want to Get Your Team Bought In?
Getting a commitment of support from someone means that once your ideas go forward, that person will be committed to supporting them and not second-guessing or criticizing them. It is best to view getting collaborative support for your ideas as a five-step process.
Checklist for Gaining Team Buy-in Through Collaboration
- Do you encourage participation and endow others below you with decision-making rights?
- How do you reinforce employees who do a good job?
- How do you promote two-way, not one-way, communication?
- What is your strategy for getting buy-in, commitment, and ownership?
- How do you generate agreement, especially among those for who you have low expectations?
- Are you consistent in the way you treat your employees? If not, why not?
- How do you encourage interaction among team members?
- What is your game plan for handling employees who have low expectations of themselves?
- What do you do to encourage calculated risk-taking?
- How do you make people feel special?
- What do you do to encourage those who are failing?
- How do you celebrate success?
Listen To Our Podcast on How to Gain Team Buy In
About the author:
Vaughn is the co-founder of Results-Driven Leadership. He is a leadership development expert, podcaster, and author. His methods are brought from his real-world experience working on the front lines and living the role of being a high-impact leader and manager. There was no theory, just common-sense advice and direction. He is a former executive with CarMax the world's largest and most respected company in the auto industry and is a Fortune 100 Best Places to Work.
Vaughn's mission is to improve the impact of executives and other managers by increasing their knowledge, skills, and abilities.
His motto is "No matter what business you're in, you’re in the people business."
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