The Right Mindset for Buy-In

The Right Mindset for Buy-In

9:42 AM Thursday October 21, 2010

Today's post is about how important our mindset is for achieving buy-in. Recently, one of this blog's readers, Bob Ferrer, asked why I used the word enemy in my post "Know Your Enemy: The People Who Block Buy-In." Doesn't this create a negative frame of mind? Good question. The short answer is that my editor titled the post (sorry to pass the buck, HBR). But, I think I see where that title comes from, because it very much reflects the reality of how we often think about a maddening part of the buy-in problem. We tend to think "attack," "enemy," "defend," "bullet," etc., because that's the way the whole process can feel. But that way of thinking, and the associated feelings that create that mindset, don't help one bit.

The October 13th issue of The Wall Street Journal featured an article — "Slumping at Work?" — reporting that many people use sports psychology methods to help themselves envision and achieve success in their jobs. That is, they invest considerable time and resources in getting their mindset right, sometimes actually learning to see themselves win. When they do, the results can be significant. The article profiled a salesman who doubled his sales within one year by systematically addressing and improving his outlook.

But what does mindset have to do with buy-in? Another reader of this blog, Michael Darmody, answered this question, arguing that when people shoot down an idea, it is generally fear-driven. I suspect he's right. Michael's potential solution to this problem is to conceptualize the idea as "safe" for everyone's buy-in. Change your mindset to change theirs. For example, demonstrating a proposal's clear alignment with a company's culture, values, and mission can create a positive mindset around adopting the proposal — as if it always belonged there in the first place. This mindset is more positive and likely more effective than conceptualizing a proposal as a fear-driven change.

My book, Buy-In, contains a five-point strategy for saving good ideas. At the core of that strategy is "respect," and respecting people who are offering comments or asking questions that easily undermine support for good ideas is impossible without a positive mindset. Two other parts of that strategy also play on this positive mindset idea: (1) do your homework, which makes you less fearful, more confident, and more positive, and (2) watch the audience, not just those who seem to be pointing guns at you.

So yes, Bob and Michael, you are onto something.

http://blogs.hbr.org/kotter/2010/10/the-right-mindset-for-buy-in.html