If you're struggling to get buy-in for improvement in your organization, yesterday's webinar from KaiNexus' Mark Graban and Greg Jacobson might be just what you need.
In this month's webinar, Mark and Greg dive deep into what buy-in is, why it's hard to get, and what you need to do differently in order to attain it.
I'll give a synopsis of the webinar here, but for the full effect, you should definitely watch it here (also available on the KaiNexus Podcast, for those of you who are crunched for time).
Essentially, they say that the reason for a lack of buy-in for improvement boils down to be one of two things:
This makes a lot of sense. People often have a gut reaction to hearing the word Lean - and frequently, it's not a good reaction. That's where the second reason comes in. As a leader, it's your job to fix that.
The important thing to remember in all of this is that lack of buy-in is NOT the problem. It's a SYMPTOM of the problem. In order to increase buy-in, we need to understand what the problems are and address those.
Mark and Greg list a few common objections that inhibit buy-in, including:
Another thing we hear a lot of people struggling with is an inability to get buy-in for software that supports an improvement culture. This is tough to overcome because it's pretty easy for one person to derail a project (like software implementation) that they find threatening or don't understand.
Common reasons people give for a lack of buy-in as relates to software is:
As hard as it is, we need to remember not to blame the person that isn’t buying the improvement method you're selling.
If they’re not buying, it’s because you aren’t selling well enough.
Harsh, I know.
The resistance to change is proportional to your lack of leadership.
- Stephen Parry
Mark and Greg emphasize a lot in the webinar that you have to engage hearts and minds when trying to move your organization toward an improvement culture.
You can't force people to change; instead, let them be a part of the decision.
Consulting them when developing a plan for improvement shows people that you respect their input, and that goes a long way toward getting everyone on the same page about improvement.
People don’t resist change, they resist being changed.
- Peter Scholtes
Greg dives deep into biology for a few minutes at this point, referencing a blog post that we published a while back written by Dr. Mark Jaben about decision making and resistance to change.
You can read the full post for more information, but the gist of it is that our core beliefs are held in the Hidden Brain - the subconscious - rather than our centers of rational thinking, and as such, the way people feel about the change you propose matters just as much as any logical facts and figures you throw their way.
So how does appealing to hearts and minds look in practice? Let's look at a couple examples covered in the webinar.
GOAL: Implement Lean
The wrong thing to say: Let's go implement Lean!
The right thing to say: Let's go improve ____ (insert a shared goal here).
Once you have everyone agreeing on the shared outcome, they'll be more receptive to your proposed method of getting there.
In the webinar, Mark and Greg give specifics for increasing buy-in from front-line employees, managers, and senior leaders. They present one set of questions from Professor Mitchell Lee Marks, though, that applies to everyone.
If you answered no to any one of these, that's an area you can improve upon to better lead the culture change.
For executives specifically, Mark and Greg highlight key points from a previous webinar entitled "What Keeps The C-Suite Up At Night." (Watch that here).
Closing points of the webinar include:
There's the webinar in a nutshell! Click here to watch the full thing.