How To Do Anything Meaningful: Creating Internal Buy-In

By W. Coby Milne

So, You Want To Try Something New?

The world has changed. It changed without our permission, without much warning, and without our plans for the future being considered. In our personal lives, this caused our families and ourselves to adapt and make some changes in how we live to adopt this new reality. In our professional lives, this new reality has given many employees, companies, and organizations a new perspective on how we do business. A lot of us realize that change is needed and has for quite some time.

This new outlook in favour of change is showing up in how we thinking about and talk about diversity and inclusion, how we attract and motivate employees, and how we attract tourists back to our community, just to name a few.

In order for us to truly and sustainably incorporate these new changes, we need to make sure that everyone involved is on board with the change. This is both the people at the top, your executives and leaders, and you people on the ground, your average everyday person.

External Change Requires Internal Support

Let’s look at this from a tourism perspective. If you are trying to market your community to make it attractive to tourists you need an attractive message about your region. In economic development, it’s called a value proposition. You can spend all kinds of time, effort, and money marketing this value proposition outside of your community, but this effort will be wasted if those people who live in the area are not on board with the value proposition. Imagine, after all kinds of time and money being spent, you finally get a busload of tourists visiting your area. They are chatting up the locals, who say things like: “Why would you ever come here?” or “This place is boring, there is nothing here worth seeing.” Those comments will quickly undo your marketing message.

This idea also applies to business and office culture. Let’s say you are leading a company or organization and trying to brand it as a “great place to work” or a “we are a family here.” If the employees are not on board with that messaging, then even though they might not say anything negative, they may weaken the brand, because they are not able to reinforce the sentiment.

Internal Support Creates “Ambassadors”

There is an immense and real value that comes from creating internal buy-in for any change. From a talent attraction perspective; your employees will spread the word if they work for a strong company that treats its employees well provides them with a sense of purpose. From a creating organizational change perspective, if managers want to communicate the importance of creating a more inclusive and engaging workplace they need to create buy-in from those at the top and on the ground. Executives need to buy in to the need to change through a strong business case with a clear financial and productivity benefit. Employees need to buy in to the need to change through an improved workplace culture and working conditions message with a transparent and firm commitment. Once you get people on board with your way of thinking, then you will create a coalition of the willing, who will continue to communicate the importance of the business or of the change and lead their credibility to the effort.

The person to person communication is one of the greatest marketing tools there is and ever will be. Long before the printed word, television, and the internet, word of mouth was the medium for marketing. People who bought into the message would gladly share it with others and be “ambassadors” for that message. We see this all of the time when friends and family recommend shows on Netflix. They get on board with the show and are always telling us to start watching, too.

Creating internal buy-in and support is the only true way to maximize external effort and to move a group, large or small, towards a common goal. If you really want to make difference and do anything meaningful, impactful, and important – you need to create enthusiasm and focus for all of those touched by your efforts.

The Keys To Creating Internal Support

Just two simple elements are needed to spark internal support and buy-in: Enthusiasm and Focus.

Enthusiasm: People just need to be proud and excited about their involvement in the situation. If it is around promoting the tourism benefits of your region, they need to have pride in their community and see the value and opportunities it holds. If it is around your business, they need to feel valued and utilized in their role and that their efforts have meaning. If it is around improving your workplace, they need to have the evidence and a clear path to get excited about.

Focus: The value and the message that will get people excited need to be simple and consistent. If it is around promoting tourism, others need to understand and articulate the same pride points. If it is around your business, they need to concentrate on the same positive pieces. If it is around your workplace, the outcomes and benefits need to be consistent and concise.

The Takeaway

I once heard a story that really clarified this point for me and allowed me to see the value of being focused on a clear direction and the enthusiasm that comes from being motived and aligned with a common goal.

President John F. Kennedy was visiting NASA headquarters for the first time, in 1961. While touring the facility, he introduced himself to a janitor who was mopping the floor and asked him what he did at NASA. The janitor replied, “I’m helping put a man on the moon!”