How to Get Stakeholder Buy-In without Authority

How to get stakeholder buy-in without authority depends on who you ask and when. Ask the people whose approval, budget, staff or work your project needs while the decision is open. Learn what each one needs and could lose, build that into the proposal, and ask each person who agrees to name what they'll do and by when.

Your project needs a director's budget, time from two teams that don't report to you, and a sign-off from a steering group. So far the people involved have said the idea sounds useful, and nobody has committed to anything.

What Is Stakeholder Buy-In?

Stakeholder buy-in is a commitment from someone whose decision, budget, staff or work a project needs, to do their part for it.

Approval is one part of buy-in. A director who approves your project has made a decision. Buy-in also covers what the director does afterward, such as releasing the budget on the agreed date and telling their team the project is a priority.

Lynne Herscovitch and John Meyer measured hospital nurses' commitment to changes at work in two studies (Herscovitch and Meyer, 2002, Journal of Applied Psychology). A nurse's commitment to a specific change predicted how much they supported that change better than their commitment to the organization did. When you ask a stakeholder for buy-in, ask about this project specifically.

Whose Buy-In Do You Need for a Project?

List the people your project can't start or finish without, and note what each one controls.

• Who makes the decision, and who has to sign off before it's final.

• Who controls the budget the project draws on.

• Whose staff or time the project uses.

• Whose work changes when the project is done.

• Who can delay the project, for example by controlling data, a system or a review it needs.

One person can be in more than one group. A manager can control staff the project needs and also run a team whose work the project changes. Treat each thing they control as a separate ask.

When Do You Need Stakeholder Buy-In?

Ask for buy-in while the decision is still open. At that point, what each stakeholder tells you can still change the proposal.

M. Audrey Korsgaard, David Schweiger and Harry Sapienza ran an experiment with existing management teams making strategic decisions (Korsgaard, Schweiger and Sapienza, 1995, Academy of Management Journal). When the leader considered members' input and members had influence on the decision, members saw the process as fairer. They were also more committed to the decision, more attached to the team, and more trusting of the leader.

After a change is decided, chasing buy-in can stall a rollout when you seek it from the people the change affects. It can delay the point where they learn what's changing, and it can invite them to negotiate parts that are already final. People can disagree with a decision and still do their part in it. They need to know what's been decided, what it means for their work, and what's still open.

If some parts are still open, say which ones. Ask for feedback on a change only where you can still act on what you hear, and tell people afterward what you did with it.

What Can You Use to Get Buy-In When You're Not the Boss?

When none of the people involved report to you, you still choose who you talk to, in what order, what you bring to each conversation, and how you connect the project to what each person is responsible for.

Susan Ashford and James Detert studied how managers in a range of organizations, roles and industries get senior leaders to act on an idea or a concern (Ashford and Detert, 2015, Harvard Business Review). They associate seven tactics with success.

• Tailor the pitch to the decision maker's goals, values and knowledge.

• Frame the issue to show how it supports a strategic goal.

• Manage your own emotions and your audience's.

• Time the pitch, for example around the leader's current concerns or larger trends.

• Involve other people, inside and outside your network.

• Follow the organization's norms, such as how leaders prefer to receive information.

• Suggest solutions, or at least a way to find one.

How Do You Find Out What Each Stakeholder Needs?

Talk to each person one on one before you present the proposal to a group. Ask what the project would change for them and their team, what it would cost them, and what would have to be true for them to support it.

John Kotter and Leonard Schlesinger named four common reasons people resist a change (Kotter and Schlesinger, 1979, reprinted 2008, Harvard Business Review).

• They expect to lose something they value.

• They misunderstand the change and its implications.

• They believe the change doesn't make sense for the organization.

• They have a low tolerance for change.

A stakeholder weighing your proposal can have any of these reasons, or more than one. Before you decide how to respond to an objection, work out which type of resistance you're facing.

Write each person's answers next to their name on your list. Where two stakeholders want things the project can't give both of them, raise it with each of them, or with the person who sets their priorities, before the proposal goes to a group. To align stakeholders on a project, look first for where their interests already overlap, and say plainly where they don't.

How Do You Show a Project Is Worth Approving?

When you write the business case for approval, put the decision you need, its cost, and what it changes for the approver's area on the first page. Include the risks and what the project won't do.

William Samuelson and Richard Zeckhauser pointed out that most real decisions include the option of doing nothing or keeping the current way (Samuelson and Zeckhauser, 1988, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty). In their series of decision experiments, people stuck with that option disproportionately. They found the same pattern in faculty members' choices of health plans and retirement programs. To show leadership the cost of inaction, list what the current way costs each month, such as hours spent on workarounds, errors fixed by hand, or a risk that stays open. Name who can confirm each cost.

Ashford and Detert open their article with an engineering manager who gave his general manager a detailed comparison of two systems, based on their use at comparable plants. The general manager stayed undecided until the engineering manager brought in an expert the general manager trusted, and the company adopted the new system. To change minds when data isn't enough, find out whose judgment the decision maker trusts on the question, and ask that person to review your proposal.

If the full project is a large commitment, propose a smaller first stage with a date to review the results.

How Do You Get Buy-In from Executives and Your Manager?

An executive sponsor's approval starts the project, and what the sponsor does afterward can affect whether the work gets done. Katherine Klein and Andrew Knight reviewed research on why many teams and organizations that adopt a new tool or practice don't get employees using it with skill, consistency and commitment (Klein and Knight, 2005, Current Directions in Psychological Science). They list management support and the money to put it in place among the conditions that together make successful implementation more likely.

To get executive buy-in that lasts past the approval meeting, ask your sponsor for specific actions with dates. Examples are naming the project as a priority in their next staff meeting, releasing the budget by a set date, or making a decision the team is waiting on.

To manage up without overstepping, bring your manager the problem, the option you recommend, and the decision you need from them, and leave the decision with them.

If you disagree with a senior stakeholder, raise it with them one on one before any group meeting. Say what concerns you and what you've seen that supports the concern, and ask what would change their view. If the decision goes against you, do your part in what was decided.

How Do You Get Peers and Other Teams on Board?

Peers can control time, data or cooperation your project needs. To get coworkers on board with a new idea, bring it to them while it can still change. Ask what would make it work for their team, and show them where their answer changed the plan. Ask for something small first, such as half an hour to review a draft.

Over time, build allies at work by sharing information that helps other teams and helping with their problems when you can. Help you've given other teams is one of the things you draw on when you lead without authority at work.

What Should You Do before a Stakeholder Meeting?

Frances Milliken, Elizabeth Morrison and Patricia Hewlin interviewed employees and found that most had been concerned about an issue at work and hadn't raised it with a supervisor (Milliken, Morrison and Hewlin, 2003, Journal of Management Studies). The reason given most often was fear of being seen negatively and, as a result, damaging relationships they valued. In a group meeting with senior people in the room, a concern like that may go unsaid.

Get people on board before a meeting by asking each decision maker, one on one, what concerns they still have about the proposal. Change the proposal where a concern points to a problem with it.

When you present to a steering committee, send members a one-page summary ahead of time with the decision you're asking for. In the meeting, name the concerns you heard in those one-on-one conversations, without saying who raised them, and show how the proposal answers each one.

To run a stakeholder meeting that gets a decision, put the decision and the name of the person who makes it in the invitation. Before the meeting ends, read back the decision as you'll record it.

What Should Happen after a Stakeholder Agrees?

Peter Gollwitzer separated two kinds of intention (Gollwitzer, 1999, American Psychologist). A goal intention names what a person intends to reach. An implementation intention adds when, where and how they'll act, in the form "When situation x arises, I will perform response y." In the studies he reviewed, goals with implementation intentions added were reached more easily than goals alone. He also cited a study in which these plans helped only the people who strongly intended to reach the goal.

Before a meeting ends, ask each person who agreed to name their first action, when they'll do it, and what they need from anyone else. Send that list to everyone who was there the same day. Send a short update to the people who agreed when a step they're part of is done or late.

People can agree in a meeting and not follow through for more than one reason. When a step is late, ask what got in the way before you decide what the agreement meant.

What If a Stakeholder Says No?

Ask what would have to change for them to agree, and when they'd look at the proposal again. If their objection points to a problem with the plan, change the plan or take the problem to your sponsor. When you can't tell why a project isn't getting approved, ask the decision maker directly what they'd need to see.

Where Do You Start?

Write down the decision your project needs and the date you need it by. Under it, list every person whose buy-in the project needs, what each one controls, and what you know about what each one needs and could lose. Book a one-on-one conversation with the first person on the list whose answers you don't have yet.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the Difference between Buy-In and Approval?

Approval is a decision, made at one point and recorded. Buy-in also covers what the person does after the decision, such as releasing budget or staff and telling their team the project is a priority. Ask each approver for the actions you need from them, with dates.

Is Getting Buy-In Manipulative?

It's honest when you ask each person what they need, state the risks, and change the proposal when someone finds a problem. Hiding a cost, overstating what the project will deliver, or asking for input on decisions already made would mislead people. When part of the plan is fixed, say so, and ask only about the open parts.

Can You Skip a Stakeholder Who Will Probably Say No?

Not if they control something the project needs. A decision, budget, staff or work they control stays theirs if you skip them. Talk to them early, ask what would make the project workable for them, and tell your sponsor if their answer means the plan has to change. If they control nothing the project needs, keep them informed about decisions that affect them.

What If Your Sponsor Leaves Partway Through?

Find out who now makes decisions about the project, and ask for a meeting with them. Bring the decisions made so far, what's done, what's next, and what you need from them. The new person may have different goals and concerns, so ask what the project would need to do for them. Then ask them to confirm the project's priority with the teams involved.

How Do You Try Again after a Proposal Is Turned Down?

Start with the reasons you were given, and ask the decision maker whether they had other concerns. Change what you can, such as the cost, the scope or the timing, and agree on a date to bring it back. Before that date, talk again with each stakeholder whose concerns shaped the first decision, and show them what changed.

Related Blog Posts:

When Should I Ask for Feedback on a Change?

How to Lead without Authority at Work

Why does Chasing Buy-In Stall a Rollout?

References

1. Herscovitch, L., & Meyer, J. P. (2002). Commitment to organizational change: Extension of a three-component model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(3), 474-487. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.87.3.474

2. Korsgaard, M. A., Schweiger, D. M., & Sapienza, H. J. (1995). Building commitment, attachment, and trust in strategic decision-making teams: The role of procedural justice. Academy of Management Journal, 38(1), 60-84. https://doi.org/10.2307/256728

3. Ashford, S. J., & Detert, J. R. (2015). Get the boss to buy in. Harvard Business Review, 93(1/2), 72-79. https://hbr.org/2015/01/get-the-boss-to-buy-in

4. Kotter, J. P., & Schlesinger, L. A. (2008). Choosing strategies for change. Harvard Business Review, 86(7/8), 130-139. Originally published 1979, 57(2), 106-114. https://hbr.org/2008/07/choosing-strategies-for-change

5. Samuelson, W., & Zeckhauser, R. (1988). Status quo bias in decision making. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 1(1), 7-59. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00055564

6. Klein, K. J., & Knight, A. P. (2005). Innovation implementation: Overcoming the challenge. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14(5), 243-246. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0963-7214.2005.00373.x

7. Milliken, F. J., Morrison, E. W., & Hewlin, P. F. (2003). An exploratory study of employee silence: Issues that employees don't communicate upward and why. Journal of Management Studies, 40(6), 1453-1476. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6486.00387

8. Gollwitzer, P. M. (1999). Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist, 54(7), 493-503. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.54.7.493