Stakeholders are the entities directly or indirectly linked to an organization. They can be anyone from the employees working in the office to the suppliers and company shareholders that get affected by the success or failure of a specific organizational project.
So, if you have a new project or idea, you can only make it work when all key stakeholders agree to participate. That's why, before starting a project, it’s crucial to get buy-in from your stakeholders. You might be wondering how to actually get them to buy-in and make your idea an ultimate success! Before diving into this, let’s talk about the basics.
It may surprise you, but stakeholder buy-in is not just related to financial transactions. Instead, stakeholder buy-in refers to the acceptance or approval of any certain idea given by anyone working within or with the organization. This idea can be anything from a new product design, to the launch of an innovative service, or the introduction of new technology solutions into your business workflows.
When stakeholders agree to give buy-ins, they commit to completing that particular concept or project by bringing more value. However, getting buy-in from stakeholders is a challenging process, and you will need to follow certain steps. Let's discuss those steps in detail:
Here's a step-by-step guide on how you can get buy-in from stakeholders securely and effectively. So, let's dive in!
The first and most important step is to identify all organizational stakeholders and focus primarily on those affected by your project, solution, or design. You can easily do so by evaluating the scope of your project and outlining how its progress and outcome will impact all parties involved.
Doing this is very important, as the more you engage with people, the greater the chances are that your project will succeed. Some of the most critical stakeholders you need to involve to get buy-in are the company's executives, employees, managers, organizational unions, suppliers, bankers, and customers.
After finding out the potential stakeholders, the next step to get stakeholder buy-in is to identify their needs and understand the expectations they have on the project. This will help you map out the project efficiently and design it in a way that can cater to their needs and bring value to the organization.
For instance, the finance director will be managing the budget and looking at how much money this project can save the business. In contrast, the CTO will want to ensure the new software works properly and does not require the engagement of additional IT resources. You should always look out for their needs, and for this purpose, you must learn to effectively communicate with them.
Around 78% of companies failed to transform their way of doing business, and that's because of poor engagement with employees and other concerned entities.
Harvard Business Review
According to a Gallup survey, almost two-thirds of US-based based employees aren’t fully engaged! That is why the third and most important step in how to get buy-in from stakeholders is to actively and honestly engage with them.
You can start this by intentionally engaging the stakeholders in conversations about their needs and concerns, the different ways your project can bring a positive change to the organization, and how it can benefit their work. Once they understand the benefits and take ownership of the project, they are more likely to accept it and pave the way for its ultimate success!
Projects often fail because there's a communication gap between teams and senior management executives, and teams fail to get executives on board on time. Most of the time, the executive team will have little time for operational projects, so it’s important to engage with them early in the process to make sure they can take the time to evaluate the benefits of seconding your project.
So, instead of waiting for them to approach you, make sure you regularly connect with them to understand their needs and expectations, and to make sure your project goals and objectives are aligned with those of the business.
The last step in how to get buy-in from stakeholders is to keep track of your project's overall progress. As you do so, you should continue to engage and get feedback from stakeholders throughout the process, actually considering and incorporating others’ opinions and ideas. This will not only help you create a sense of ownership among different stakeholders but will also help you better shape your project and generate greater results.
The procedure for how to get buy in from stakeholders isn't difficult if you know all the steps with a focus on timely execution. Just ensure you have active engagement and good communication with all the stakeholders, and you are all set to go!
As to what tools you should use, we at InformaSoftware have a wide variety of assets that allow you to do the end-to-end digitalization of your business and optimize complex workflow. We also help improve your business results, which are key to making your project successful! So, contact us now to get your hands on the most innovative business solutions!
