Getting Buy-in

Buy-in. Without it, sometimes you just can't get plans approved or implemented. You need management approval to get started, but you need everyone's buy-in to make plans successful. The articles below discuss getting buy-in from everyone in order to bring your plans to reality and to actually put them into use.

Here are some common problems encountered when implementing a new project and practical steps to overcome these. (Item #1)   Managers don't often see the value in projects that don't immediately deliver ROI. (Item #2)   Buy-in is achieved by continually including, in all aspects of the implementation process, the people who will use and be responsible for the solution. (Item #3)  

Here are five steps toward management buy-in. (Item #4)   These tips will help you get your proposals accepted. (Item #5)   The cost of not getting buy-in is immense. (Item #6)  

As always, we look forward to hearing your comments & insights regarding business continuity. If you have a topic you'd like us to cover, email me at [email protected].

Bob Mellinger, President
Attainium Corp

1. Senior management buy-in and overcoming resistance to change

When considering the implementation of a project and resource management system the topic of senior management buy-in often raises its head. Almost immediately those with even the slightest knowledge of what is involved in such an implementation accept that senior management buy-in is important. Surely without this there will be no investment in the first place and if there is no management commitment to adopt a new system then it will not be used and will not yield the expected benefits. It's common sense then. Or is it?
http://www.teamplan.co.uk/assets/pdf/papers/Senior%20Management%20Buy-in%20and%20Overcoming%20Resistance%20to%20Change.pdf.pdf

2. Getting executive buy-in for disaster preparedness

The biggest obstacle to putting a good disaster recovery plan in place is inadequate funding. My current survey (see the bottom of this entry) asks how the recession has affected your disaster recovery plans, but it may not just be the recession that's causing the problem.
http://www.itworld.com/business/69611/getting-executive-buy-disaster-preparedness

3. Getting Buy-In

Smart CIOs and project managers know they need buy-in to get their proposals accepted; to tap the resources needed to implement them and to persuade people to embrace new ways of working. But getting buy-in is tough in the best of circumstances and can be positively fraught when your ideas are competing for resources or when the uninitiated find the raison d'etre impenetrable.
http://www.cio.com.au/article/7954/getting_buy-in/

4. How business continuity team can gain management buy-in

For business continuity team to be effective it must obtain a buy in from management and other stakeholders. Most organizations that have successfully obtained management buy-in have done so using one of the five methods listed here.
http://www.business-competence.com/business-continuity-team.html

5. Eight Ways to Get Buy-In from Company Executives

Although written about IT, there are some good suggestions here regardless of what you're presenting. In these times of tightened budgets, it is more difficult than ever to get executive approval for capital expenditures. Managers must do their homework before they make presentations to pitch their projects. Use the following tips to help get your proposals the nod from upper management.
http://www.itmanagement.com/features/8-ways-to-get-buyin-061708/

6. Earning genuine support for your initiative

Buy-in is a great term to use when describing the act of getting active support from the people whose collaboration you rely upon. Thanks to overuse, though, the term buy-in often generates cynicism from employees who have been change-managed and down-sized to death.
http://www.users.interport.net/i/v/ivcweb/pages/ca1297_1.html