Why I Quit Asking People for Buy-In

Here's What I Want Instead

I've dropped "buy-in" from my leadership vocabulary. I guess I've led to many initiatives where people "bought in," but never became engaged.

We all buy into great causes, but never become actively involved. For example, everyone buys into the value of ending world hunger. But only a few ever take up the fight personally.

Both within organizations and in the broader life of our communities, far more ideas and initiatives languish because of insufficient engagement than because of insufficient buy-in.

Personal engagement demands personal investment. The investment may be in the form of time, energy, talent, imagination, money, or resources. Buy-in requires only mental consent that an idea or initiative has merit.

In this episode I explore what leaders must do to bring about worker or volunteer engagement. Too often we focus on why workers are not engaged. A far more profitable exercise is to discuss whether we as leaders are doing what we should to elicit engagement from those whom we lead.

A transcript of this episode is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/transcripts/2501-buy-in.htm.

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