Insights into our shortcomings are rarely pleasant. Insights that are painless are even more rare. This morning I’ve been struck by re-reading a bit by John Maxwell from his book, The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader’s Day. The passage I read today related to what John calls “The Law of Buy-In.” Basically, people will buy into the leader before they buy into the leader’s vision — in fact, they naturally follow in that order.

Why this principle never stuck before is a mystery to me… but last night solidified it for me. In a meeting where I was trying to cast the vision for a new direction I’m trying to take our leadership team, I realized that a little over two-thirds of the team was tracking really well with me. A few were slow coming around, but got the vision in the end. But there were a couple of teammates who just seemed to struggle to see where we wanted to go.

While it is tough to not have consensus, I realize that in any group of significant size, consensus is rarely a reality we enjoy. However, now the challenge before me is to come along side those who are not grasping the vision and help them to see why we want to pursue this new direction. This is where the Law of Buy-In plays its part.

The teammates who grasped the vision the quickest are the ones who have known me the longest. I can remember this being the case in school projects as well. My teammates have to know me before they are really willing to follow me. That is a principle I recognized in the past, but failed to apply last night.

Moving forward, I’ll be certain to build relationships as a key step in the process of casting vision. Without the proper relational groundwork, I can see that my efforts will be less effective in the long run.

The upside? We’re still moving forward with the vision, and the team is excited to see new things develop as a result. I have a lot more work in front of me, but to be perfectly honest, I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Filed under: Leadership