Why You Should Get Buy-in Throughout a Project

One of the most frustrating things I've encountered when working with senior leaders is when you discuss something, warn them about any potential downsides and then when you deliver they say "But you never told me X! Fix it now".

I always used to think that this was a them problem, and that the leader should remember the conversations we've had. Now that I've spent more time working with senior leaders, I've realised that they just have so much happening they may not remember the details. That makes it my problem to ensure that they're constantly aware of what's going on.

My initial attempt at fixing this behaviour was to document and communicate. Any time I shared news like this I'd write a brief summary, send it by email and say something like "please let me know if you have any concerns". But that didn't actually solve the problem. The leader was still surprised when the project concluded, then when I asked them to search for the email that they approved all it did was make them look bad.

Wes Kao proposes:

Buy-in is not binary. For projects with a longer time horizon, you need to get buy-in on a continual basis to remind your leaders and team about your strategy.

And after many years of working with VP+ teams, I'm inclined to agree with her.