Discovery operations guide
Getting buy-in
Now is the time to check in with your leadership to validate their support and involvement
Reading time: 2 minutes
Your leadership may already know that you’ve been working on this project: they may have given you the project brief, and/or they were involved in the early framing of the project itself. Now that you have refined the project frame with details about potential locations, project scope, and solid thoughts on your team, it is the time to check in with them to validate their support and involvement before proceeding into the active recruiting stage.
This part of the project involves “selling” your project idea. This means putting together a compelling argument for why you and your team should be allowed to proceed with your work. You’ll need to show leadership how your work will benefit them and/or the organization. If helpful, you can frame this as the projected Return on Investment (ROI). Communicate your project frame and reasoning behind it, and include details such as estimates of how many personnel are needed, and the amount or percentage of their time they’ll spend on the project. In addition, provide a projected rough timeline. Don’t pin yourself down; instead, offer ballparks on all of these details. “We expect this work to take 6 - 8 weeks.” This will help leadership to adjust their expectations for you and your team’s workload on other projects and, also, see when to expect updates on the project.
Buy-in checklist
Use this checklist to ensure you’re doing all you can to get the buy-in of your leadership.
Include your project frame and explain what the project will do for leadership and/or their organization.
Schedule time with leadership to walk them through your project.
Practice your project pitch multiple times before walking into the presentation to leadership.
