Struggle To Get Buy-in On Initiatives?
Struggle To Get Buy-in On Initiatives?

Struggle To Get Buy-in On Initiatives?

@August 11, 2021

Why do researchers, copywriters, UX people sometimes struggle to get buy-in on initiatives?

We have all the skills for understanding how people think, how people make decisions, frameworks on frameworks on frameworks for creating experiences that help people become successful.

And yet, when we try to talk to our colleagues about a new tool or a new way of working, we often face a big wall.

Yes, to a certain extent some of the resistance we face, some of the intractable UX theater we encounter won't change, all organizations the shadow of one person, and that person might have a different paradigm they refuse to shift.

And yet, so often I talk with teams that are struggling to get buy-in on implementing EnjoyHQ or being more customer centric. But they have not stopped to understand their colleagues as if they would understand their customers.

  • "Hey PM, what's going on in your world? What are you working on? What's your process for getting the research we use and for applying it?"
  • "Hey VP Marketing, what's the strategy look like for the next 2 years? What do you need to execute it?"
  • "Hey researcher in another department, what does your workflow look like? Where do projects get crushed?"

I have observed many researchers who will ask these questions easily of our customers and users and research participants, and yet often do not ask them of their internal customers, aka their colleagues, direct reports, and superiors.

But when teams center their colleagues needs at the outset of a change initiative, when they approach them like research projects, I see much greater buy-in.