11 Topics and Techniques for Getting Buy-in from Your Boss, Peers, and Team

1. Step out of your shoes.
   Spend time anticipating what another will say and how you will respond to his/her objections instead of rehearsing your own story.
2. Accommodate other personality types.
   Develop self-awareness of your own personality type and adapt your communication style to another’s personality type.
3. Establish peer level communication.
   Treat another as an equal. His or her time is just as important as yours. Learn about what’s important to him or her.
4. Listen more than you speak.
   Ask powerful questions. Listen for objections, perspectives and ideal outcomes.
5. Narrow the resistance.
   Clarify the objections and discuss potential next steps.
6. Agree with objections and focus on benefits.
   Don’t defend against resistance.
7. Appeal to another’s self-interest.
   Logic makes people think. Emotion makes people act.
8. Shift another’s perspective.
   Ask another, “Just for a moment, what if we looked at the situation from my shoes? Or from Joe’s shoes?”
9. Create familiarity.
   Make people feel comfortable by highlighting that others have been there and done that. Highlight that others have experienced the same challenges.
10. Ask for permission.
    Use phrases like “May I ask you?” “Would you be willing to?” “May I play devil’s advocate?”
11. Demonstrate credibility.
    Talk about your ‘three good reasons’ to show that you’ve given this a lot of thought.