The ABC Approach™: Gaining Organizational Buy-In through Analytics

Featured Contributor - Stephan Sorger

Has this ever happened to you? You come up with an ingenious idea; one that you are certain will revolutionize the world (or at least your organization). You introduce the idea proudly at your next staff meeting. You expect it to be greeted with fanfare, but the idea is received with stifled yawns instead. Worse yet, some of the attendees start attacking it (and you!). What happened?

Most often, ideas do not get the consideration they deserve because the presenter fails to connect with the principal audience (the decision makers and chief influencers) by understanding what motivates them. As a result, they can feel threatened by the idea and find fault in it. What can we do?

This article introduces the Analytics-Based Countermeasures (ABC) approach to gaining organizational buy-in for your idea. In the ABC Approach, you learn how to thwart attacks on your idea through countermeasures that leverage the power of analytics. The approach uses analytics to sway your principal audience, averting attacks and gaining buy-in by re-framing the idea using attributes important to them. We discuss different countermeasures for typical attacks, and then demonstrate the approach using a real-world example.

According to the book, “Buy-In: Saving Your Idea from Getting Shot Down,” by John Kotter, attacks on ideas can be grouped into four categories: Death-by-Delay, Confusion, Fear-mongering, and Character Assassination.

We will build upon Mr. Kotter’s work by examining each of these types of attacks in turn and show how the ABC Approach can be used to counter them.

• Death-by-Delay: In this type of attack, attackers ambush the idea by deferring discussion of the idea to the future (like waiting until next week’s meeting), hoping you will forget the idea or give up. To combat this type of attack using the ABC Approach, find out the most important decision criteria for your principal audience, show how your idea relates to those criteria, and display the criteria on a time-line chart, displaying data plotted along a time axis. Show the huge benefit that will occur in the future because of your idea, and how the benefit will be compromised if the idea is allowed to sit idle for even one minute.

• Confusion: Here, attackers present contrary data to confuse the audience. To thwart, launch a pre-emptive strike against your attackers by presenting your idea using the decision criteria that matter most to your principal audience. When the “Confusers” present their argument, they will likely use criteria not seen as vital by your principal audience.

• Fear-mongering: In this attack, attackers invoke fear in the audience, such as fear of change. To defend against this type of attack, counter the fear of executing the idea with the consequences of what happens if we don’t. Show an event looming on the horizon that will attack us if we don’t act NOW (using your great idea, of course).

• Character Assassination: Here, attackers go after your personal reputation and credibility. To combat this type of sinister attack, shift the conversation away from you, and towards the data. Data facts are generally seen as more reliable as people (and are certainly much easier to understand!).

Figure 1 summarizes the Analytics-Based Countermeasures (ABC) Approach. For each type of attack strategy (like Death-by-Delay), the savvy user of analytics can portray relevant data that parries the blow (like showing how the idea can’t wait).

Figure 1: The ABC Approach™ to Gaining Buy-In: Attack Strategies & Countermeasures

To demonstrate the approach, we cite a real-world example (modified to protect people’s identities). A leading enterprise software company’s general manager (GM) called an Operations Review meeting, where the head of each department (engineering, marketing, and so on) presented their quarterly status to him.

Up first at the meeting was the head of Engineering. He presented the slide shown in Figure 2 below. His idea was that adding more headcount to his group would improve morale and productivity. But he failed to employ the ABC Approach.

Figure 2: Real-World ABC Approach™ Example: The Wrong Way to Gain Buy-in for an Idea

You could predict the GM’s response to Figure 2. The GM stated that:

• We would “keep an eye on the problem to see if the situation worsened” (Death-by-Delay).
• He understood that the department was already fully staffed (Confusion).
• Adding new staff now might result in increased costs for training and office space (Fear-mongering).
• He ended by implying that Engineering’s workload complaints demonstrated that the department was not committed to the success of the business unit (Character Assassination).

Needless to say, the head of Engineering did NOT receive the headcount he so desperately needed.

Next up was the head of the Professional Services Organization (PSO). Like the head of Engineering, the head of PSO also had the idea of increasing staff. But unlike the head of Engineering, the head of PSO employed the ABC Approach. First, he identified what was most important to the GM, which was revenue growth. Next, he crafted a chart that focused on how the PSO’s idea would contribute to the GM’s goal of increasing revenue.

Figure 3 below shows the result: an analytics-based chart showing how PSO resources (staffing) are linked to revenue, and projecting how a lack of resources in the future would result in a stop of incremental revenue—a situation NOT acceptable to the GM.

Figure 3: Real-World ABC Approach™ Example: The Right Way

Figure 3 effectively eliminates the four attack types:

• Death-by-Delay won’t work, because the time-line shows that delaying the idea will stop producing incremental revenue, a matter of intense urgency for the GM.
• Confusion is also not likely to work, because any other attribute (such as training costs) are not nearly as compelling to our primary audience (in this case, the GM) as the possibility of increasing revenue.
• Fear-mongering is not a threat, because the consequences of not adopting the idea (the certain elimination of incremental revenue) far outweigh any possible negative outcome (such as the fear of not being able to find sufficient office space for the new hires).
• And the Character Assassination approach has itself been assassinated here, by simply shifting the conversation away from the presenter and focusing on the data.

Now it’s your turn. What techniques have worked for you to gain buy-in for your ideas? What did not work? Please add your voice.

Stephan Sorger

Monster Metrics – marketing made measurable

www.StephanSorger.com