Just ONE Thing
Buy-In Is a Process, Not a Switch
Episode #270
with Rick White, 180BIZ
Good morning. My name is Rick White from 180BIZ, and this is my Just ONE Thing.
All right, so let’s get going. What are we gonna talk about today? We’re gonna talk about BUY-IN. I hear shop owners all the time, they say, “My team just doesn’t have buy-in.”
And, I’m like, “Okay, well, maybe that’s true,” but what does buy-in actually mean? I think this is really important. What does buy-in mean? According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, buy-in means to accept, believe in, and actively support something, especially an idea, concept, or explanation.
So that sounds pretty easy. But does the employee not know what you want, or do they know but don’t understand it, or do they understand it but disagree with it, or do they agree with it but they haven’t committed to it, or did they commit to it and then fall apart when it gets hard? See, those aren’t the same problems, and there’s one other problem we haven’t talked about yet is can they do it?
Do they know what to do? Do they have that skill? You’d be amazed at how many times we have an issue with buy-in when it’s actually a technician that’s afraid to admit that they don’t know how to do something. So I wanna deep dive into this because, as a leader, you tend to throw all of these situations into one bucket, and you call it a lack of buy-in, and then you become frustrated.
You start questioning your team members’ attitude, work ethic, loyalty, or willingness to change. But before you can blame someone for not buying in, you need to make sure you understand what buy-in actually requires.
So, how do you discover what buy-in is, right? Have you ever had an employee who understood exactly what you wanted and still didn’t do it? Then understanding isn’t buy-in. Have you ever had someone agree that a change was necessary but never follow through? Then agreement isn’t buy-in. Have you ever personally committed to doing something and then stopped when it became difficult?
I have. Have you? Then commitment alone isn’t enough either. This is when you begin to see the problem or the concept of buy-in differently. See, for years I thought buy-in was an on and off switch, but maybe it isn’t, right? I used to think people either bought in or they didn’t. Today, I don’t think that’s true.
I think buy-in is a process, and if it’s a process, then I believe that people can get stuck anywhere along that journey. The problem is that most leaders don’t stop long enough to figure out where your team member is stuck. Instead, they jump straight into solving a problem.
So I want you to understand the buy-in process as I have come to find out what it is. Number one, it begins with knowing. You gotta have someone exposed to the expectation, of change or the new idea. They have to hear it clearly enough to be able to say, “I’ve heard you.” But I need you to understand hearing something doesn’t mean they understand it, right?
I say this for years, What they think they heard is way more important than what you think you said. It doesn’t matter.
Because here’s the thing, if they know it, but they don’t understand it, then that’s a problem. Understanding means they comprehend what you’re asking, and they understand why it matters, and they understand what success looks like. Now they get to say, “I get it.” But someone can fully understand what you want and still not agree with it.
They can say, “I don’t think this is the right thing to do. I don’t think it’s the best thing to do.” You gotta understand that agreement is intellectual acceptance. It’s when they say, “I believe this is the right thing to do.” That’s amazing. Like, we’re moving forward. We’ve gone from knowing to understanding to now believing, right?
But I need you to understand that even that isn’t enough. You probably agree with a lot of things in your life that you don’t actually do. See, agreement becomes meaningful when it’s turned into commitment, because commitment is a decision. It’s the moment when someone says, “I’ll do it.”
And that’s magic, right? That, that’s what really goes on. But guess what? I’ll do it. But the reality is we’re doing something new. We’re doing something uncomfortable. So we say, “I’ll do it,” and then what happens? We get punched in the face. That’s what happens. You get busy. You deal with a difficult customer.
Your new process feels slower than your old one, and all of a sudden, what do you do? You backslide. That’s what happens. And it’s all because maybe they made a mistake or just that uncomfortable feeling that change brings. This is when commitment needs determination. That’s a big deal.
Determination says, “I’m going to keep going when it gets hard, when it gets hard.” Let me give you another one for determination. Determination says, “I’m going to do it no matter what.” That’s determination. Those three words, “no matter what, we’re gonna do it.” That’s amazing. See, determination gets you moving through whatever difficulty you’re going through.
Here’s the thing, though. With determination, you need persistence, because determination is at the beginning of the action. I’m gonna do this no matter what. Persistence keeps you moving. Persistence says, “I’m gonna do it no matter what. Still doing it.” And eventually someone stumbles. It happens, right? We have a bad day.
We fall into an old habit. You know, you miss your goals. This is where resilience enters in. Resilience says, “I fell down, but I’m back up.” Right? Like Rocky says, “It doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down, it’s how fast you get up.” Winston Churchill said, “Success is going from failure to a failure with enthusiasm.”
That’s resilience. Determination says, “I’m going.” Persistence says, “I keep going.” Resilience says, “I get knocked down and I’m going again.” Right? And here’s the thing, your role is gonna change at every stage. When someone knows something and they say, “I’ve heard it,” you gotta teach them. When they say, “I understand and I get it,” you gotta clarify it and really get them to understand the why.
When they agree with it and they say, “I believe it’s right,” you’ve gotta influence, okay? And then once they say, “Commit, I’ll do it”, right? That’s committing. Then you gotta get a decision from them, and you gotta prepare them for going through the hard part. This is where you can help them build determination, persistence, and resilience.
They gotta expect to suck. That’s okay. I start something new, and I’m horrible at it. So guess what? I expect the same thing. We’re gonna go through this together, and I believe in you. That’s where encouragement is so important, okay? Because when they’re going through and there are hard stuff, encouraging them and reminding them why it matters makes a difference.
Okay? So I’m still doing it. Persist, you’re just gonna reinforce it. “Man, keep going. I love you, man. Keep going.” Resilience, you gotta coach recovery. Don’t coach perfection. You gotta coach recovery. What does that mean? “Hey, man, come on up. It’s okay. We’re gonna get up together. We got this. Come on, we can do this.”
You can’t teach someone to agree. You can’t motivate somebody out of confusion. You can’t hold someone accountable for an expectation they never understood, and you can’t schedule enough meetings to create a commitment to someone who has never made it. Here’s why this matters. I think most leaders coach the wrong stage.
Someone doesn’t know what success looks like, and you give them a motivational speech. Someone doesn’t understand, and you hold them accountable. Someone doesn’t agree, and you send them to another training class. It doesn’t work. When someone agrees but never actually commits, you schedule another meeting.
When someone lacks determination, you label them lazy. None of those solutions fit the problem. See, if your diagnosis is wrong, then your solution’s gonna be wrong as well. So how do you do this? A lot of leadership frustration comes from expecting someone to be further along in the process than they actually are, right?
That you haven’t led them through all of it. You expect determination when they barely understand. This isn’t what it’s about, right? You expect commitment when they never agreed. You expect persistence when they forgot why it was important. Then you become angry because they’re not where you think they should be. So here’s what I need you to understand.
That doesn’t mean every failure belongs to you. Sometimes they do know what is expected. They understand, they agree with it, they commit, and then they choose not to follow through. That happens. This process doesn’t agree that everyone’s gonna buy in. It helps you determine whether you’ve done your job before you conclude that they haven’t done theirs.
Next time you’re tempted to say they just don’t have buy-in, stop. Replace your frustration with the magic of curiosity. Ask yourself, do they know? Do they understand? Do they agree? Are they committed? Are they determined? Are they struggling to persist?
Or do they need help recovering? Did they stumble? Where did they stop moving? Because once you identify that stage, you have a much better chance of choosing the right leadership response to help move them along through the process of buy-in, not the switch of buy-in.
Buy-in does not come from one conversation. It isn’t a switch that you flip. It’s a process. It begins as your idea, your expectation, your vision, and as someone who moves through those different steps, right? Knowing and understanding and agreement, commitment, determination, persistence, resilience, and then finally, ownership.
Gradually, it transfers from you to them. That’s what buy-in really is. It’s the progressive transfer of ownership from the owner to the team member. Your job isn’t to demand that they instantly buy in. Your job is to communicate clearly, diagnose accurately, and lead them through the process. The goal isn’t to lower your standards.
The goal isn’t to excuse poor performance. The goal is to make sure you’re solving the right problem before you hold someone accountable. Because when you skip diagnosing and jump straight to blame, frustration’s almost guaranteed. But when you recognize when someone’s stuck, and you can ask a better question, have a better conversation, right, and give them the kind of leadership they actually need.
so I wanna thank everybody. Listen, if you all wouldn’t mind, share this video. There’s someone out there stuck, frustrated ’cause their team isn’t buying in. They think it’s a switch. Let’s show them the process.
And if you’re having a problem with this, Shannon will put a calendar link in the comments so that if you’re struggling with this in your shop and you’d like to talk to somebody, you can reach out, grab some time on my calendar, and you and I will sit down and talk about it.
Okay, everybody, I wanna say God bless. I want you to have a great week, and I want you to go make some money. I’ll see y’all next week. Bye-bye
