How do you get employees to buy in?

How do you get employees to buy in?

Do a lot of listening. What are the people feeling? What are their common values? Where is their hunger for a mission or purpose and how are they articulating it?

The problem every executive has is the same problem a congressman has: are you elected to reflect your constituents’ wants and desires or to form their wants and desires? No congressman should just poll his constituents and base his leadership on the popular idea of the day. His job is to persuade them that what they really want is that which is most substantially beneficial for them, and to articulate his rationale in a way that galvanizes the support of the people. The best examples of this in a company are those where the employees can take credit for their role in shaping the principles that form the company’s mission.