Get Buy-In on Priorities and Direction

By Ryan Fullmer

April 19, 2022

Getting Buy-in is Hard

One of the best ways to ensure buy-in on priorities and direction is through collaboration. The difficulty with this approach is that evaluating priorities and deciding on a direction as a group is hard. It’s easy to get frustrated and bogged down in unproductive conversations when there are various perspectives and diverging opinions.

Visual Tools Can Help

We have found visual tools to be a great approach to help groups make important decisions. Visualizing the information allows people to engage and generate ideas and insights. Visual tools help to organize the information and provide just enough structure for the group to build momentum and guide the group forward.

Common Use Cases for Visual Tools

Here are two common use cases where using a visual tool can make a big impact.

Use Case 1 - Selecting Annual Outcomes

• The Need
  • A Leadership team is meeting to identify and decide on the outcomes that are most important to achieve in the upcoming year. The challenge the team is facing is selecting 3 to 5 outcomes to focus on from a long list of valuable objectives.
• What’s at Stake
  • The leadership team may end up prioritizing too many items. If this happens, the organization isn’t able to achieve any of the outcomes by the end of the year due to a lack of focus and alignment.

Use Case 2 - Deciding on a Solution Option

• The Need
  • A development team is meeting to identify and decide on a solution to meet the customer’s needs. The challenge the team is facing is there are several ways to solve the customer’s needs and each solution has its pros and cons.
• What’s at Stake
  • The teams may jump to a decision because it is hard to come to an agreement. If this happens, the team members believe they have buy-in and discover too late that they have gone off in different directions and failed to deliver a solution that meets the customer’s needs.

What Can Help - ICE Score Canvas

One visual tool that we have found to be effective at solving the challenges faced in each of those use cases is the ICE Score Canvas. The team uses the canvas to evaluate each option by impact, confidence and ease. The team rates each category and uses the scores for each option to rank them. Based on the ranking, the team is able to come to a consensus and make the decision.

The value of this tool and process is that it is easy to use, flexible enough to work in various situations and gives the team the buy-in they need to move forward with confidence.

Download the ICE Score Canvas for Free

Example ICE Score Canvas -  Identify and Select Annual Outcomes