A threat to building trust in the Nigerian insurance sector

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How to get buy-in on the spot 

To There are several strategies out there you can adopt to get buy-in. But I've found two questions to be very very effective in bringing teams together quickly.

Introduce the questions after you've shared the what (what the initiative is about), why (why it's important, the benefits), and how (how to get it done) of your initiative.

The first question: What risk do you perceive? Why do you think this initiative will not work?

I know it seems counterintuitive to ask team members this question because it's as if you're forcing them to look for what is wrong. But as a matter of fact, a good number of people already have assumptions and reservations in their head. Asking this question makes it easy for them to open up to you, which is exactly what you need to get visibility into the differing problem diagnosis.

These differences can come from individual exposure, past work experience, differences in role and proximity to different parts of the business and customer journey. You may find that some of the concerns raised are absolutely relevant and could help you refine the plan. Others may not apply to the context and some may fall somewhere in between.

Whatever the case, you'll gain something. You either have the opportunity to align the team member who has a different view of the problem, or you have the opportunity to refine the initiative because they have shown you something you had not considered.

The second question: What opportunities do you see if we follow through on this initiative? How do you see this company growing? How do you see your role improving?

I would really really implore you to ask this question in this order, always seek out dissent first because that's usually the first thing that comes to people's mind when you share a new initiative. Afterwards talk about the opportunities. Once you understand what they are worried about, you can then help them see what could become possible if the initiative works.

So, what would have happened if Adetola had asked his team both questions? He'd have seen exactly why buy-in was low: nobody yet understood that their view was just one piece of a bigger picture the CX strategy already accounted for. From there, his next move becomes obvious, show each team how their specific concern fits into the strategy, and explain how it's addressed. Voila, problem solved. Everyone is now on the same page.

Mental models 

If you've been following my work, you know that I have a thing to always find the mental models behind systems, processes, behaviour, assumptions, and all. I love to ask: What has to be true inside people's heads and inside the organisation for this situation to exist?

Just to be clear, there are several reasons why employees may not buy into an initiative. It could be a case of:

• Unclear purpose: which means you communicate how a new process works but fail to communicate why it matters, leaving employees uninvested.

• Change fatigue: launching multiple change efforts at once which ends up overwhelming teams and draining their energy.

• Different problem diagnosis: employees may resist an initiative because they see the problem differently from leadership. Their role, experience, and proximity to different parts of the business can lead them to believe a different solution is needed.

• Lack of voice: introducing change as a top-down mandate rather than inviting your people's input. This approach creates structural barriers to adoption or buy-in.

• Past disappointment: repeated failed transformations (especially those that happen because you abandon the plan halfway without explanation) makes teams skeptical of committing to anything else.

• Fear of failure: team members can bail out of new initiatives if they fear that they can't deliver their part in it.

But specifically for this insight that I am sharing, I am coming from the perspective of difference in the problem diagnosis. So back to my usual question, "What has to be true inside people's heads and inside the organisation for this situation to exist?" Or to be more precise for the context, what has to be true in my head and your head as a leader for a difference in problem diagnosis to cause all this effort we're making to create experiences that build trust to be futile?

I did identify one of the mental models enabling this to be: "I am the leader, I map out the plan and you carry it out." 

This explains why it doesn't cross our minds that our team can, as a matter of fact, disagree with our strategic initiative and not back it up wholeheartedly because they see things differently.

But this mental model makes sense on the surface though. I mean, who hires someone so they can disagree with strategic plans?

But in reality, employees are still people. They can disagree with ideas, hold different perspectives, and not fully align with what leadership wants to do. And when they don't align, they may not execute the plan as expected. They may do just enough to get by, or let things go halfway.

Well if this is the case, why not hire someone else who can follow orders?

That is what we have been doing. Has it been working? Of course not.

For some roles, like cleaning, compliance may be relatively straightforward. But in sensitive roles, especially in insurance, firing people simply because they disagree can be disastrous. You'll be indirectly telling everyone else left on the team that they can't safely share their views if it differs from yours, and guess what, this is a classical way to reduce psychological safety in your company and expose it to unnecessary, avoidable risks.

Your concern shouldn't be that team members disagree or have a different point of view from you, be more concerned about the why.

• What are they seeing that you are not seeing?

• What experiences have shaped their view?

• What part of the customer journey are they closer to than you are?

• What do they believe is actually causing the problem?

You need to understand what your team is seeing that you may not be seeing. You need to hear their concerns, perspectives, and reasons for thinking an initiative may not work.

This requires a different mental model: "I have my team here to help refine what I do."

Your team is an extension of you, not just a group of people waiting to carry out your instructions. You bring the direction, and they can help you test and refine it.

When introducing an initiative, take the time to understand where the disagreement is coming from. You're not the one carrying it out, so you need more than compliance, you need alignment and full buy-in.

A few tips to help

It does require a good dose of vulnerability for someone to open their mouth and tell you why they don't buy into an idea or initiative. They risk appearing a fool or an enemy of progress. So these few tips will help you protect the sensitivity of the moment so they and others can open up next time.

1. Do not yell, humiliate, or be condescending to anyone, even if you think their point is pointless

The moment you shout at one person, the next person and the person after that are not going to tell you what they really think, and you really want to know their minds. You cannot be on the same page with someone if you have no idea what page they're on and why.

2. Say thank you for the visibility

Someone might say, "I have had this experience, and I have seen this in another company. This worked out this way, judging from my experience and role here, this is what I think will happen here. I'm putting all these things together, and I don't think this is going to work for us."

We have a tendency to get defensive immediately and dismiss what they are saying. Don't go this route, instead, thank them for making the concern visible to you.

3. Lead with questions and seek to understand

Questions like:

• Why do you think this way?

• What have you seen?

• What makes you believe this will happen?

• Tell me in your words what problem we're trying to solve and why you think this approach is not sufficient.

Really follow up with them and ask critical questions to understand their perspective and why they think the way they do.

You might be seeing something they are missing, or they might be seeing something you are missing, either way, you have the opportunity to refine the initiative or align your team so they can wholeheartedly own the initiative and make it work.

So, it's a win-win, really.

Establish some norms so these conversations don't linger longer than necessary 

There will be times when people hold on to their perspective even after you have taken the time to understand it, considered the risks, and explained why it may not apply in the context at hand.

That is where you need a norm like this one I call dissent and commit.

Once you've reviewed the different views, considered the dissent and potential risks, and made the decision to proceed or flag off the initiative, everyone must put their reservations aside and commit to contributing wholeheartedly to the success of the plan.

Not everyone needs to agree with the decision in order to commit to making it work. The point is to create room for people to share their differing perspective, consider the differences, then get everyone aligned without allowing disagreement to become an ongoing obstacle to execution. The goal is to create a team where people can think differently, say what they see, help leadership make better decisions and, once a decision is made, commit to making it work.

And for an industry trying to build public trust, the ability to surface the truth and what's happening inside the individual organisations is just as important as the initiative itself.

Sidebar

You’d probably be wondering why I have written an entire insight on just one of the causes of low employee buy-in when there are more than five other reasons why employees may not buy in.

Well, if you take a look at the list of causes for low buy-in I shared above, you’ll realise that you already instinctively know how to address them all, except for the third on the list, which is the focus of this insight you’re reading.

Differences in problem diagnosis are not easy to spot. You have to intentionally ask for them; otherwise, they won’t come to the surface. It’s not something that instinctively comes to mind, that’s why I focused on talking about it here rather than talking about the rest, which I believe a lot of us already know how to work our way around.

Let's talk

If this topic resonates with you and you'd like to talk more about it, reach out so we can schedule a time to chat.

When you reach out, let me know which of these you're looking for:

• An open conversation about the topic itself. No strategy or brand talk required, just an open discussion

• A conversation about your brand or business specifically

• Hands-on consulting or support: working together to realign things internally for your business

I welcome all three, and I'm happy to have these conversations with executives, team members, and team leads. Just let me know upfront which one you're after, so we can make the most of our time together.