Earn and Sustain Stakeholder Buy-In
What does it mean to earn and sustain stakeholder buy-in, and why is it important?
Earning and sustaining buy-in is not simply gaining passive agreement or approval for your initiative. It means designing and implementing a strategy to earn a commitment from everyone that you need for your initiative to succeed: to take specific actions or provide specific resources. Without this type of buy-in, initiatives risk resistance, resource gaps, and failure to integrate into existing systems.
When should I earn and sustain stakeholder buy-in?
Earning and sustaining stakeholder buy-in is an ongoing activity throughout the life of every health equity initiative. Take action to actively earn buy-in when implementing each component of the Roadmap and consistently sustain it over time. If your team encounters resistance or disengagement, use the resources below to revisit your buy-in strategies—especially with leadership and frontline staff—to realign and move forward effectively.
The chart below details the steps as well as the approximate number of meetings for which to plan, while recognizing that the estimates will vary from team to team.
| Key Activities | Time Estimate: ~ 20+ Hours |
|---|---|
| Engage in learning around the status quo | Variable estimates based on pre-existing knowledge |
| Identify and partner with stakeholders | Variable based on partner organization size and complexity |
| Engage in a culture of equity training and experiences | Revisit throughout the course of initiatives to advance health equity |
| Create key messages for all stakeholder groups | 2-3 one-hour meetings |
| Evaluate efforts and incorporate feedback | Revisit throughout the course of initiatives to advance health equity |
How should I earn and sustain stakeholder buy-in?
Begin by viewing the Earning and Sustaining Stakeholder Buy-In presentation, which covers strategies for building and maintaining stakeholder commitment—including how to craft targeted messages, anticipate concerns, and tailor engagement approaches for staff, leadership, providers, frontline workers, and community partners. After you complete the initial presentation, work through the remaining resources listed below.
Resources for Earning and Sustaining Stakeholder Buy-In
Earning and Sustaining Stakeholder Buy-In
Strategies for building and maintaining stakeholder commitment—including crafting targeted messages, anticipating concerns, and tailoring engagement for staff, leadership, providers, and community partners.
Spreading Your Message: A Tool for Teams
A structured worksheet that helps teams craft targeted key messages for each stakeholder audience—anticipating their concerns and selecting the right delivery mode. It includes a guided table for message development and prompts for drafting communications across formats such as email, presentations, and outreach letters.
Stakeholder Identification and Action Planning Tool
A three-exercise tool for identifying key stakeholders, mapping their relationships and influence, and developing tailored action plans to earn and sustain their buy-in throughout the initiative.
Cultures of Equity Example (Presentation)
A real-world example presentation, originally used by an MCO to build executive leadership buy-in, that defines health equity, makes the case for urgent action, and outlines strategies for creating an organizational culture of equity—adaptable for your own leadership engagement efforts.
Making the Case for Equity
A research-backed guide outlining the tangible organizational benefits of investing in health equity—including regulatory compliance, quality improvement, value-based care performance, and stronger patient and provider experiences—useful for building buy-in across leadership and stakeholders.
Designing and Implementing Integrated Care and Payment Transformation Initiatives to Advance Health Equity: Lessons Learned from Three Pioneering Health Care Provider and Health Plan Partnerships
Sometimes it is helpful to learn from others’ experiences. This report presents case studies of care and payment transformation models designed and implemented by three pairs of health care provider and health plan partnerships to advance health equity. See page 30 for important lessons they learned about partnering with patients and community members.
Assessing and Improving Stakeholder Buy-In
Teams should use this tool to align on the various stakeholders of their initiative and how to increase and maintain communication and buy-in across the life of the initiative.
About the Roadmap Goal and Objective Setting Tool
Use the Roadmap Goal and Objective Setting tool to facilitate and document the development, implementation, and evaluation phases of your health equity initiative. It will help your team realize your vision to reduce and eliminate health and healthcare inequities by providing a centralized resource to:
- establish process goals that align with each Roadmap component;
- document task status, identify project champions, and maintain detailed notes;
- monitor progress across multiple Roadmap components simultaneously; and
- promote consistent team communication, accountability, and progress.