Getting Buy-in from Your Boss

Scenario Description

You’ve been serving on a campuswide committee for six months and during that time, you’ve gotten to know a new faculty member in public history quite well. You recently found out that he is interested in working on a digital exhibit. He has experience working on similar projects in the past and would love to have the library partner with him to help move the project forward.

You see this as an exciting opportunity. In many ways, this is an ideal project to bring together several library staff members who have a strong interest in supporting digital projects but lack hands-on experience doing so. You learn that your colleagues are game but have a much harder time getting buy-in from your boss.

When you approach her, she doesn’t shut the idea down but clearly has reservations. She voices three main concerns:

  1. Library staff don’t have the necessary experience supporting digital projects yet.
  2. Project level work is too much of a time commitment; librarians should simply consult, not participate in any additional project work.
  3. She’s uncertain about the impact of partnering on a digital project. How would it fit as part of a larger strategy of research support? Would it set a precedent that your library would contribute the same time and resources to all digital projects?

Discussion Questions

  1. Your boss’s context
    • Their prior knowledge is:
    • Their motivation is:
  2. Your context
    • Your prior knowledge is:
    • Your motivation is:
  3. How might you approach this follow-up conversation with your boss? What questions would you ask to learn more about her perspective?
  4. What talking points might you use to counter her three stated concerns? Do you know of any resources that could help you to advocate for partnering on this project?
    • Talking points for concern 1:
    • Talking points for concern 2:
    • Talking points for concern 3: