I was recently meeting with two staff at a client of mine. They had been reviewing references for an AMS they are considering, and one staff person said, “Their references are so strong it feels like a cult. I’m not sure I’m ready to drink the Kool-Aid.”

The other staffer in the meeting immediately replied: “I’m ready! You sip and I’ll chug!”

Aside from being a very funny line, there’s an important truth here: Buy-in is important, even if it’s the sipping variety, and not the chugging variety.

When you make a move to a new system, you want to be sure all staff are on board, even if they are skeptical. So be sure you’ve done everything you can to communicate to staff the importance of the project and that everyone is working toward the same goal.

They don’t have to chug the Kool-Aid but they should be ready to take sips.