Rethinking Resident Package Management: Gaining Stakeholder Buy-In

This is part two of a multi-part blog series on package management vendor selection. To read the first part of the series, click here: Identifying Property Needs.

This blog focuses on gaining stakeholder buy-in for a secure, efficient, and convenient package management solution.

Gaining Buy-in: Why It’s Critical to Your Success

Securing internal buy-in isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s the foundation for successful organizational or operational change. Without your colleagues actively championing your push for secure package management, you risk losing the funding, resources, and support necessary to bring your solution to life.

Further, employees who are committed to business goals and objectives are more motivated and engaged, creating a powerful ripple effect throughout the organization. If your team is invested in the success of a package management solution, they will be better advocates for the solution – both within your onsite team as well as with residents. This can encourage adoption and usage of the solution, arguably the most essential element of any package management solution you and your team select.

Secrets to Securing Stakeholder Buy-In

There are myriad ways of earning buy-in, but there is expert consensus across a few key areas: communicating belief systems and values, encouraging debate/discussion, and incorporating employee accountability.

Katie Clark, Implementation Manager at PocketHealth, outlines four suggested steps to gaining buy-in:¹

1. Know Your Audience

Understanding that each type of stakeholder has unique motivations is crucial when seeking support for significant initiatives such as package management solutions. By tailoring your argument to address the specific needs and concerns of executives, founders/investors, and property-level leaders, you can craft a compelling case that resonates with their priorities.

2. Generate Momentum

It’s significantly easier to secure buy-in when you’re not the sole advocate. Creating collective enthusiasm around your idea/goal can generate powerful internal buzz, making key decision-makers more likely to be interested in your package management proposal; having a visible and growing support base within the organization adds both credibility and urgency.

3. Craft Your Message

Data may stray, but stories will stay. Telling a compelling story that emotionally and factually resonates is essential when presenting your package management solution. Resident feedback and testimonials are especially effective here, as is data around time spent on package management. Customize your approach by conducting thorough research that effectively communicates the emotional stakes of a successful package management solution and any relevant data, including current problems for property teams and residents, expected benefits, and your criteria for success. A proposal that successfully combines compelling storytelling with solid evidence from residents and property teams demonstrates thoughtful planning and strengthens your overall argument.

4. Overcome Stakeholder Resistance

Understanding potential resistance types helps develop effective countermeasures. For concerns about disruptions to current processes, engage stakeholders directly to increase their involvement and investment in the outcome and connect your solution to the company’s core values. When facing cost concerns, present a comprehensive cost-benefit or ROI analyses alongside success stories from similar or competitive communities. For resourcing resistance, find common ground by leveraging competitive pressure or resident feedback that supports your initiative.

According to Ron Ashkenas, coauthor of the Harvard Business Review Leader’s Handbook, incorporating a strong educational component in discussions helps stakeholders understand the big picture. He stresses that allowing people to understand, debate, contribute, and learn may take a while: “…bringing people together takes time. Data has to be collected and shared, homework has to be done in between sessions, and ideas need to be tossed around and then discarded or sharpened.”² This is where establishing project owners comes into play.

Essential Questions and Action Steps

Establishing a clear project owner with approval power prevents stalled initiatives and ensures someone is ultimately responsible for moving the vendor selection process forward, even when consensus proves challenging.

Kevin Murphy, co-founder and COO of Renew, a real estate renewal and retention platform, recommends using a RACI decision-making matrix to help clarify each stakeholder’s role in the decision-making process.³ This framework designates who is responsible for completing tasks, who is accountable for final decisions, who should be consulted before actions are taken, and who needs to be informed of developments. For maximum effectiveness, Murphy advises limiting your selection committee to 4-5 people drawn from different areas of the property/company to ensure diverse perspectives while maintaining decision-making efficiency.

When seeking organizational buy-in, be sure to ask three critical questions to create clarity and accountability:

• Who needs to sign off at each process step to maintain momentum and identify information gaps?
• How will differences in opinion be handled when they inevitably arise?
• Who holds final decision-making authority?

Next Steps

With stakeholders identified and these questions addressed, you can begin to take concrete steps to formalize your package management vendor selection.

Be sure to have these stakeholders explicitly identify their unique pain points related to package management and prioritize their ideal solution features. Then, document this information alongside any required vendor selection procedures (like RFIs, RFPs, or RFQs). This enables you to create a transparent roadmap that keeps everyone aligned while advancing toward implementation.

Now that stakeholders are identified and organizational priorities are aligned, you can move onto the next step of the vendor selection process: determining your budget.

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Looking for support on getting a package management solution approved by your property’s stakeholders? Parcel Pending can help. Speak to one of our representatives today to get more information.

Sources:

1. Subramaniam, Shuveda. How to get buy-in from stakeholders for your project. www.rocketlane.com. June 21, 2024. https://www.rocketlane.com/blogs/internal-project-stakeholder-buy-in
2. Ashkenas, Ron. Internal Buy-in Will Make or Break Your Growth Strategy. hbr.org. February 29, 2024. https://hbr.org/2024/02/internal-buy-in-will-make-or-break-your-growth-strategy
3. Murphy, Kevin. Rethinking Tech Adoption in Multifamily Housing from the Inside Out – Installment 2: Gaining Buy-In. www.multifamilyinsiders.com. August 22, 2024. https://www.multifamilyinsiders.com/multifamily-blogs/rethinking-tech-adoption-in-multifamily-housing-from-the-inside-out-gaining-buy-in