Invite clients or reports to contribute insight to your approach
Asking someone you lead for their input increases their investment in the outcome.
Key takeaways
- What it is: Asking someone you lead for their input increases their investment in the outcome.
- Why it works: When a leader or coach explicitly requests input from a direct report or client, the helper experiences the Ben Franklin mechanism: "I gave my knowledge to this plan, so I must care about its success." This converts passive recipients of a plan into active stakeholders who have invested their own thinking — which increases both ownership and follow-through.
- Evidence: Backed by observational / correlational evidence.
- Avoid: Asking for input as a formality while having already decided — people detect consultative theater quickly, and it produces more cynicism about participation than no consultation would have.
Why it works
When a leader or coach explicitly requests input from a direct report or client, the helper experiences the Ben Franklin mechanism: "I gave my knowledge to this plan, so I must care about its success." This converts passive recipients of a plan into active stakeholders who have invested their own thinking — which increases both ownership and follow-through.
How to do it
- 1Before presenting a plan, ask the other person: "What am I missing?" or "What would you change about this?"
- 2Genuinely incorporate a specific suggestion and tell them you did: "I used your framing for the second section."
- 3Use this as a standing practice, not a one-time consultation before imposing a pre-formed plan.
What the evidence says
ObservationalParticipation in decision-making predicts higher commitment to outcomes in organizational psychology research; the Ben Franklin mechanism provides a dissonance-based explanation for this effect alongside the informational and autonomy-support explanations.
Honest caveat: Participatory decision-making research is robust on commitment outcomes; whether the Ben Franklin dissonance mechanism or other routes (ownership, autonomy) is the primary driver is not cleanly isolated.
Common mistake
Asking for input as a formality while having already decided — people detect consultative theater quickly, and it produces more cynicism about participation than no consultation would have.
IX Coach regularly asks you what is and isn’t working in how it’s guiding you — so your feedback actively shapes the approach and you’re partnering with a process you helped build, not receiving one someone else designed.
Practice this with IX Coach →