DEAR WW: I've been told a million times that it's important to get "buy-in" from the people I work with. But no one has ever told me how to get it. Can you give me some concrete steps that I can use to get everyone on my side?

- NOT CURRENTLY BUYING

DEAR CURRENTLY: Your letter brought to mind a plagiarism lawsuit over the late avant-garde composer John Cage's song "4'33." First recorded almost a century ago, Cage's "song" is slightly more than 4« minutes of silence. Recently, the performer of "A Minute of Silence" (much like Cage's song, only shorter) ended up paying Cage's publisher an undisclosed fee for copyright infringement.

This plagiarizer had to pay a price for his silence, but chances are you'll find that taking a moment of silence with your people to hear their thoughts will create a lot of buy-in from them. See the strategies I've listed below. For more, read Built on Trust (Contemporary, 2000) by Arky Ciancutti and Thomas Steding.

Does everyone agree on the problem? I once wrote an article entitled, "Training is the answer, but what was the question?" That title came to mind when I was thinking about your e-mail. So many of us are in such a race to create solutions that we often fail to get people in agreement that there is a problem in the first place. What's the best way to do this? Just start asking people what they think about the problem you're concerned about solving. Gently probe with open-ended questions. You might find that your problem isn't a problem to them, or that they've already identified a great solution.

Do you stop at the first solution you come across? The first solution you come up with isn't necessarily the best one. The second right answer may be even better. Taking the time to get everyone involved will accomplish two things: First, it will get more brains on your side - always a good thing. Second, you'll undoubtedly learn that there are other solutions out there, and one may be even better than the first one you identified.

Do you incorporate people's ideas wherever possible? We've all seen the messes that committees can make when they develop solutions that try to please everyone. That's not what I'm suggesting. The key is to listen to what people suggest and strategically include their ideas when they make the solution better. And ALWAYS give credit for their contributions.

Do you forget to include others when it comes time to implement? You need to look at which aspects of the implementation might appeal to the people you work with, and involve them as much as you can.

The sounds of silence stirred up a lot of controversy in the music world, but at work it should get you a lot of buy-in for the stuff you're working on.

List of the Week from Anderson & Knowledge Systems

Have you got skills? What skills are the most vital in today's job market?

• Technical skills - 60%
• Communication skills - 52%
• Job experience - 32%
• Relationships - 20%
• Management skills - 17%

From WorkingWounded.com

What kind of buy-in do you get at work?

• I've got them in the palm of my hand - 24%
• They give me the back of their hand - 11%
• The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing - 66%

Our winning strategy for getting buy-in at work comes from D.M. in cyberspace: "My solution to getting buy-in from the people I work with starts before you have the need for buy-in. It is called the investment policy and goes like this: Spend a specific amount of time with several of your co-workers during each week and let them tell you about themselves. You show them that you are truly interested in them and the things/issues they care about. This is the investment phase, and the time is like putting capital in an account. Just like a bank needs to know something about you before giving you a loan, or like an account you open needs deposits to allow you to have withdrawals."