Getting your team to execute is one thing. Getting them to genuinely buy in is another.
The strongest leaders know that commitment can’t be mandated through titles, targets or performance reviews. It’s earned through trust, consistency and connection. When people feel understood, supported and clear about what’s expected of them, they don’t simply comply—they take ownership.
Executive coach and The Connect Effect author Kylie Paatsch argues that building that kind of commitment starts with the leader. Here are four practical shifts that can strengthen relationships, deepen trust and turn expectations into genuine buy-in.
1. Prioritise and protect one-on-one time with your leaders
If you want a stronger connection this is the place to start. You can’t influence someone you don’t spend time with. Regular, intentional one-on-one time gives you the space to understand how your leaders think, what they’re navigating, what motivates them and what support they genuinely need.
When you prioritise this time, and protect it rather than cancelling it, you send a clear signal to your leaders: you matter, your development matters and our relationship matters.
2. Build strong, intentional one-on-one relationships with your leaders
One-on-one relationships are the foundation of influence, trust and buy-in. Your leaders won’t fully commit to you, your direction or your expectations if they don’t feel connected to you first. When you invest deliberately in the relationship, and not just their tasks or role, you create the psychological safety, understanding and trust that make working together more open, honest and effective. As that relationship strengthens, you gain clearer insight into what motivates them, what challenges them and how they think and work, which means you can lead them in a way that brings out their best and strengthens their ownership.
3. Be clear, be consistent and model the standards you expect
Clarity and consistency are two of the strongest drivers of engagement and alignment. Your leaders can only meet expectations they genuinely understand, and they will adopt the standards you demonstrate far faster than the ones you simply talk about. When you’re clear about what matters
and consistent in how you show up, you create stability, predictability and direction—all things your leaders pick up on and respond to. Modelling the behaviour, standards and attitudes you expect builds credibility and trust, and that credibility is what turns expectation into commitment, and that commitment into loyalty.
4. Focus on growing people, not fixing them
Your leaders don’t want to be managed into better performance; they want to be developed into it. When you shift your attention from correcting what’s wrong to growing what’s possible, you unlock capability, confidence and initiative in a way that naturally increases ownership. Growth creates momentum, not just in performance, but in trust and engagement. When leaders feel supported, stretched and believed in, they step up differently. They take more responsibility, bring more of themselves to the work and stay more committed to the person who invested in their development.
When you focus on what’s within your control and make these changes, you create the conditions for stronger connection, deeper trust and greater ownership. Over time, you’ll notice your leaders leaning in more, taking more responsibility and working with you rather than around you. The shift you want in them begins with the shift within you. When you lead differently, they’ll respond differently.
Edited extract from The Connect Effect (Grammar Factory $32.99) by Kylie Paatsch. Kylie Paatsch is an executive coach, speaker and facilitator with three decades of leadership experience and twenty years of coaching and facilitating behind her. She has worked with thousands of senior leaders and their teams across a wide range of industries and sectors throughout Australia and internationally. Find out more at https://kyliepaatsch.com.au/
