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| Customization Clients may tailor programs to a particular audience or industry by selecting relevant cases and exercises from our extensive library or by working with their APRENDA account manager to develop alternatives. |
Sometimes it’s not enough to be talented, motivated, hard working, well prepared, technically
competent, and fully informed...
Sometimes, you must be influential to succeed.
Why do so many people, even people who are great at their jobs, experience so much frustration and
defeat at work? Often it is because they find themselves in situations where influence is essential, yet
they lack a clear influence strategy.
Seven Situations
Here are seven situations you may face where influence is essential:
1. Coping with conflict
2. Dealing with your boss
3. Selling your ideas
4. Changing jobs
5. Serving on cross-functional teams or task forces
6. Navigating through organizational politics
7. Surviving mergers, acquisitions, and reorganizations
Let’s take a closer look at each....
Situation 1: Coping with Conflict
While shouting matches are rare in most companies, subtler forms of interpersonal conflict are as
common as paper clips... Grudges, jealousy, rivalries, resentments, stalemates, turf battles... Put
people together for a prolonged period of time, throw in business pressures to perform and the
everyday frustrations of work life, and you will get a rich variety of conflicts.
Since you know you will encounter conflict in many forms, why not prepare yourself to constructively
manage conflicts when they arise? With the right strategy in place, conflict won’t stop you from
meeting your objectives.
Influence Strategy:
Examine how you react to conflict. Many people, for example, experience a reflexive “fight or flight”
response to conflict – they either meet it head on with aggression, or withdraw completely. Of course,
neither of those responses may actually help them get where they want to go. Managing conflict
begins with remembering that you don’t have to go with your reflexive reactions. Take a breath and
choose a more thoughtful course. The Situational Influence Model™ developed by SMS suggests that
there are times when you should push, times when you should pull, and times when you should
move away temporarily, with the clear intent to try the interaction again as soon as it seems more
likely to prove productive. Anytime you encounter conflict, remember:
You have options.
People apply positive power and influence when they meet their personal objectives (e.g., finish a
work assignment) and enhance their working relationships, rather than trading one off against the
other. For example: Sales reps who maintain strong client relations while increasing the profitability
of their accounts. To consistently apply positive power and influence, you must shape influence
strategies specifically for each situation you encounter, and apply proven influence skills that fit your
strategy.
Situation 2: Dealing with your boss
What’s the number one reason people leave their jobs? They don’t like their boss. So it should come
as no surprise if you sometimes have trouble dealing with your boss. Just thinking about a high
stakes salary negotiation, a sensitive year-end performance review, or having to deliver some kind of
“bad
news” to your boss can raise your stress level. It’s hard to be at your best in such situations. It will be
a lot easier once you’ve crafted your influence strategy.
Influence strategy:
Any time you need to influence upward, clarity is key. So prepare accordingly. First, get clear in your
mind what’s working or not working, from your perspective, and what you hope or expect to change.
Think just as hard about where your boss is coming from. (If you don’t know, then plan to ask.)
Envision
a conversation that reaches beyond just getting what you want. Get ready to search for mutually
desirable outcomes you and your boss can pursue together.As you talk with your boss, thoughtfully
use a blend of the “push” and “pull” influence styles. Clearly state how you see things, and invite your
boss to do the same, using your active listening skills to show that you’re sincerely interested in his
or her point of view. Then, state what you want, taking care to back your proposals whenever possible
with reasons that connect to what is important to your boss. Ask your boss to share some of his or
her goals, as well. Chances are, your boss will welcome this form of influence because it invites him
or her to contemplate appealing possibilities. Throughout the dialogue, search for the common
ground between what your boss wants and what you want.
Pursuing such conversations with your boss might not work perfectly at first, but keep trying. While
others merely whine or make demands, you’ll command your boss’s respect by being clear about
what you want, and by being sincerely interested in his or her goals, as well. Over time, this kind of
interaction will transform how your boss sees you and deals with you.
Situation 3: Selling your ideas
Did you ever raise what you felt was a terrific new idea, only to have it ignored? Do you sometimes not
even bother to mention your ideas because you assume you’ll never get to put them into action? You’
re far from alone. Resistance to new ideas is a fact of organizational life. Many a fresh idea has been
quickly trampled under the rush of business as usual. You might easily decide that raising new ideas
is a waste of time. Don’t give up! Appearances to the contrary, most companies need and value
creative thinkers and people who can make new ideas work.
Influence strategy:
Don’t just express your idea. Champion it. First, take a little time to assess your idea as objectively as
you can. Pretend that someone else thought of it, and then constructively critique it. Can the idea be
improved? Answer that question before you start sharing your idea with others.
Next, identify stake holders. Who would have to support your idea for it to be implemented? Put
yourself in their shoes. What will they find most appealing about your idea? What might concern them
or cause them to resist what you propose? How might you avoid triggering concerns or resistance?
Prepare to present your idea in the most favorable light to each stakeholder you identify.
Then, line up some allies. Who could best help you to persuade stake holders to back your idea?
(Note: Some individuals – your boss, for example – might be both an ally and a stakeholder for your
idea.) Go first to people whose thinking you respect and whom you trust to hear your idea with a
favorable ear, or at least an open mind. Test your idea with your friends and confidants. If they like it,
ask them to help you advance it.
Becoming an idea champion is harder than simply blurting ideas out as they come to you. But if your
idea is as good as you think it is, does it not deserve your best effort? Remember this: The most
successful people in any organization do more than think up great ideas. They find ways to put ideas
into action.
Situation 4: Changing jobs
When you have been in a job for a while, you’re known. And that eases all your interactions. The
people around you automatically grant you a certain level of support and cooperation.
But when you get a promotion or a transfer – or perhaps take a job at a different company – you may
suddenly be working with strangers. No matter how stellar your reputation, it will take time to
establish yourself. You’ll need new strategies to gain in the support and cooperation that were
granted you as a matter of course in your old job. It’s also important to recognize that the stakes are
especially high any time you change jobs. Early successes can earn you the benefit of the doubt for
years to come, while a few early missteps can permanently brand you as ineffective, uncooperative,
passive or indecisive.
You’ll want to go into any job change with a well-considered influence strategy...one tailored
specifically to succeeding in your exciting but dangerous stretch as the “new kid on the block.”
Influence strategy:
Respectful and thoughtful use of “pull” style influence skills will help you quickly learn the new terrain.
Craft your questions not only to earn high-gain answers, but to convey positive qualities about
yourself as well. (“The new kid asks smart questions.”) Invite your new colleagues to advise you as
you shape
your agenda for the new job. Actively listen to all that you’re told. Look beneath the surface information
for clues about the culture of your new workplace and the personalities of your coworkers, so you can
begin to shape influence style strategies most likely to prove effective with each. Don’t be shy about
offering your ideas, or about admitting when you need help.
Situation 5: Serving on cross-functional teams or task forces
Serving on a cross-functional team or task force is a lot like acting in a play that has no script. The
rules are not written or defined to nearly the same extent as when you are working within your own
department. Most of the roles, responsibilities and operating procedures must be defined as you go.
Further,
there’s no guarantee that players from other functions will want the same things you want. Small
wonder, then, that so many cross-functional teams struggle to meet their objectives.
So, how do you get things done when working across functions?
Influence strategy:
“Pull” style influence skills may prove most effective, especially in the early going. While some
colleagues will aggressively state their views and try to convince everyone else that they are right, you
can focus on involving your less-assertive teammates in the discussion. Solicit their views and
actively listen to what they say. You’ll set an example that will help the team function more smoothly
and productively over the long run. You’ll also earn trust and confidence within the team. Later, when
your team or task force is making its major decisions, people will remember that you listened to
them, and so will be well prepared to listen to you.
Situation 6: Navigating through organizational politics
Granted, a lot of people think “politics” is a dirty word. But it does not have to be. You can engage in
politics without being devious, manipulative, or dishonest.
Every organization has its own informal ways of deciding who does what, when, where and how.
There are unwritten rules, behind-the-scenes agreements, back door access to resources, casual
alliances, unspoken rivalries, friendships, cliques, groupings of opinion.... Are you going to act as
though you’re above it all? Or will you jump in and make things happen?
Influence strategy:
To engage successfully in organizational politics, develop your organizational “street smarts.” Study
what makes your organization “tick.” Consider the informal processes and forces by which it
operates. Investigate: Why do some initiatives blossom, while others wither and die? What are the
real sources of power (e.g., expertise, reputation, access) and how do people wield them? Where do
valuable talents and resources reside? What priorities truly guide people’s everyday actions?
Then, shape your answers to such questions into a map of your organization. Form a clear picture of
how it really works. You can use that map to navigate your way through even the toughest
“neighborhoods” to reach your objectives.
Situation 7: Surviving mergers, acquisitions, and reorganizations
You’d probably react to rumors of an upcoming merger, acquisition, or reorganization as you would to
news of an impending earthquake. That is, you’d dread it. And why not? The only things that seem
certain are 1) Your world is about to get “all shook up” and 2) People are bound to get hurt.
As the merger, acquisition or reorganization unfolds, you (like everyone) are left to wonder: “Who is
friend, and who is foe? Who will end up in charge? Who will end up gone?” Everyone is nervous.
Many people freeze. They feel helpless. They do little but wring their hands and wait for others to
decide their fate.
Influence strategy:
You can do much more. When the landscape starts shifting under your feet, lead yourself. Recognize
that in a period of fear and uncertainty, you have two mindsets operating at once – rational and
emotional. And both are revving into high gear. If you don’t take charge, chaos will reign within as well
as without. Use your organizational “street smarts” to rationally assess what is changing and where
the emerging power points are, so you can position yourself to come through the upheaval
unscathed, or even ahead of where you started. At the same time, use visioning, be present, and
immerse yourself in self-empowering thoughts to cultivate and convey your inner calm. People will
notice. That further enhances your capacity to influence how change unfolds.
Conclusion
Ask yourself how often you actually stop to thoughtfully shape your influence strategy for a given
situation. If you’re like most people, the honest answer would be, “Hardly ever.” Yet you repeatedly
find yourself in situations where influence is, without question, a key to your success.
Why not take those matters more into your own hands? Make positive power and influence one of
your core competencies.
Want to learn more about how you can develop your positive power and influence?
Detailed information on the Positive Power and Influence Program
.
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