A Study in Influence
What if you possessed a magical power that enticed people to cooperate with you? What if your boss enthusiastically implemented your suggestions, your staff was fascinated with your presentations and willingly volunteered for additional projects, and client contract negotiations were decided in your favor — what if you had this ability?
Of course there isn’t a magical power for winning people over, but you can develop a set of skills that will give you that edge. Influence skills, when learned and mastered, are a simple yet powerful set of techniques that will help you win support for your ideas and proposals, gain the respect of management, and earn the credibility of colleagues.
What Is Influence? I define influence as the power to affect change, or to achieve a result, without the use of force or formal authority. Influence is power — the power to motivate, to sell, to be more effective, more potent, and more satisfied. But influence isn’t power alone. It isn’t just communication. And it certainly isn’t manipulation.
Influence is a gentle, subtle skill. It is a much more refined approach to affecting others than the use of authority or coercion. Expertise is needed to truly influence for positive, long-term results of advantage to both sides. Influence is a positive process. You get the results you want while allowing others to get the results they want. You create a mutually beneficial relationship. This is the most important feature of influence skills — your ability to create a win-win situation.
Influence In An Age Of Change
The 21st Century has created an unprecedented age of change in the business world. New technologies are being touted daily; organizations are restructuring, merging, downsizing, acquiring. Communication advances are changing our working relationships as well as our environments. We are changing in ways unimaginable a decade ago .
With almost everything about business changing, it’s no wonder we’re in need of a power tool for success. It used to be that when you started up the corporate ladder, you were told that in order
to achieve success you simply needed to put in your time and to develop your professional and technical expertise. After a while, this began to change and you heard that “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” You began to learn the importance of contacts, and how to build a network of helpful people.
Now we have entered a new era. You can’t count on technical or professional expertise alone. These skills can quickly become obsolete. And you can’t simply count on your contacts, since high level contacts can vanish overnight with the next corporate shake-up, budget cut, acquisition or merger.
What will guarantee your success is power that you can count on, a set of interpersonal skills that you can practice anytime, anywhere, inside or outside an organization. This “portable power” comes from possessing a set of influence skills that transcend obsolescence or corporate changes. This is the portable power of influence.
The Lack of Influence – A Case Study
Sandra, a technical specialist, supervised a small development group for a medical equipment manufacturer. She was well respected and well paid, but not considered to be on the fast track. One day, while doing some research at a university hospital, she noticed an impressive piece of equipment that had been produced overseas.
Back in her office, Sandra kept thinking about the machine. After some number crunching, she became convinced that her company could manufacture the unit better and less expensively than the foreign competitor.
Sandra then conducted some preliminary market research and found a large market for an improved version of the device. Armed with this data, she began to marshal interest in the project among her colleagues.
Soon, however, she started to run into subtle roadblocks. The vice president of marketing abruptly canceled two meetings with her and offered only thin excuses. Then her own boss, although aware of her interest in the machine, assigned her to another project and told her to put new-product development on the back burner.
At first, Sandra thought she was just being paranoid. Soon, however, she realized that even with the best of intentions, her efforts had come to nothing. Despite her enthusiasm, she had been unable to gain the support and cooperation she needed from her colleagues, especially those in upper management.
A Failure to Influence…
Sandra didn’t understand how to gain support from those outside her sphere of influence. She didn’t check what was competing with her for management attention. Neither did she collaborate and gain her colleagues’ cooperation and participation before launching into her presentations.
She didn’t realize that the data she hired a market researcher to gather was already available in the company in another department. All she needed to do was to communicate her intentions and make a contact.
Without support from her staff or other people in the department, her boss didn’t give her idea much credence. The vice president of marketing didn’t want to go over the head of Sandra’s boss, and so he wouldn’t meet with her.
…Leads to Failure
Consequently, what may have been a great idea was squashed before it had a chance, simply because Sandra didn’t pay attention to all the influence work that needed to be done. She was playing by an old set of rules. She failed because she was not sensitive to the organizational and human realities of her situation — she did not use the portable power of influence.
Plug In The Power Tools
As stated earlier, influence is a subtle skill which can be learned. My research has shown that there are six basic influence styles. Each style, made up of different skills and behaviors, is a personalized approach to the art of influence. Regardless of your own unique style, to be an effective influencer you must discover the influence styles of others. You do this by using the power tools of attentiveness, observation and flexibility.
ATTENTIVENESS – Doing It With Empathy
- The Art of Listening – Listen without judgment, listen with an open mind, evaluate after you get all the information. When you listen actively and respectfully, chances are that you will be listened to the same way when it’s your turn to speak.
- Develop a Genuine Interest in Others – Really listening to others requires an attitude of sincere interest and curiosity, and an honest desire to see things the way another person sees them. If you suspend judgment, you’re apt to discover a better sense of rapport with others.
- Learn to Ask Smart Questions – Ask open-ended questions, create cycles of learning, ask for more detail, “how” or “what” questions are better than “why” questions.
- Develop A Desire to Accommodate – Acquire an attitude of willingness to consider the other person’s point of view, and a willingness to make a few concessions if necessary. By offering concessions early in the game, you alter the environment and are able to get more of what you want in the long run.
OBSERVATION – Doing It With Intuition
Tune in to what’s unsaid. Body language may be even more indicative of a person’s true state than the spoken word. These silent indicators are subject to a variety of interpretations, and can demonstrate variations of receptivity or resistance. Some signs to watch for:
- Body Posture and Gestures – sudden straightening of the spine, position of the head, position of the feet on the floor, distribution of weight on hips and lower legs, hand movements and gestures.
- Voice Patterns – tone, tempo and volume can reveal emotions such as anger, confusion, stress, calmness or humor.
Of course, these indicators should be interpreted only after regular observation. Developing a sensitivity toward unspoken clues will help you discover an individual’s unique communication style. Once you know the style of the person you wish to influence, you can then plug in the power tool of flexibility.
FLEXIBILITY – Doing It The Win/Win Way
You’re attentive and observant. You’ve noticed the decision-making strategies of your boss and the receptivity levels of your colleagues. Now, in order to be an effective influencer, you need to be flexible and speak to these people in the language and style that is their way of communicating. Not everyone has the same communication style. Some people are influenced by solid evidence, and favor reason, logic and an orderly process. Others influence by creating a sense of shared mission. People who use this style tend to be very future-oriented and will often paint a picture of a brighter, ideal tomorrow. Another style offers rewards and negotiates with others. The individual who values personal relationships above all, easily establishes rapport with others and influences by listening with empathy.
No one of the styles is better than another. In fact, most of us use a combination of styles when we’re trying to influence. And we are probably successful some of the time. But until we become consciously aware of which style to use in which situation with a specific person, at best our efforts will be hit or miss attempts. Learning the strategic skills of influence will improve your batting average – your ratio of success.
A Formula for Success with Influence
The real key to successful influencing is the formula:
What this means is that you must learn to become attentive to other people and what influences them, and then develop the flexibility to shift into their style since that is the “language” with which they are most comfortable. Be attentive to what someone is telling you — listen, observe, learn — and be flexible enough to use this information.
The result? You will be a more effective influencer, and will have a set of your own Portable Power Tools to enhance your success in the ever-changing, exciting workplace of the 21st century.
