Becoming More Influential — A Simple and Effective Approach to Stakeholder
Management
As people rise through the ranks during their career,
the need to become influential grows. People rise above the level
where just being technically good at their job is sufficient. Their
focus needs to become more aligned to the adage "it's not what
you know, but who you know". This is becoming more difficult
as our organisations become ever more complex. The proliferation of
management approaches to influence is testimony to the growing need.
Over the years, I have studied many different approaches to systemising
the work of influence. Many of these become quite complex and cumbersome.
They need a significant investment of time to learn how to make
them work for you. What I use with my clients is a simple approach
based on the work of Peter Block. It can be learned in an hour and
used for a lifetime.
In a nutshell, all you need to do is to get very specific about what
it is you wish to influence, then identify a number of people who you
think will have an impact on your success. Having identified some people
who have an impact, the next task is to place them on a 2x2 grid; one
dimension considers the extent to which each individual agrees or disagrees
with what you are aiming to achieve. The other dimension begs the question,
how much trust is there in your relationship with that individual. There
are a few more boxes that draw finer distinctions, but they are not absolutely
necessary.
 The result is that
each individual is placed in one of several categories. The main ones
are Allies (high trust/high agreement), Opponents (high trust/low agreement),
Bedfellows (low trust/high agreement) and Adversaries (low trust/low agreement).
Now you can start to look at the actions you can take to improve your
prospects. There are different approaches that you can use for each category;
but overall, the aim is to move people on the map to the right and upwards
(i.e. increase trust and preferably increase agreement). Get the balance
right and you achieve your influence goal!
Typical first thoughts include "but I don't know if they agree",
"I'm not sure if I trust them" or "I don't know who could
impact this". Often, it quickly becomes apparent that there is a lack
of clarity about what the client wants people to agree to. All of these
reactions are great, because they very quickly indicate where the effort
needs to be spent.
Occasionally, it can become quite emotional, as people realise that they
don't have very much support or even fewer friends. This is a tough place
to be in, but the hard reality needs to be faced.
More likely is that in just 30 minutes of thinking it through, you'll find
lots of good things and also more ideas about action you can take than
you'll have time to take!
I've been using this simple approach with my clients in coaching and
workshops for over five years now. It never ceases to delight me just how
useful this can be. It helps them to direct their energy and time to where
it will have the most impact. Often this involves switching the focus
away from adversaries towards allies. Frequently when plotting it out,
people realise that they've missed someone critical — and one conversation
has been known to achieve the goal! But all of the time, use of this simple
approach to becoming more influential gets results.
Colin Gautrey — author, coach, facilitator and noted expert in the
practical use of power and influence in the workplace. Colin has coached
top executives around the world, run workshops for international teams
and always gets results. As an author, he has written several books and
regularly appears on the conference stage on his specialist subject of
power and influence. To find out more about his work, visit him at www.gautreygroup.com
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