MUR
Influence without Authority
The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority- Kenneth Blanchard
Anyone who has tried to get their five-year-old to do something against their will, would be wise to the fact that “authority” is an illusion. This is all the more true in organizational life. Nobody has the formal authority to achieve what is necessary, not even with those who report to them. Gone are the days (if there ever was) when managers could just make their direct reports do whatever was needed. Organizational life is too complicated and the younger generations are much too independent minded for accepting that.
Think of any number of sample organizational situations:
• You have been asked to head a cross-functional team and have to get people outside your area committed to the project, but they are not cooperating.
• You are part of a matrix organizational structure and you have the challenging task of managing the priorities between multiple stakeholders in the system.
• You are a category manager, but can’t get the regional managers or salesforce to think about the brand in any coherent way.
• You are in HR and have lined up some really powerful training sessions, but employees claim they are too busy to attend your programs.
• You can’t get the attention of your boss for anything; she is far too busy at endless meetings and dealing with “important stuff.”
If the above listing sounds like, “the story of your life” – take heart. You are not alone. Whatever your job be, to be able to influence others to get your work done is something that every individual in an organization grapples with.
Throwing oneself at a colleague’s mercy with a request is seldom a powerful or very effective option. Alternatively, trying to bull your way through by sheer nerve and aggressiveness can be costly as well. Antagonizing crucial peers or superiors is a dangerous strategy, since they can so easily come back to haunt you. So how do you go about influencing others when you have no real authority?
• You have been asked to head a cross-functional team and have to get people outside your area committed to the project, but they are not cooperating.
• You are part of a matrix organizational structure and you have the challenging task of managing the priorities between multiple stakeholders in the system.
• You are a category manager, but can’t get the regional managers or salesforce to think about the brand in any coherent way.
• You are in HR and have lined up some really powerful training sessions, but employees claim they are too busy to attend your programs.
• You can’t get the attention of your boss for anything; she is far too busy at endless meetings and dealing with “important stuff.”
If the above listing sounds like, “the story of your life” – take heart. You are not alone. Whatever your job be, to be able to influence others to get your work done is something that every individual in an organization grapples with.
Throwing oneself at a colleague’s mercy with a request is seldom a powerful or very effective option. Alternatively, trying to bull your way through by sheer nerve and aggressiveness can be costly as well. Antagonizing crucial peers or superiors is a dangerous strategy, since they can so easily come back to haunt you. So how do you go about influencing others when you have no real authority?
Through an engaging workshop experience that weaves in the pathbreaking work done by leadership gurus – Alan R. Cohen and David L. Bradford with experiential learning methodologies, FocusU brings to life the concepts on how to get cooperation from those over whom you have no official authority by offering them help in the form of the “currencies” they value.
Avail Program Through
The key take-aways that the workshop targets to achieve with participants are:
1) Influencing is about exchanging something the other values in return for what you want
2) Relationships matter
3) Knowing your circle of influence
4) Drawing an Empathy Map to understand the world that others inhabit in
4) Just about everyone is potentially much more influential than they think they are
Leadership in today’s milieu is Influence. Knowing how to tap onto this skill and wield it effectively, is a big step for everyone in organizations – but especially important for Leaders.FocusU invites you to help your teams get a leg-up by exploring “The Influence without Authority” workshop!
Contact us today – we will be glad to meet up and discuss the possibilities for your team!
Disclaimer:
– All product and company names used are Trademarks or registered Trademarks of their respective owners
– Some of the material in this page are intellectual properties of its respected owners, corporations and entities
– “Influence without Authority” is a registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons.
1) Influencing is about exchanging something the other values in return for what you want
2) Relationships matter
3) Knowing your circle of influence
4) Drawing an Empathy Map to understand the world that others inhabit in
4) Just about everyone is potentially much more influential than they think they are
Leadership in today’s milieu is Influence. Knowing how to tap onto this skill and wield it effectively, is a big step for everyone in organizations – but especially important for Leaders.FocusU invites you to help your teams get a leg-up by exploring “The Influence without Authority” workshop!
Contact us today – we will be glad to meet up and discuss the possibilities for your team!
Disclaimer:
– All product and company names used are Trademarks or registered Trademarks of their respective owners
– Some of the material in this page are intellectual properties of its respected owners, corporations and entities
– “Influence without Authority” is a registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons.
