Another great way of working with clients is by using the Stakeholder Influence Process. This is one of the key processes which people can use to become more influential. It is something that is easy to learn and will provide you with a clear structure to help your client, and they can keep using it on all of their influencing goals.
In this article, I’m going to share some quick thoughts about using the process, and then give you a list of articles that will help you to get quickly to grips with the process. These articles are also really useful to give to your clients ahead of a coaching session.
Firstly, take a look at the Stakeholder Influence Process Introduction if you are not already familiar with the process.
A Few Suggestions/Thoughts
- Clients are likely to have a number of important goals that they may wish to focus on. When coaching, try to stick with one particular goal to focus your discussions and their learning. Beyond the sessions, encourage them to apply the process to their other goals too.
- Aim to use the most important goal which they need to work on right now. Make sure it is stretching enough to challenge them and provide plenty of opportunities to try out new approaches to influence.
- Clarifying focus for the process can be tricky. Sometimes when you are working with people, you may both be sure that the focus is right until you get to the analysis step. When discussing the stakeholders, it is quite common to realise that the goal needs to change. Often they were heading in the wrong direction and bearing down on solving problems rather than influencing the root causes. Alternatively, they may have been aiming too big and need to bring the focus into the medium term so they can get going (more on this in another article).
- There are many things you can work on in many of the steps. Power is a key topic you can help your client with when working on the identify step because it will help them to work out who the most important stakeholders are. Influencing Style is best positioned in the engage step as this has a major impact on the way they interact with their stakeholders.
- When I’m coaching on the focus, I always strive to be absolutely clear what success looks like — how would I, as an external observer, be 100% sure they have reached their goal? That helps the client enormously.
Important Note
When sharing the links below, be aware that some of them are restricted to those with Premium Access to the blog. You can include access as part of your coaching programme. If you wish to do this, please get in touch, and we can talk about discounts. Please don’t just copy the articles and give them to your client — this will be regarded as a breach of copyright.
Coach/Client Reading
The links below are intended to get you started. Some are useful before a coaching session; others are good for follow-up reading. So, explore and find those which will work best for you and the way you work.
In addition to these, find some time to browse through the extensive catalogue of articles by using the links on the right menu against the different categories.
Introductory Links
- Stakeholder Influence Process Introduction.
- Benefits of Using the Stakeholder Influence Process.
- Choosing the Right Influencing Goal.
- Five Questions to Shape Your Influence.
Focus Links
Assess your priorities and focus your Influencing Goal.
- How to Develop Influencing Goals.
- Exploring Influencing Goals.
- Exercise: Pressure Testing Your Goal.
- Deepening Influence Goal Specification.
Identify
Work out which stakeholders can have the biggest impact.
- How to Identify Your Stakeholders.
- Introduction to Stakeholder Identification.
- Prioritising Stakeholders to Analyse.
- Exercise: Identifying Stakeholders.
- Seven Sources of Power.
Analyse
Map the position of each stakeholder.
- How to Assess Your Stakeholders.
- Understanding Conflict Between Personal and Professional Agendas.
- Learning to Appreciate and Value Battle-Hardened Stakeholders.
Plan
Decide your strategy for increasing buy-in.
- How to Develop Your Stakeholder Strategy.
- Considering Your Stakeholder Strategy.
- Stakeholder Strategy Examples.
- Exercise: Challenging Your Stakeholder Strategy.
Engage
Adapt your approach to influence your stakeholders.
- How to Engage With Your Stakeholders.
- Planning Stakeholder Meetings
- Tailoring Your Stakeholder Pitch.
- Building Trust beyond the Obvious.
- How to Develop Your Influencing Style.
- Five Step Approach to Influence.
Maintain
Keep motivated, moving and refreshing.
Remember, this is just scratching the surface of what is available with Premium Access, so please encourage your clients to gain access to over 300,000 words of practical ideas and guidance on influence.
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