Gautrey Unleashed

Aristotle, Rhetoric and Influence

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On the conference stage, I often refer to Aristotle’s abhorrence of rhetoric as part of my argument that even if you don't like a subject, mastering it can still be preferable to ignoring or denying it. You may not like office politics, but avoiding it offers unscrupulous characters an opportunity to take advantage of you. Despite his dislike of the topic, Aristotle is regarded as the greatest teacher of rhetoric. He maintained that it gave power to weaker arguments and, thus, wanted to equip his students with the ability to defend their position against those with questionable motives. However, the study of rhetoric is also useful if you want to become more influential at work today. Like the Read More

Managing People with the Stakeholder Influence Process

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In my book, Advocates and Enemies, I outlined the Stakeholder Influence Process as a means of achieving the influence you want in and around your work. What I didn’t elaborate on in the book was how you can also use this process to manage your team members and direct reports. If you believe that influence is a key part of their work, show them how to use the process. At your one-to-ones, you can ask them to talk through their progress by referring to the Stakeholder Influence Map. Remember, this is a process of enquiry. It poses the questions around a simple structure to elicit new actions to advance towards the objective in mind. As such, it becomes a great coaching tool for your people — all you have to avoid is the risk of putting forward your own ideas about what they should be doing! Here’s a quick approach you can follow… Read More

Be Careful Where You Sit

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When office moves occur, petty politics can become quite tense, as any facilities manager will tell you. Moving someone from one place to another in the office is fraught with challenges. Although the most notable issues relate to having a pleasant view out of the window or being near friends, there can be some deeper political positioning going on which is worth being aware of. For instance…
  • Sitting near the boss. Ambitious people like to keep their ears open, gather intelligence and also welcome the frequent opportunity to informally chat to the boss. Add to this the opportunity to chat to other important people waiting for their meeting and it is easy to see why this is a popular seat. Added power also comes from the close proximity to other power sources.
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Faulty Assumptions: Influencing Mistake No. 2

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On my top ten list of common influencing mistakes, this is perhaps the most troublesome. Faulty assumptions, particularly about agendas, can easily land you in serious trouble. This mistake is highly likely to stop you achieving your goal — eventually. In the meantime, it can create havoc in your work, among your stakeholders and it will consume a great deal of time and energy. The similarities with tripping over in the street are remarkable. As you start to fall, you seem to know you are going to hit the deck. Rather than trying to lessen the impact, lots of arm swinging ensues as you try in vain to recover your balance. That the spectacle you create is amusing to others can also be another painful similarity! Yet it is easy to slip into this. As we go about our work we naturally focus on what is important to us. We consider the benefits, calculate Read More

Personal Power and Influence

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To be successful in your career, you need to be able to influence other people. This involves developing personal power. You will want people to think positively about what you do, listen and accept your ideas and also do things that you need them to do. This can include influencing someone to give you a job or promotion, delivering a key project where you need their input and help or even advocating your skills and talent to other more senior people. Little can be achieved without the ability to influence others. One of the key ways of growing greater influence is to focus on building your personal power. Power doesn't equal politics, so you don't need to become a Machiavellian character to introduce more power into your career — nor do you need to betray your integrity! In a nutshell… Read More

Five Steps to a Healthier Network

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Sharpen up and focus your networking in 30 minutes. Try this…
  1. Get a list of the people in your network — perhaps by exporting from Outlook to Excel.
  2. What percentage have you initiated contact with in the last six months? If it is a very long list and you want to move fast, randomise the list and check the first 100 names.
  3. What percentage Read More

Caught in the Middle of Turf Wars

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Powerful people will usually work to protect their power base. They will also look to expand. Even if their motives are pure, they will still seek to protect their capability to do good things. The difference that selfishness makes will be felt in the personal consequences for those involved — at worst, they will stop at nothing until they have got what they want. Wherever you care to look, there will be competition of some sort going on. The intensity and tactics will vary depending on the players, the motives and the stakes. Simple enough, but what can you do if you find yourself caught in the middle? Getting trapped between two powerful opposing forces, who each want you on their side, is what we called the political dilemma of Turf Wars. The advice I wrote in 2008 as part of our book, Political Dilemmas at Work, still holds good. It focused on the imperative to make a clear personal decision and outlined four options to consider… Read More

How to Map the Politics around Your Work

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At some stage, if you want to be successful in any large organisation, you will have to become very adept at reading the politics. Yesterday, when writing an article about making an impact at the top table, the imperative of building political intelligence came into focus. Only when you have a firm grasp of what is really going on, can you start to navigate safely through the corridors of power. The usual way of building this insight is through many informal conversations over a period of several months, if not years. I am not talking necessarily about gossip, but rather the sharing of information, knowledge and insight which is one of the key benefits of effective networking. You can speed this up dramatically if you engage in a constructive process. Read More

Promotion Power Shifts

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Congratulations, you have got a well-deserved promotion. Now what? May seem like a silly question because you are no doubt bursting with ideas, plans, and structural or strategic changes you are going to implement – and that is just the first 90 days! But before you rush in, pause for a moment to consider this. Read More

Seven Ways to Become More Powerful

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Being powerful enables you to get things done. It encourages people to do what you want them to do, often without you even asking. Generally, people like to please powerful people because of what they may gain, or because they don’t want to lose something.

Here are seven ways that you can become more powerful:

  1. Build Greater Networks. The more people you know, the more potential resources you have to call on. These can provide you with useful knowledge, resources or friendly help and support. This needs to be a two-way process, so make sure to make yourself available to help people in your network too. Don’t just focus on those nearest to you; get to know people in other parts of your organisation, and those outside of it in related work. Make sure and delicately let others know you have this network.
  2. Acquire Scarce Capabilities. Think about the work that you do and the organisation where you are right now. What does everyone seem to be wanting by way of capability? Perhaps this is financial acumen, process design. Which capabilities are in short supply? Take this into the future and try to predict how the future will change. Try to find ways to build your own capability in things that people want and then let people know you’ve got it.
  3. Focus Your Specialism. Having a clear notion of what makes you special, and being able to articulate it with clarity will help to make you more powerful. With this focus you can then look for opportunities to build greater knowledge and expertise in your area. Irrespective of what you need right now, look to develop further by finding out what the latest theories are. Build your own tool-kit of approaches and techniques which can make you stand out from the crowd.

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  1. Actively Manage Your Brand. Everyone will have built their own impression of what you represent. Some may think you’re a great networker; others could take the view that you’re a hard worker. What would you like them all to think about you? What would your ideal personal brand be like? Once you’ve worked this out, become active in promoting and managing your brand. Corporations spend millions doing this, so why not invest a little time yourself in building a powerful brand consistently?
  2. Make Use of Your Physical Characteristics. We are all of different shapes and sizes, and this can have a powerful effect on others. Depending on your goals, work and personal integrity, think through how you can make best use of what you were given. A naturally serious face can be used to effect as much as a heart-warming smile. Height, weight and good looks are proven to have an influential effect on others. Do the Personal Power Profile and discover the sources of power you use, and the ones you need to develop (complete here).
  3. Focus on Social Dimension. Very few people work in total isolation. The workplace is a social organisation and people will be naturally more inclined to help or cooperate with someone they like. Influence happens at a psychological level, so tune in to the social fabric of your workplace, mind your manners and create friends everywhere.
  4. Study Other Powerful People. You can simplify the building of power by working out what other successful people do around your organisation. Studying what gives them power can provide vital clues and short cuts which you could emulate. There are no golden rules to building power, but many have trodden this path before, so let them become your teachers. You don’t have to do what they do, but your learning can be integrated into the way you go about becoming more powerful.

And remember, power is what makes organisations function. It underlies the informal decision making processes, it affects who gets hired, fired and promoted. Resources are often allocated to the most powerful people and by becoming more powerful yourself — you increase your chances of greater success substantially.

If you found tis useful, you may also like: The Seven Sources of Power

 

Colin Gautrey

Provocative Coach/Mentor | Specialism: Impact and Influence

 

Ready to take the next step? Discover how personalised coaching can ignite your full potential and accelerate your success. When you’re ready, let’s talk about how we can work together to turn your vision into a reality.


 

The Gautrey Unleashed Blog

Ready to unleash your potential? Discover the secrets to achieving impact, influence, and lasting success. Subscribe to Gautrey Unleashed for practical insights that transform how you think, feel, and act.

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