Gautrey Unleashed

Developing Tact and Diplomacy

by

At its heart, tact and diplomacy is the skill of being sensitive to the feelings and opinions of other people. Those who possess it in great quantity are naturally able to sense what is really going on in the minds of others, and then respond with a certain delicacy of feeling that influences many people extremely well. The downside is that too much tact and diplomacy can irritate rather than influence other people. Two of my most popular articles on tact and diplomacy illustrate the problem well. Decoding and Resolving Personality Conflicts explains how personality clashes occur and what to do about them.This can go much further, and in Are You a Bully? Are You Sure You Aren't? I cite 21 common behaviours that may land you in trouble, deep trouble. Putting all of this into context, tact and diplomacy is one of four dimensions of influence we identified when creating the Gautrey Influence Profile back in 2005. Each of these is important to overall influencing capability. When we are using the profile to coach individuals to become more effective, we aim to help them to be able to balance the dimensions and to flex their style according to the situation. The decision you make about the level of tact and diplomacy to use should be based on the person you are seeking to influence. Your capability to respond accordingly requires not only awareness, but also the skill to be able to adapt your behaviour. Read More

Shrewd Investments in Networking

by

Everyone is told they need to network. We all know the benefits; or at least we know them intellectually. Yet it still takes time and effort to get out there and do what you need to do. And, of course, we do not have very much time to spare. Getting a little more focus helps to make it easier to do. Instead of thinking of networking as a cost (time, energy and cash),think about it in terms of an investment. Convert the time and energy into a monetary equivalent. Now... Read More

Occupied Territory in the Meeting Room

by

We all know about power positions in meetings, head of the table, back to the window, etc., but you can also consider how much space people try to occupy. Next time you are waiting for a busy meeting to commence, look around the room to see how the other people attending have marked out their territory. Those who are feeling powerful, or wish to appear that way, will take up as much room at the table as they can. Papers will be arranged, folders spread, and mobiles, tablets, etc., arranged to consume as much of the available space as they think they can get away with. People who are feeling out of their depth, lacking in confidence or, frankly, in awe of the assembled powers, will tend to Read More

Challenging Formidable Characters

by

Some senior people have a reputation for demolishing people in big meetings. Not only do they have strong opinions about the task in hand, they also exercise considerable skill in destroying any challenges to their opinions. Or so it seems. This approach is often accompanied by a brusque style, blunt to the point of rudeness, and they have very high levels of determination. If you operate at middle to senior levels in any large organisation, you know who I’m talking about! Challenging these people can be Read More

Diagnosing Your Opposition

by

One of my favourite phrases relating to Stakeholder Management is, “if you don’t have any opposition, you aren't trying hard enough” (refer to Chapter 7 of Influential Leadership). While I am not suggesting that you should go looking for opposition, if you are ambitious, it is important that your plans and ideas are strong enough to provoke disagreement, or at least vigorous debate. When disagreement arrives, it is often veiled in a cloak of assumptions and faulty communications. So, it is important when deciding how to respond to pause for a moment to check out what could be going on. Even if you cannot figure out the root cause, going through the process will highlight the gaps in your information. If someone is opposing you, it could be due to one or more of the following Read More

Hate Networking? You Are Not Alone!

by

Since launching the original research and questionnaire on influencing skills, we have had thousands of people self-assess or rate others on their influencing skills. 74% say they could improve on their networking and an incredible 34% cited it as their weakest influencing skill area. So, if you don’t like going to those ‘events’ or fabricating an excuse to go talk to someone while you have more important tasks to focus on, you are by no means alone! In my experience, I believe that most people have the capability to network, but lack the motivation to do it. They either see it as a pointless activity or a contrived engagement which lacks authenticity (or legitimacy, or both). Despite the pressure from above to network Read More

Engaging Your Critics

by

In the lexicon of my book, Advocates & Enemies, a Critic is an individual who you have a great relationship with (trust, openness and frequency), but they disagree with what you are seeking to achieve. Because of the strength of your relationship with them, these are special friends who can provide immense benefit to help you stretch your performance and pressure test your proposals. If the relationship is poor, they will more likely be an Enemy (okay, a strong word to use, but provocative by intent). So engage positively with Critics because they can help you so much. The best approach to engage with them depends on the type of Critic they happen to be. If you pause a few moments to reflect on this, you are likely to be able to engage with them far more effectively. In the book, I highlighted a number of different Critics… Read More

Book: Advocates and Enemies: How to Build Practical Strategies to Influence Your Stakeholders

by

advocates and enemiesSorting your Enemies from your Advocates, your Players from your Critics, is just one step in the Stakeholder Influence Process described in this book. Developed by the author while working with executives, leaders, and managers around the world, this process is powerful and simple. It will help you to achieve your goals faster and with greater buy-in. In just one hour you can be up and running with a new strategy to influence your stakeholders.

Don’t buy this book if you have the time and inclination for studying theoretical concepts. You’ll be disappointed in less than an hour.

Do buy this book if you’re in a hurry and want to accelerate your achievements and your goals. You’ll be moving faster in less than an hour.

Reviews…

“Colin is very engaging in his workshops and it is great to see the way he has captured his energy and enthusiasm, along with his simple techniques, in such a concise book. I think you’re going to enjoy this and I hope it brings you even greater success in the future.” Foreword by Dr. Gary Ranker, The Global Senior Executive Coach.

“In today’s world of work where traditional organizational hierarchy is less important than your influencing and networking skills, Advocates & Enemies will help you take simple actions to significantly increase your chances of being successful and build collaborative relationships. Colin cuts to the chase and skips the theory.” Paul Jon Martin, Global HR Business Partner, Group Operations, Zurich Insurance Company Ltd.

“There is a powerful underpinning integrity to the way that Colin illustrates his insights and expertise. This book is a gem that stands out from the crowd and I would recommend it wholeheartedly.” Liggy Webb, author of The Happy Handbook.

“This is a book which contains some simple yet profound truths about our ability to persuade and influence others. It is an important book and its impact should be immense.” Damian Hughes, author of Liquid Thinking.

(see all reviews)

In addition to learning how to use the process, you will also be shown how to: decode organizational power and its impact on decision making, explore conflicting agendas, analyse risks and opportunities and create stronger business relationships. Packed full of simple and practical ideas, it will not take you long to discover something new that you can do to become more successful. It doesn’t matter what level you have reached; if you want to become more influential, and you want to make big things happen, this book will help you!

 

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.

.

 

 

Building Stronger Relationships

by

Over the last few years, I have been working with organisations to help them to develop their relationships with suppliers and other strategic partners. Part of this involved us researching the characteristics of highly successful (and the not so successful) alliances and partnerships. We noticed three key themes which were symptomatic of excellent relationships. What was interesting is that these themes easily translate into individual relationships too, and it's therefore worth taking a look for anyone who wants to build stronger relationships of any kind. The great news is that they are pretty easy to understand and also to take action on – you don’t need to go into mediation to make big strides on these themes! Read More

The Big Seven Stakeholder Management Mistakes

by

These are the seven most common mistakes I see people making when it comes to Stakeholder Management. If you can avoid all of these, whatever process you are using, you will enhance your success dramatically.

Mistake 1: Not doing it.

Often methods of stakeholder management are only called for when something is going wrong. If things are generally going in the right direction you may not even hear the word stakeholder! Stakeholder Management should be a proactive process that can make things which are going well go even better!

Mistake 2: Doing it late.

Struggling with the problems that are being thrown up by people, dealing with symptoms and issue logs usually doesn't get to the root causes or the strategic solutions. Stakeholder Management should be an approach to stop problems cropping up in the first place and being ready with mitigating actions should the worst come to pass.

Read More

Terms and Conditions

ALL CONTENT PROVIDED ON THIS SITE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY. YOU REMAIN FULLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ACTION YOU TAKE.

View Terms and Conditions

Footprint

We help professionals in organisations such as:

Accenture | AXA | Bank of America | Barclays | Citigroup | Clifford Chance | Credit Suisse | EDF | Ernst & Young | Fiat Chrysler | Fujitsu | GE | Goldman Sachs | GSK | IBM | Lloyds Bank | NHS | O2 | Orange | Pfizer | SAP | Shell | Tesco | UBS | Unilever | Zurich