Gautrey Unleashed

Brand Expectations

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During a coaching session today I was taking a client through my approach to personal branding with three words. As is often the case, coming up with suitable words that really make an impact and allow for differentiation was easier said than done. We happened to have a map of career stakeholders up on the flip chart so to get the words flowing I asked him to quickly think of three words for one of these stakeholders. Then another. Then quickly into asking who is the most challenging, the most innovative, rebellious, etc. This really got the ideas flowing. Read More

Domination in the Workplace

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Yesterday at the airport, I had an interesting experience of domination which later provided much food for thought — and interesting parallels with workplace domination.. In a queue, the guy behind me was huge. Those who've met me know that I am not exactly small, but this man was massive, at well over six feet and I'd imagine around 30 stone (190 kg). As we stood in line, he used his bulk to begin intimidating me with his physical presence. Quite why I can only guess, but there were many little nudges from his belly, horse play with his tribe of minions and even the occasional breathing down my neck. Read More

What If — So What: The Continuum of Confidence

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Our thoughts so often conspire to defeat us, even before we’ve given it a go. Over the last few months I’ve been speaking with many people who have doubts about their performance — particularly when new to their role. The confidence which characterised their old job seems to have been left behind when they moved to the new desk. Sound familiar? When we dig a little deeper, it usually emerges that they based their confidence heavily on their technical capability in the old job and with relationships which had grown over a number of years. Nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that at some point change is going to occur. When you have confidence it usually means Read More

Maximising Your Impact

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If you wish to generate a more powerful impact on those around you, there are many things you can adjust. Some refer to this as Personal Branding, others call it Executive Presence. Whatever you call it, this is all about impression management — i.e. making a more deliberate impression in the minds of those you meet, rather than leaving it to chance. Let's face it, corporates spend billions doing just that, so why don't you invest a little time in this area? I've been working on this for a while now, and have come up with what I think is a great analogy — the graphic equalizer. The purpose of a graphic equalizer is to balance the relative strengths of Read More

Wrongfully Accused of Bullying

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Bullying is a growing problem facing organisations and the lawsuits flying about are attracting fee-hungry lawyers. It occurs to me that there is a rapidly rising risk that ambitious and well-meaning individuals could be falsely accused of bullying in their drive for results. If you are a particularly determined character, you need to take this risk seriously and do something about it before you end up with a blot on your otherwise glittering career record. Curiously, the Gautrey Influence Profile can provide clues about who is most at risk of this accusation. As a psychometric instrument, it determines preferred behaviour when seeking to influence. The two dimensions relevant here are Tact and Diplomacy and Determination. If you score Read More

How to Influence With Style

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The desire to influence other people is a natural part of being human. Your style of influence — how you act — has been established over the years by your experience and learning. Subconsciously, you will have found out what works for you. Yet each individual is different and different people will have found alternative styles of influence. Psychology suggests that, when it comes to being influenced, you will be more amenable when the other person is using the style you prefer to use. The implications of this are that, if you want to be more successful, you will need to learn how to be able to flex your style to match other people. This requires that you take a good, hard look at how you operate. There are many different aspects to consider and we’ve built up a comprehensive syllabus to develop people in their influencing and political capability. A key element of this is establishing your preferred style and then learning how to become more flexible. Read More

The Components of Power

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If you want to become more influential, understanding what power is can be extremely helpful. It is not complicated — it is simple. The concept is regularly spoken of, but rarely understood at a practical level. Jeffrey Pfeffer usually defines it as a capability to create influence. This definition combines skills, tactics and assets (see below). Most people focus on skills and tactics when they seek influence and fail to recognise the potency of the assets — many of which need to exist to create a strong foundation. Read More

Focus Your Personal Brand

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Corporations spend massive sums positioning their brand in the mind of their customers and the public. How much do you spend? Many people advocating the development of your Personal Brand will suggest you need to develop a catchy personal statement or tag line. Nothing wrong with that, except some can find it very difficult without marketing or wordsmithing skills. Instead, a quick and easy way to Read More

Investing in Your Network

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"I know I need to network, but I never seem to find the time" is a concern that many people share with me in the mentoring work I do. They have been sold on the benefits and have even made sure that they have the skills to do it effectively. Yet, somehow, life seems to push it to the bottom of the list of things to do. Often the reason is that they don't see an immediate payoff. Time is money and networking takes time — sometimes quite a lot of time. And it is true that most networking yields a payback in the medium to Read More

Women Want Influence

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Research into politics in the workplace has shown time and again that women are far more interested in politics than their male counterparts. Not only is the academic literature clearly demonstrating this, seminars and conferences that I have presented to over the years have had a significantly higher number of female attendees. Indeed, many have been women's networking groups, all keen to hear about politics in the workplace. However, it is wrong to conclude that this is a gender bias. In fact, my research has revealed that this extra interest is stimulated by membership of a minority group. Those in the minority have to focus much more on their Read More

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