Colin Gautrey

Occupied Territory in the Meeting Room

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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

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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

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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!

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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

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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

Building Stronger Relationships

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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

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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.

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What You See Is What You Get vs. Tact

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Have you ever been told you need to be more tactful, stop wearing your heart on your sleeve or be a little more careful displaying your emotions? If so, you’re not alone. It needs to be addressed carefully, partly because it is usually perceived as being a prerequisite for senior management. I will admit that many may wonder if this is true when they look at their own senior management, but let’s stick with best practice, okay? Read More

Networking: Missing a Trick?

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Networking is a critical aspect of influencing skill. In our workshops, we find all manner of excuses thrown up, but having a vibrant network is vital to success in the long term (and the short term). Yet despite all the noise on the subject, in the press, in training programmes and on the bookshelves, I think something is missing — the focus on motivating people to want to do it! Research (from our Influencing Skills 360°) shows that people think the individuals they are scoring are pretty relaxed and effective at networking events. They even believe that those people are quite strategic about the way they do things. However, self-rating shows a different story. Most people feel uncomfortable, ineffective and that being strategic is almost a non-starter. Indeed, these items show the biggest perceptual difference out of all 42 skills we assess! Read More

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