At a recent workshop, one delegate quipped after the stakeholder mapping exercise, that he needed to be very careful not to leave his map lying around. My response was: "Well interestingly, quite often, you see some dramatic impacts when you start to share this, particularly with stakeholders who are not agreeing you. Even enemies, you can lay it on the table." Another delegate responded aghast, that, "How could you possibly accuse a stakeholder of being an enemy?" Read More

When you want to get something done, you will use the approach that is most likely to be affective for you. That is based on your experience, your skills, your capabilities, what's worked for you in the past. In fact, you'll have your own subconscious rulebook about the way these things should be decided, the way you should get what you want, because it's worked for you in the past. Read More

We've all had them. Emails land from powerful people, criticising either us or what we're doing, what we're proposing. When those emails land, there will always be an emotional first reaction. Maybe frustration, annoyance, embarrassment, or even anger. We take them personally because, well, they feel personal – even though in reality, they're probably not. Read More

A few years ago after a workshop, a lady came up to me expressing some deep concern that she was running out of time. As we started chatting, I discovered that she was very ambitious, wanted to achieve much more by way of position and responsibility in her career, but at the age of 49, she was running out of time. This took me by surprise if I'm totally honest, because I'd never really looked at it like this. Read More

When you're starting to think about building your reputation, one of the things that is really important to consider of the answer is exactly where is it you want to build your reputation. This can make a huge difference to the sort of things that you are going to need to do to be able to create the impression that you want to create. That arena, as I call it, could be your company, your profession, or maybe your industry. Read More

“Work can be an exciting adventure if you empower yourself with greater influence”

The purpose of the Blueprint for an Exciting Adventure at Work is to help you to transform the way you look at the world, your world. It is not a linear process, but one that you jump around and keep coming back to. Each time you do, you’ll end up going deeper.

Once your course is set, then you have to develop the influence, and all of the work I have done in the last 15 years will come to your aid.

Here is how it all connects to the world of influence:

• As you develop your ideas on what you want, define clear influencing goals, use the stakeholder influence process and become more strategic in pursuit of your exciting adventure.
• Inevitably, handling today, and moving towards tomorrow means that you have to learn how to tackle the politics, and the varied interests of those in your arena.
• To reach your goals, you’ll need to become exceptionally good at creating amazing relationships with people who can help you.
• You will also need to be pretty active creating the right impression, building the right reputation, to flow swiftly to the place you want to be.

So, stay tuned, make use of the search facility on the website, and keep learning more about how to influence your world and your life, so it becomes what you want it to be.

As you know, I’ve been working through the Blueprint too, and discovered three things that will have a marked impact on how I support you next year:

1. A huge amount of my time has been spent agonising over what problems and challenges you might be facing.
2. Another great slug of time has been spent trying to figure out how best to help you with the problems I think I’ve imagined you may have.
3. Hell, then I’ve been worrying so much about how best to engage you in this so I can help you.

Quite simply, I’ve decided to stop it and go for a walk instead – preferably in the mountains.

It’s silly really, I know the problems, inside out and back to front. I don’t know your particular version of the problems unless you’ve engaged with me in some way.

So, instead of wasting time on a fruitless activity, I’m just going to invest in sharing short, stimulating ideas in the belief that they will help in some way. And there is lots coming, because I got a new process that allows me to dictate while I walk!

Then, if you want to engage with me, I’ll be here, ready able and willing to support your exciting adventure.

Oh, one final thing, I’ve also “chosen” to believe that I haven’t even reached the halfway point in my career, so I’m going to around for a very long time!!

 

 

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The Gautrey Influence Blog

Ever felt overlooked, unheard, or stuck in office politics? You’re not alone. The Gautrey Influence Blog breaks down the real-world strategies behind leadership, influence, and power—giving you the tools to be heard, respected, and successful. Join 35,000+ professionals getting ahead the smart way—subscribe now..

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Big bold vision, brave new world? You have radical ideas. Be careful where they land. "I only want an extension on my kitchen, and maybe a playroom for the kids." Read More

All those who have been working through the Blueprint for an Exciting Adventure will be in different places right now. A few of you will likely be flying along. Having landed today, got in touch with tomorrow, you will have come up with a clear strategy, plans and be running fast by now. If you are one of these two or three individuals who are flying, skip to the bottom of this article for the final stretch target. Some of you will have made good progress in ...

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One of the surprising shortcuts to influence is to construct or articulate what you want to happen in terms that relate to a powerful person and how they believe they are powerful. If you can show them that by saying yes to you, they will become more powerful, aka more influential – then you are on to a winner. Provided you have credibility and you can deliver. Now some might say, "Well shouldn't you be working on making yourself more powerful?" Read More