Colin Gautrey

Are You an Influential Leader?

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It seems strange to have got almost to the end of this series of articles without having considered what it means to be an influential leader. The assumption that this term is understood took hold as early as the title of the series. Yet, I don't believe it would be right to finish the series without sharing my notion of what an influential leader is. A key reason for doing this is that if you have a clear idea of what you are aiming for, getting there is so much quicker. It also seems reasonable that if you are at a senior level, you will also want to foster a team of influencers to help you to achieve your goals. Below you will find my basic criteria. All of these need to be met convincingly for me to recognise someone as an influential leader. I have no doubt that you Read More

Concluding Thoughts on Becoming More Influential

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As I complete this series, I'd like to share with you some vital points to bear in mind as you move forward, continuing to become more influential. These ideas are based on my observations over the last ten years working exclusively in the field of power and influence. If you take each of these points on board, and build them into your way of working, they will serve you very well indeed. They will help you to move faster, get bigger results, and have more fun in the process. Influence isn't hard when you apply yourself diligently to each and every one of these points. Here they are then, seven critically important points Read More

Are You Becoming More Influential?

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This series of articles has focused on helping you to become more influential. Since this is the penultimate article, this is an important question to ask. My hope is that as you have been reading and digesting each article., and, as you have been thinking you will have been identifying different things which you can do to be more influential. If you have followed through and taken those actions, you will have learned something about influence. Hopefully, you will have been more influential. If not, you may have learned something else which will help you next time. Becoming more influential is about continually learning from experience and adjusting the way you act as you seek to influence. Many of the people I speak to who are making progress with their influence begin Read More

Leveraging Greater Power

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Mustering power in complex environments is the essence of Influential Leadership and the successful implementation of political campaigns (which were covered in the last article, Political Campaign Planning). Power needs to be a serious consideration at the strategic planning stage. A strategy, on its own, no matter how good it is, will fail unless it is backed with sufficient power to overcome the inevitable resistance and opposition. Earlier in this series, you were encouraged to identify powerful stakeholders without considering what makes people powerful. This article will fill that gap and develop your ability to quantify what makes people powerful within your organisation. Stating the obvious, in order to leverage more power, you have to do more with what you have got, you have to increase your power and/or you have to get powerful people to lend their power to your cause. Here is a summary (taken from Influential Leadership) of what can make Read More

Making an Impression

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Making a good impression is vital when it comes to influence. Most people hope they have made a positive impact on those they meet. As covered elsewhere, the more positively people are thinking about you, the more likely they are to be amenable to your influence. Investing time thinking about how you are creating an impression is valuable. Just by thinking about it you will automatically begin to make a better impression. Usually, subtle changes begin to happen, and it also offers the opportunity to discover specific actions you can take to improve the impact you are making. Begin by considering Read More

Extending Your Reputational Reach

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Now, as we approach the end of this series of articles, it occurs to me that I have missed a rather obvious part of this development theme. How could your reputational ambitions extend beyond your organisation? This is important because it can enable you to dramatically escalate both your visibility and your success in your current work as well as your future career. That it has been left until the end is good when I think about it. If I had covered it too early, it might have been a stretch too far. By attending to all of the other articles in this series first, you will have lost nothing and gained lots. Now, having clarified your goals and begun to make progress in building your reputation, it is time to stretch you further. In the beginning I made the assumption that you are seeking to establish your reputation within your organisation. However, that is only one possible arena for your activity. Here are Read More

Political Campaign Planning

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To really make things happen as a leader, especially in complex environments, you have to invest heavily in winning the hearts and minds of important stakeholders. Adopting a campaign approach will help you to step up from tactical influencing into the realms of the strategist or, dare I say it, the politician. By doing this, you will achieve far greater influence and get others doing the influencing for you. It will take less time and less effort to get the result. In order to do this, you have to put a serious amount of time into considering seven key aspects of political campaign planning, suitably adapted Read More

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