Client Confidential | Gautrey Unleashed

Exploring Your Leadership Purpose

June 18, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

This text is taken from the original draft manuscript of Influential Leadership: A Leader's Guide to Getting Things Done and is provided here to enrich your learning on the Strategic Influencer Programme. You need to define your purpose in a manner which is appropriate for you. What is right for you will depend on many factors including your experience, age, values, position, responsibilities, capability and ambition. To make the most of the contents of this book, your purpose needs to be sufficiently stretching to mean that you will be stepping out of your comfort zone. It will need to be something which will force you to think differently either about your current role, or take you into uncharted waters entirely. You will need to take a sensible view on Read More

A Graduate Lesson in Influence

June 15, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

My work gets me talking to all sorts of people, facing all manner of challenges. One of my recent mini-consultations got me talking to Jessica, a graduate in her first job. Personally, I believe that many people twice her age need to pay heed to the simple ideas I shared with her. Do you?

Dear Jessica,

It was great chatting to you the other day. Rarely do I have the opportunity to talk with someone so new into the workplace. Nor, if I may say so, one so forward thinking to be Read More

Mapping Your Stakeholders

June 9, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

Having a list of stakeholders is a good start; but to get a sense of the priorities, you need to understand their position relative to your Influencing Goal and to each other. That way you can begin to see the bigger picture and develop a clear strategy to accelerate towards your goal. Using the Stakeholder Influence Map (below), the general idea is that you plot the name of each (impactful) stakeholder based on where you think they are in terms of Read More

Colin Gautrey on Influential Leadership

March 31, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

Colin Gautrey has now joined an elite group of experts on influence featured in the Skillsoft range of corporate training videos. These experts include Dr. Robert Cialdini (Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion), Dr. Jeffrey Pfeffer (Managing with Power) and Dr. Allan R. Cohen (Influence without Authority). The short video below contains highlights of Colin talking about Influential Leadership.

Remote / Virtual Influence

March 2, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

These days, more and more people need to be able to influence people remotely, or virtually. Because of the geographical spread of many teams, this is an remote influence is an increasingly important skill to acquire. For instance, how Read More

A Political Perspective for Project Managers

March 2, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

In the opening chapter of my new book, A Project Manager's Guide to Influence, I suggest that the purpose of a project is to:

"Alter the structure and balance of power within an organisation, often under the guise of legitimate activity."

To be honest, I don't much mind if this is true or not. The purpose of saying it is to stimulate new thinking and new ideas. It reminds me of Po, an Edward de Bono creative thinking process. Po is a word de Bono created to signal a provocation — a statement that should be imagined to be true. If it is true, what then? If you are running a project and finding things difficult, pause for a moment and consider Read More

Trying to Impress the Boss? Don’t Try Too Hard

January 7, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

The trouble with bosses is that they can have such a massive effect on your life. They can decide to promote you or fire you. To a great extent, your future is in their hands. Making a good impression becomes vital. Shine in their eyes and you will rise. They will favour you with the best development opportunities, your performance reviews will be a foregone conclusion and as for pay? Well, they will do what they can. A bad impression with the boss, well, where are you going Read More

The Practice of Stakeholder Management

January 5, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

If you need to get things done, you need to get your stakeholders on your side. In my recent book, Influential Leadership: A Leader's Guide to Getting Things Done I shared a process I have been evolving over the last ten years. Here is a short video, taken during a recent workshop, that considers the more practical aspects of using this process to engage with your stakeholders. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EXz7Xj9NNk There is a great deal more Read More

Seven Ways to Build Extraordinary Trust

January 3, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

If you want to become more successful at selling, make sure that your customer trusts you. It doesn't matter what you are selling (product, service or idea), or who you are selling to (client, colleague or spouse). The more trust you engender, the more likely they will buy. There is no need to waste your time here with lengthy rationale. Just consider the last time you bought something from someone you distrusted. My bet is that you'll find it quite hard to think of an example. Much easier is to think of a time when you bought something from someone you did trust. How did you feel about the transaction? What difference does it make to you that you trusted the individual (or company)? Rather than debate how you might be able to Read More

How to Manage a Crisis

December 22, 2014 by Colin Gautrey

Once upon a time, I suggested to my MD that if he didn’t give me a crisis, I would make one. Never afraid of a crisis and confident in my ability to manage, effectively what I was saying was that I was bored and wanted some excitement. He duly obliged and I didn’t have to create any problem. Fortunately, at that time I had the benefit of lots of experience in managing difficult situations, so I was pretty confident I could handle what he threw at me ― and I did. We all have to start somewhere, so here are a few thoughts about what I have learned about managing people during times of crisis. BEFORE you do any of this, make sure Read More

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