Gautrey Unleashed

Develop Greater Enthusiasm

by

In many organisations today, the rational argument and maintaining objectivity is actively encouraged as a way of influencing those who are making decisions. However, don't be fooled — rational persuasion is not as effective as you might think. In reality, most decisions are based on the emotional reactions. The numbers are there to make it look professional. Many times, the rational argument supports the decision, other times, they contradict it. Although most would never admit it, the emotions usually sway the final decision — even if they do Read More

Influence Processes and Goals

by

As with so many things, having a clear and simple process to follow in order to maximise your influence with stakeholders will help you enormously as you strive to become an influential leader. I use my Stakeholder Influence Process to help guide my clients’ thinking and their action when influencing stakeholders (you'll find out more about this in Chapter 7 of Influential Leadership). The process isn’t complicated or profound, yet the output can be astonishing — and simple. The whole point of it is to gain clarity about the real world around what you are aiming to achieve — and then begin to make things happen (you can read  an introduction to the process here). The influence process begins with gaining greater focus on what it is you want to achieve. I have found that influence becomes much easier when you can be clear about what you want (to others and yourself). Sounds Read More

Purposes, Targets and Role Models

by

In order to establish a reputation, it really helps to understand what it will take to do this in the place or arena in which you want to land a big impression. The easiest way to gain this insight, and it will differ widely between organisations, is to study those who have already done it. Before you do this, you’ll need to answer another rather important question — who do you want to establish a reputation with? The things which will work and the things which will not work can only be understood if you know Read More

Assessing the Quality of Your Strategic Relationships

by

If you are responsible for large and complex relationships, there will inevitably be times when things are not going as smoothly as you would like. Perhaps that is putting it mildly. Many people I speak to who are playing a key role in strategic alliances or supplier relationships are finding it extremely tough at the moment. For many, having a reasonable relationship would be a major improvement. When things start to go wrong it is easy to get lost in the detail. The frustration caused by lack of delivery or unexpected costs keeps people focused on fixing (or fighting) the symptoms. Sitting back and reflecting on the quality of the relationship as a whole doesn’t generally happen until it gets to breaking point. By which time bad feelings, bruised egos and a multitude of other problems have to be dealt with too. Instead of waiting until this point, what you could do is Read More

Your Attitude towards Influencing Stakeholders

by

If you wish to be an influential leader, you need to start thinking seriously about how you influence stakeholders. These are the people who have something to gain, or to lose, from your work as a leader. When you think about influencing stakeholders, what thoughts come to mind? Do you think about it as an unwelcome extra task — on top of everything else you need to do? Perhaps you consider it to be something you shouldn’t need to do. After all, you Read More

Exploring Personal Agendas

by

Do you really know what the target of your influence is hoping to achieve? Most of the time, the professional agenda is known, at least in theory. However, the agenda that has the most impact on the individual you are influencing is usually their hidden or personal agenda. Personal agendas are carefully guarded. There may be tell-tale signs of what is really driving someone, but usually it is only their closest friends and colleagues who know what is going on. Not knowing this, can put you Read More

Exactly What Do You Want?

by

If you want to be influential, you need to set specific outcome orientated goals for your influence. You probably have very clear goals and targets in other parts of your role, and influencing should be no different. For most people at middle to senior levels, influencing is a major part of their work. Often influence falters because other people do not understand in enough detail what they are being asked to agree to. Most people have a vague notion of what they want to achieve, and vague notions don't communicate very well. Greater clarity will help them decide to support you, or indeed, uncover specific reasons why they cannot support you. Either way, you will move forward on your goals more quickly. You will be surprised just how Read More

Tough Challenges at Work

by

Organisations vary considerably in their culture and what is tough to one may be easy to another. For instance, I recall a headmaster bemoaning how hard and tough it was in his school. After spending a little time there, to me it seemed to pale by comparison to the corporate culture I was more familiar with. And that in turn was a cosy place compared to some city firms. The point is that it is less about the comparisons between organisations and more about Read More

Exploring Your Influencing Performance

by

Regardless of the reason why you believe that you find it difficult to influence, an important step in overcoming the challenge is to explore it in detail. What you need to do is to take a hard look at what you are experiencing, what the causes might be and then you can begin to develop solutions which will work in the short term as well as in the long term. Although geared towards your general level of skill, the questions below can also be focused on a specific influencing situation which you need to unblock. As you answer the questions, be totally Read More

Terms and Conditions

ALL CONTENT PROVIDED ON THIS SITE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY. YOU REMAIN FULLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ACTION YOU TAKE.

View Terms and Conditions

Footprint

We help professionals in organisations such as:

Accenture | AXA | Bank of America | Barclays | Citigroup | Clifford Chance | Credit Suisse | EDF | Ernst & Young | Fiat Chrysler | Fujitsu | GE | Goldman Sachs | GSK | IBM | Lloyds Bank | NHS | O2 | Orange | Pfizer | SAP | Shell | Tesco | UBS | Unilever | Zurich