Colin Gautrey

Practical Influencing: Enhancing Your Position

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Why is influencing so difficult today?

Many seem to struggle with gaining the influence they need in order to advance their results. The causes are many and varied. They include...
  • Pace of change
  • Scale of change
  • Pressure all around
  • Complex structures
What obstacles stand in the way of you gaining the influence you need to enhance your position? Read More

Power, Strategy and Organisational Structure

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Power is generally agreed to be the capacity to influence or get things done. Consequently, it has a massive impact on the decisions which an organisation makes. The more power you have, the more likely you are to be able to realise your objectives. So, it is natural that individuals and groups will be seeking power. Usually, the power structures within an organisation emerge as a result of strategy, performance, environment and ambition. Rarely are they created deliberately to match the strategy of the venture. Therefore, power is more of an output than an input. Yet, this is a little bizarre when you consider that the vast majority of decisions made by organisations are significantly shaped by the power positions of the interested parties. When agendas within an organisation so often appear to be conflicting, ignoring the power dynamics at the design (or restructure stage) is an omission which puts the realization of strategy into doubt.

Questions People Don't Ask

Since power trumps logic Read More

Would Your Team Choose You as Their Leader?

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While reviewing a book proposal a few weeks ago, it struck me that here was another great missive working on the assumption that people get to choose their leader. It was suggesting that what you need to do to be a great leader is figure out why your followers are following you. Nice idea, but, certainly in the world at work, most of those decisions are taken by a higher authority. Followers just have to put up with it, unless they are in the rare and cherished position of being able to simply walk. And, don’t delude yourself that because you recruited said followers, they chose you. Most often, new hires choose the job, not the person holding the leadership position. Of course, that you are a brilliant and inspiring individual must have counted somewhere in the decision, but was probably not the critical factor. As you develop your ability to lead, and help others learn how to lead, here is a great question to stimulate Read More

Leadership and Trust: Real Dilemmas

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Successful leadership and trust go hand in hand. Unless you have the trust of your team and those around you, your leadership is likely to stutter and fail. Probably not a catastrophic failure — most will be able to get through. However, the risk of friendly fire is high and the casualties will begin to mount — on your side among the supporters you hope will be loyal. Despite this obvious truth, trust in many places seems to be conspicuous by its absence. The odd thing is that often, when you look deeper, you discover that the individual leader is actually an inherently trustable human being. So, what is going wrong? Why are they not able to develop the trust in their leadership which they are so clearly capable of?

Trust Dilemmas

I have a hunch that the majority of the time it is because they are suffering from the influence the Read More

Outsourced Supplier Relationships: The Missing Link

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If you are working on either side of an outsourcing relationship, chances are that life is none too easy at the moment. Many people we talk to complain of the win-lose attitude that quickly develops after the deal has been done — each side looking to improve their own results at the expense of their “partner”.
  • Anna: “We need you to do this — why haven’t you done it?”
  • Carlos: “It’s not specified in the contract. Of course, we could do it, but it will cost you extra”.
  • Anna: “Yes, it is in the contract. We expect you to do it — and we’re not paying extra!”
We can easily speculate that Anna (on the client side) is representing the business users and is under pressure to get the service up and running. Now she is faced with the prospect of having to go back and ask for more funding — or simply fail Read More

How to Develop Your Personal Power

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Personal power provides you with a short cut to influence without the need to rely upon the use of political tactics. If you have sufficient power, people will do what you need them to do without you having to try too hard. Put another way, personal power is about gaining more control over what happens in your life — it enables you to be able to decide what you want to have happen in a particular situation. It doesn't mean that you always get your way, or that you should always get your way. Instead, it is increasing the potential that you have to influence things in a way that is convenient to you. You should also bear in mind that power is not necessarily an ugly concept. Two people can have identical power and use it differently depending on their morals and agenda, and it is the ethical stance which makes the use of power good or bad. Using your personal power to help others, provide greater value to your customers and colleagues and make the world a better place is certainly an activity to be encouraged! This guide brings together the key resources in the blog Read More

Which Style of Influence Is Best?

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As you start to learn about the different styles of influence, it is quite natural to begin to think about which one will give you the greatest benefit when you attempt to influence people yourself. On workshops, my standard response to this question is that the best style is the one which worked. A little explanation will help you to understand more about what is actually going on with different influencing styles and, therefore, how you can make the best use of this learning. As a recap, the influence profile considers four Read More

How to Influence: The Ultimate Secret

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The only reason it is a secret is that you have probably forgotten it, or it has become lost in the mass of knowledge and skills you have accumulated. It is not profound or clever — it is actually simple and easy to understand. If you remember it and keep it at the forefront of your mind as you go about your work, you will enjoy far more success. Over time, and with diligence, you will become highly influential and a natural leader. There are several components to this secret and all need to be aligned to make it truly effective for you. Because its wisdom is scattered in fragments throughout your busy mind, the secret loses power and impact. To gain the ultimate benefit, all you need to do is make it one of your core drivers, values or even your life's motto. I could be accused of exaggerating this as the ultimate secret; but if so, guilty as charged. My motive is to bring it to your attention because I am convinced it will help you and those around you. The ultimate secret of influence, I believe is... Read More

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