The Blog | Gautrey Unleashed

Top Ten Ways Bosses Annoy Their Team Members

March 1, 2016 by Colin Gautrey

Having sifted through hundreds of responses and comments over the last few weeks, I am now able to reveal the top ten things that annoy people about their boss. You can use this list as a boss, to score yourself, do some self-reflection and perhaps, begin to mend your ways. On the other hand, you might be inclined to give yourself a nice pat on the back. If so, watch out for that old twin demons of delusion and complacency. Alternatively, maybe you are getting a little annoyed with your boss at Read More

The CXO Guide to Influence

December 9, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

Although originally stimulated by the CIO Legacy Report, this guide will be of value to any CXO, or aspirant CXO in need of boosting their capability to influence stakeholders, especially internal stakeholders. Right now, I don't intend to address the critical need for high levels of influencing skills, except to say that the less you have by way of natural sources of power, the more you need to be able to influence. And by influence, I mean getting genuine buy-in from key powerful stakeholders who can help or hinder your progress. Based on my work with many executives and directors over the last 10 years, there are five key areas you need to focus on. All successful CXOs will score highly on each of these. Read More

Making a BIG Impact in Your Organisation

October 27, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

If you want to make it big in your organisation, especially if it is a really busy place, you've got your work cut out. The competition is intense. Hundreds, if not thousands, of ambitious and talented people all jockeying for position. Trying to get their voice heard. Clamouring for attention so they can push forward their ideas and land their results. Talent hoping to get spotted. Many give up, using the excuse that they don't do politics. Or, that their sense of integrity prohibits self-promotion. Instead, they settle in to their professional discipline. They develop ever greater technical or subject matter expertise. After all, this is what they really enjoy. Yet, behind the myriad and convincing excuses lurks, a doubt, and a wish. Read More

Igniting Your Ambition

October 13, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

"If you were really talented, you wouldn't need to be here, and you wouldn't need us." This is how I opened the first event of a group of our company's brightest and best, joining our top talent development programme. To say my colleagues on the organising team were shocked was an understatement. Not to mention the jolt it gave the audience. Not what they were expecting. Although this was many years ago, the principle still resonates with me. My belief is that really talented people are extremely good at developing themselves. They are highly motivated, have a good Read More

Influencing Strategy Guidelines and Examples

September 10, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

Article restricted for participants on our online training programmes. When developing your influencing strategy, especially when you are considering your analysis on a stakeholder map, I recommend that you ensure it addresses all of the following guidelines: Read More

Dismantling Power Bases: Proceed with Caution

September 9, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

No, this is not a second coming of Niccolò Machiavelli. It is just that sometimes it is prudent to take action to remove powerful opposition – for all the right reasons. When this is on the agenda with coaching clients, what we are doing is evolving a clear strategy and plan of action to substantially shift power towards them. This means that others will lose a significant amount of power when my client succeeds. Which means, the stakes are high. If you think this is something you should do, bear in mind the main pros and cons. Read More

An Audience with Your New Boss

June 22, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

Bosses generally don't tend to stick around too long these days, and those who do, you probably wish they didn't. Frequently, bosses, being ambitious types, get promoted or move on to more exciting opportunities. That's if they are good. If they are not so clever, they get fired or choose to spend more time with their family. Regardless of why they go, their departure means that you are going to have a new boss to work for. People commonly approach this event with a Read More

What’s Missing from Your Relationships at Work?

May 12, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

During a closing coaching call with a senior project manager the other day we were reviewing how he had transformed his performance. He had made substantial progress on all of the traits of a professional influencer, but still something was missing. His SVP had congratulated him on the change, especially on his political awareness and analysis, but he thought my client should do something to improve his relationships with other senior executives. He couldn’t be specific, he just said vaguely that they needed to be better. As we discussed the problem it was clear that he had built levels of trust with his stakeholders (well, all bar one, but that's another story). He was adding significant value, engaging frequently and cultivating two-way problem-solving. In fact, many of his stakeholder were now beating a path to his door to seek his input. So, what was the SVP talking about? Finally, we hit upon the Read More

Nine Traits of a Professional Influencer

April 9, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

What proportion of your job is about influencing others? Probably quite a bit. What proportion of your time is spent influencing others? Probably not enough. If influence is a major part of your job and you are not doing enough of it, why is that? Chances are quite high that is due to one of the following:

You don't have the time.
You forget you need to do it.
You cannot reach the people you need to influence.
You're not very good at it.

All bar one of these are excuses as far as I am concerned. Once you know the value influence can bring, you will find the time, remember to do it, and discover ways to reach those you need to reach. As with so many challenging activities, motivation is key. The last one can still trip you up though, so you have to work hard to get really good at influencing people. As part of the transformation I take clients through, I like to get them to explore what success looks and feels like. In addition to asking them to describe role-model influencers, I share with them the traits I have noticed in those who have attained an exceptional level of influencing skill. While you are reading these, give yourself an honest score Read More

I’m Right, You’re Wrong: Influence Undercurrents

March 30, 2015 by Colin Gautrey

There is a particularly unhelpful undercurrent flowing beneath the surface of many influencing attempts. Over the last few weeks I have spoken to many people. It is part of my research into the challenges that are holding people back from success. In many of them, I am getting the feeling that they hold the opinion that the person they wish to influence is wrong. For example, Jane. She wanted to know how to influence her boss, Lukas. She wanted him to support a particular project she was desperate to get off the ground. Jane took me through the rational argument. It was a no-brainer, "Why doesn't he get it? It's obvious we should do it!" As we talked I could feel Read More

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