The Blog | Gautrey Unleashed

Are You an Ethical Influencer? 21 Questions

January 3, 2013 by Colin Gautrey

It is very rare that I meet an unethical influencer ― thankfully! However, there are many I meet whom I wonder about. They operate on the fringes of integrity, in my view. Trouble is, as I have explained elsewhere, integrity means different things to different people. Right and wrong quickly descend into “it depends”. And this is a growing dilemma given the global diversity so many of us now live with. When I am training people about influence, perhaps conveniently, I often dodge the ethical question. Partly due to the wide divergence of opinion, but mainly because I want people to take responsibility for their own actions ― at the end of the day people on my training workshops have to live with their own conscience. Yet, I do have an increasingly clear personal notion of Read More

Building Trust in a New Relationship

December 11, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

The importance of trust in building long-term relationships should be evident to all. A few months back, I suggested a few ways of Building Trust Beyond the Obvious and here I want to step back a little and explore how trust begins when we meet someone for the first time. Understanding the process by which trust emerges can enhance the possibility that you will get it moving a little quicker ― trust doesn’t have to take a lifetime to build. Assuming you have already read Trust and Integrity Made Simple, you will understand that both parties will have mutual feelings of trust, and that these levels may vary. The best relationships have broadly equal feeling of trust on both sides. Any serious imbalance is going to cause problems, sooner or later. Read More

How to Develop Genuine Gravitas

November 6, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

Can you spot a fake? When it comes to gravitas, I believe that anyone with a reasonable amount of experience can easily detect when someone is pretending. They may not be able to explain why, but they will certainly get the feeling that the individual they are considering is not all that they appear to be. Gravitas and presence is a key topic within leadership development circles. Maybe you have been told you need to develop gravitas if you want to get promoted to the higher levels. Certainly, talent spotters and recruiters always have at the back of their mind, "Has this person got the gravitas required of this role?" Read More

Being Secretive and Hiding Inconvenient Truths

October 22, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

"Whatever you do, don't tell them that!" "But, when they find out, it'll come back to bite us." "We'll worry about that when and if it happens. Now, go get them to agree to our plan." Sound familiar? While this is often seen as an expedient tactic, it is usually short-sighted and creates a multiple of problems upstream. However there are exceptions. My starting position is that to maximise success, you should proactively pursue open and honest communication, even with those who oppose you. This topic arose on a workshop a few weeks ago in a workshop as we were reviewing delegates experience of using my Stakeholder Influence Process (see Chapter 13 of Advocates & Enemies. When we analyse stakeholders, one of the dimensions under consideration is “agreement”. Between the positive and the negative there is what I call the grey zone, or rather those people whom you are unsure about ― you don’t quite know if they have bought into your idea or not. The general strategy is to work with those stakeholders to move them out of the grey zone; even if this is into the negative agreement space ― at least then you know what you have to deal with. However, one delegate suggested that his strategy is Read More

13 Questions to Ask Your Advocates

September 2, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

Getting someone in your network to the position of Advocate can take quite a bit of hard work. Building the relationship, creating trust and demonstrating value can take months, if not years. Of course, that presupposes premeditated action — it is more likely that you just landed there by chance. And doesn’t it feel great noticing how an individual promotes “brand you” to everyone they meet? Finding out through others that “so and so” has been telling everyone how fast you deliver, or how quickly you cut through the trivia and get down to business. Even more rewarding is when they are heard to be recommending you for inclusion on exciting new projects. Because it is more likely that you happened upon your Advocates by chance, you might like to do a little re-evaluation to make sure you have the right people doing the job for you. To get your thinking off to a quick start, here are a few interview-type questions you could (but probably never will) ask of a potential Advocate… Read More

In Defence of Being Nice

August 24, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

If you are one of the many people who get told that they are too nice, hold on a minute. Just because your line manager or mentor has said this to you doesn’t mean you should change. Why?

Nice works. Not in all situations I grant you, but there is a lot to be said for the benefits of being nice, particularly in the longer term (check out The Power of Nice by Linda Kaplan Thaler). Read More

23 Things You Can Do Today to Increase Your Influence

June 15, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

If you want to become more influential, you must pause — but not for long. Action is essential, but action without thought is stupid. So, let's pause a moment to think about simple ways you can act to increase your influence, 23 things you could do today. Now, I insist that the first two are mandatory, and need to be completed right now. The rest you can cheery pick the most relevant and useful.

Influence Action No. 1

Go and get a coffee and a notebook. Influence takes preparation. Spend 15 minutes thinking about the ideas below and how they could apply to your situation. A little common sense will be required as you translate them into the challenges you face, but a little caffeine should help you stay alert to this.

Influence Action No. 2

Make a firm commitment, to yourself, to identify three actions for influence you can take today, inspired by this list, to become more influential — in the next 15 minutes. With the first two influence actions already completed, let's move on to the main list. As you scan, note down each one that you “could do”. Later, refine them to what you “will do”. Read More

Leading Your Team with the Stakeholder Influence Process

May 30, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

We've already covered how to use the process when managing individuals, now let's talk about how you can leverage it with your whole team. The outline approach below usually yields three key benefits. Firstly, it helps to identify clearly what each individual needs to do to move the team goals forward. Secondly, it helps everyone to share their insights and experience and learn from each other. Finally, it can have a massive impact on the prospects that your team will deliver the results. At your next team meeting... Read More

Building Trust Beyond the Obvious

May 22, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

Over recent months we have been engaged in debates about trust on many platforms. This has convinced me even more of the benefits of focusing on building trust in relationships. On workshops, I often ask the question, "How can you build greater trust in your relationships?" The response is usually fairly predictable and comes down to doing what you say you're going to do, telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth — and several similar ideas. Yet, I think we can go beyond this. Here are a few ideas... Read More

Power Vacuums and Unstable Systems

April 19, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

In 2008, I wrote about Power Vacuums in Political Dilemmas at Work which I defined as...

"Your boss has moved on and a successor has yet to be appointed. Suddenly nobody is quite sure what to do."

Except this isn't quite true, is it? People who are adept at navigating the politics of the organisation will know exactly what to do. The dilemma is only a dilemma if you don't know what to do. This simple and common event offers a fascinating example of how the organisational power structures live and breathe and understanding this dynamic can certainly be a career saver. Read More

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