Search Results for: trust

How to Discover New Ways to Influence Stubborn Stakeholders

October 5, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

If you want to influence a stakeholder who is resistant to your proposal, and you have already tried everything you can think of, try this...

Clarify exactly what you want them to agree to (how you want them to do, think, feel or believe etc.)
Select 5 to 10 people in your network whom you trust and who also know the stakeholder you are seeking to influence. Read More

How to Exert Maximum Influence

September 27, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

“What can I do to take the edge over my talented and ambitious colleagues?” “There are a lot of influential people here, how can I compete with them?” These are just two examples of the sort of questions I get asked regularly by people on my workshops and seminars. All of them wanting to be more successful — and genuinely wanting to deliver good value with integrity in an increasingly competitive internal market. As more people realise that influence is what makes it all happen, the bar is always rising. Here is a quick checklist of things to consider, which in my experience are probably not done, or at least not done well, by 95% of people I work with.

When it comes to a specific influence goal, think about your target and ensure that…

The Problems When You Curry Favour

September 22, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

When someone offers to do you a favour, what do you think? Are you grateful, pleased to have someone willing to lend a hand? Or, are you suspicious, wondering why they would want to help and suspecting they are driven by selfish intent? According to recent research at London Business School, your reaction is likely to be determined by the power relationship between you and the favour giver. If you are more powerful, there is a good chance that you will be suspicious. Less powerful, and you will probably be grateful. Apparently, the context seems to matter little ― work or marital relationships are similarly affected. Read More

The Seven Obstacles to Diplomacy

September 19, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

This post should not be viewed as a list of excuses for being tactless and upsetting people. Rather, it should be seen as a realistic look at the key challenges that we all face when it comes to effective communication with other people. Take a look at the obstacles below and see which ones are most likely to trap you. Then start to brainstorm what you can do to reduce the risk of the obstacle getting in the way of productive and successful relationships at work (or frankly, at home too!). 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

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

What Are You Hiding?

March 16, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

Sometimes, you may have the irresistible urge to hide your views, opinions and feelings from others. However, communication is far more complex than simply the words you use. Your inner thoughts and feelings can leak out in so many ways. You may be able to put on a good show, but often, other people can simply smell that something is wrong. As human beings, we are extremely well equipped to detect these subtle clues — albeit much of this is subconscious. The phrase “I smell a rat” springs to mind. Despite this, attempting a cover-up is often a very attractive option, particularly if you are meeting with formidable characters, or those who you think would be upset by your true thoughts. And yes, sometimes it is prudent to do this, but you need to take care because of the risk of your real attitude being detected. If you say one thing and the other person thinks you may be thinking or feeling something different, one could say that they have caught you being untruthful. That could have a big impact on the extent to which trust survives within your relationship. And, if you want to be more influential, trust is essential — well, if you want enduring influence it is! Whenever you notice the temptation to cover-up looming, consider... Read More

Faulty Assumptions: Influencing Mistake No. 2

February 20, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

On my top ten list of common influencing mistakes, this is perhaps the most troublesome. Faulty assumptions, particularly about agendas, can easily land you in serious trouble. This mistake is highly likely to stop you achieving your goal — eventually. In the meantime, it can create havoc in your work, among your stakeholders and it will consume a great deal of time and energy. The similarities with tripping over in the street are remarkable. As you start to fall, you seem to know you are going to hit the deck. Rather than trying to lessen the impact, lots of arm swinging ensues as you try in vain to recover your balance. That the spectacle you create is amusing to others can also be another painful similarity! Yet it is easy to slip into this. As we go about our work we naturally focus on what is important to us. We consider the benefits, calculate Read More

Personal Power and Influence

January 29, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

To be successful in your career, you need to be able to influence other people. This involves developing personal power. You will want people to think positively about what you do, listen and accept your ideas and also do things that you need them to do. This can include influencing someone to give you a job or promotion, delivering a key project where you need their input and help or even advocating your skills and talent to other more senior people. Little can be achieved without the ability to influence others. One of the key ways of growing greater influence is to focus on building your personal power. Power doesn't equal politics, so you don't need to become a Machiavellian character to introduce more power into your career — nor do you need to betray your integrity! In a nutshell… Read More

How to Map the Politics around Your Work

January 17, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

At some stage, if you want to be successful in any large organisation, you will have to become very adept at reading the politics. Yesterday, when writing an article about making an impact at the top table, the imperative of building political intelligence came into focus. Only when you have a firm grasp of what is really going on, can you start to navigate safely through the corridors of power. The usual way of building this insight is through many informal conversations over a period of several months, if not years. I am not talking necessarily about gossip, but rather the sharing of information, knowledge and insight which is one of the key benefits of effective networking. You can speed this up dramatically if you engage in a constructive process. Read More