“The greatest ability in business is to get along with others and influence their actions.”
John Hancock
Last month I gave a talk on influence in the workplace. We spent some time exploring the difference between influence and persuasion. One of the participants felt that persuasion brings to mind someone getting you to do something that you might not really want to do. Influence on the other hand is all about creating “win win” situations.
The word “influence” comes from the Latin, "influere", which means "to flow into". The ancient Romans believed select individuals had special powers flowing into them from the gods. The assumption of strength and power and uniqueness remains to this day. To be regarded as a person of influence is to have power.
Chain-of-command hierarchies are obsolete. Today we function in networked, team-oriented organizations. To be successful we need to be able to influence others-especially those over whom we have no direct control.
Consider Ray Anderson who started Interface, Inc., in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1973. Every year his factories produced hundreds of gallons of wastewater and nearly 900 pollutants. Then Anderson read Paul Hawkens' book, The Ecology of Commerce. And he knew he had to change the way his organization did things.
At its plant in LaGrange, Georgia, Interface used to send six tons of carpet trimmings to the landfill every day. By June of 1997, it was sending none. At Guilford of Maine, a division of Interface, new computer controls installed on boilers not only reduced carbon monoxide emissions by 99.7%, but also improved the boilers' efficiency. The result - waste decreased and profits increased.
Anderson did a masterful job of persuading an entire organization to change. Admittedly he had the advantage of being the CEO. But many CEOs are not able to shift their organizations. Great plans die because leaders can’t figure out how to change people’s behaviors. Research shows that 70 percent of change initiatives fail because those who are to carry out the work are not engaged.
True influence is about understanding how to work with, and through others, to achieve a stated objective while staying true to your core values and maintaining your integrity.
There are three factors to consider in influence; emotion, strategy and consequences.
Emotion:
Ninety percent of decisions are emotional. In fact even with what we believe are logical decisions, the very point of choice is arguably always based on emotion. To influence means we must have the ability to connect with people at a fundamental level. No matter how logical your arguments you have to appeal to people’s emotions.
Research shows that we do business with people we like and avoid those we don’t like. So the more in tune you are with people you are trying to influence - the more they will be open to influence.
What to do:
• Develop relationships well in advance of attempting to influence. Understand and connect with the people you want to influence so that you are the person they like and trust.
• Help people to see the emotional benefits of the facts and figures so it’s easy for them to come to a point of decision.
Strategy:
Your likelihood of influencing others will increase significantly if you have a strategy or plan of action. People will feel far more comfortable if they see you have a vision and a path to achieve that vision.
The psychology of influence tells us that people respond more favourably to solutions if they believe the plan of action came from them. Find a way to link your strategy with their ideas.
What to do;
• Build a plan of action when trying to influence for a project. Show people you have thought about the issues.
• Link your strategy to pet ideas of the people you are attempting to influence.
• Link your strategy to corporate strategy to show strategic thinking and a willingness to plan for the good of all.
Consequences:
Influence is built upon making others successful. When you are trying to influence others ensure that your solution deals with their pain points and/or achieves goals and objectives of interest to them. Often the need to protect against pain takes priority over everything else.
What to do:
Understand the concerns of the people you are attempting to influence. Build your approach with their needs, not yours, in mind.
Influence is all about facilitating for mutual benefit. Take a real interest in the success of others, be likeable and focused on offering real results in a strategic fashion that mitigate any potential pain for the person you are trying to influence.
And finally, remember enthusiasm is contagious. Believe in your project, like the people you are attempting influence and be credible.
Nicky Fried is the principal of Nicky Fried Consulting Inc. She helps organizations to translate strategy and change so that employees understand where the organization is going and how they support it through their daily actions. Learn more about us at www.nickyfried.com
Friday, April 9, 2010
Discovering your unique ability
My coach has me on a journey to discover my innate ability.
Innate ability is that which comes naturally to us. It is our preferred mode of operation; it is instinctual. We do it very well and we get a great deal of satisfaction from work performed in this mode. However, because it is instinctive we tend to take it for granted – until someone points out how valuable it is.
Some of you may remember a book “Now Discover your strengths” by Buckingham and Clifton. The premise of the book is that we should build on our strengths and if we do we will be successful.
In reality we often train our weaknesses which means that we end up with mediocre weaknesses. Why not train our innate strengths for excellence! Imagine our organizations full of people employed for their strengths and trained to become outstanding in the areas where they have natural talent. Sports people do this all the time – with obvious rewards.
It’s a “win win” when employees are operating in their natural mode. They are happy and more productive and the organization gets the benefit of an employee who does a darn good job with passion. I had coffee with a woman yesterday who used to work for a large financial institution in town. She found her passion for facilitation quite by chance and realized where she wanted to spend the rest of her working life. She is now busy, and happily, pursuing that career elsewhere because the bureaucracy she worked with had her pidgeoned in a box she no longer wanted to be in.
Because we have certain innate abilities doesn’t mean to say that we aren’t good at other things. I’m pretty good at administrative stuff - when I have to be – but it is not on my list of favorites things and I do tend to avoid it. On the other hand, I love to work with groups and help them move toward a stated goal in a creative fashion that engages them. And the more time I spend doing this the happier, and more productive, I am.
Your innate abilities and those of your staff may surprise you. My coach had me ask my clients what they thought my abilities were. None of them told me I was a great trainer or a fabulous creative writer, but all of them mentioned my ability to communicate effectively and get people on board and behind a project - which might explain why I do so much work in the area of change.
You might want to figure your innate abilities, as well as those of your team members. This is the kind of information that you can use to focus people on activities that will make them happy and your organization more successful. One way to do this is by taking an online assessment. I recently completed the Kolbe A Index www.kolbe.com . The Kolbe looks at four action modes; information gathering and sharing, arranging and designing, dealing with risk and uncertainty and your best way for handling space and tangibles. The results were pretty surprising. My scores showed me to be very high on conceptualizing and risk taking. Again, skills that are important if you work in the area of change. The Kolbe is around $50 for each person.
Another option is the Strengths Finder from Gallup. Purchase the book “Now Discover your strengths” by Buckingham and Clifton and you will get access to an online profile and find your five top strengths.
A lower cost strategy is to get together as a team and focus on what you consider the other team members unique or innate abilities might be. Try and be as specific as possible, focus only on positive attributes. For example I’m a risk taker. This could be seen as negative but the Kolbe highlighted it as very positive for example it allows me to initiate change, improvise solutions and options and create a sense of urgency. You get the idea of why working for change is good for me!
Here are five steps you and your team can take to identify and take advantage of your unique abilities:
1. As a team consider one another’s unique abilities. Summarize the findings. If you prefer do online assessments.
2. Circulate everyone’s unique abilities – give people time to celebrate how they are perceived or assessed.
3. Come together as a group – celebrate the great strength you have as a group
4. Consider how you can support one another to ensure each individual is spending more time on his or her unique ability.
5. Review your training strategy. Train your unique abilities.
Nicky Fried is the principal of Nicky Fried Consulting Inc. She helps organizations to translate strategy and change so that employees understand where the organization is going and how they support it through their daily actions. Learn more about us at http://www.nickyfried.com/.
Innate ability is that which comes naturally to us. It is our preferred mode of operation; it is instinctual. We do it very well and we get a great deal of satisfaction from work performed in this mode. However, because it is instinctive we tend to take it for granted – until someone points out how valuable it is.
Some of you may remember a book “Now Discover your strengths” by Buckingham and Clifton. The premise of the book is that we should build on our strengths and if we do we will be successful.
In reality we often train our weaknesses which means that we end up with mediocre weaknesses. Why not train our innate strengths for excellence! Imagine our organizations full of people employed for their strengths and trained to become outstanding in the areas where they have natural talent. Sports people do this all the time – with obvious rewards.
It’s a “win win” when employees are operating in their natural mode. They are happy and more productive and the organization gets the benefit of an employee who does a darn good job with passion. I had coffee with a woman yesterday who used to work for a large financial institution in town. She found her passion for facilitation quite by chance and realized where she wanted to spend the rest of her working life. She is now busy, and happily, pursuing that career elsewhere because the bureaucracy she worked with had her pidgeoned in a box she no longer wanted to be in.
Because we have certain innate abilities doesn’t mean to say that we aren’t good at other things. I’m pretty good at administrative stuff - when I have to be – but it is not on my list of favorites things and I do tend to avoid it. On the other hand, I love to work with groups and help them move toward a stated goal in a creative fashion that engages them. And the more time I spend doing this the happier, and more productive, I am.
Your innate abilities and those of your staff may surprise you. My coach had me ask my clients what they thought my abilities were. None of them told me I was a great trainer or a fabulous creative writer, but all of them mentioned my ability to communicate effectively and get people on board and behind a project - which might explain why I do so much work in the area of change.
You might want to figure your innate abilities, as well as those of your team members. This is the kind of information that you can use to focus people on activities that will make them happy and your organization more successful. One way to do this is by taking an online assessment. I recently completed the Kolbe A Index www.kolbe.com . The Kolbe looks at four action modes; information gathering and sharing, arranging and designing, dealing with risk and uncertainty and your best way for handling space and tangibles. The results were pretty surprising. My scores showed me to be very high on conceptualizing and risk taking. Again, skills that are important if you work in the area of change. The Kolbe is around $50 for each person.
Another option is the Strengths Finder from Gallup. Purchase the book “Now Discover your strengths” by Buckingham and Clifton and you will get access to an online profile and find your five top strengths.
A lower cost strategy is to get together as a team and focus on what you consider the other team members unique or innate abilities might be. Try and be as specific as possible, focus only on positive attributes. For example I’m a risk taker. This could be seen as negative but the Kolbe highlighted it as very positive for example it allows me to initiate change, improvise solutions and options and create a sense of urgency. You get the idea of why working for change is good for me!
Here are five steps you and your team can take to identify and take advantage of your unique abilities:
1. As a team consider one another’s unique abilities. Summarize the findings. If you prefer do online assessments.
2. Circulate everyone’s unique abilities – give people time to celebrate how they are perceived or assessed.
3. Come together as a group – celebrate the great strength you have as a group
4. Consider how you can support one another to ensure each individual is spending more time on his or her unique ability.
5. Review your training strategy. Train your unique abilities.
Nicky Fried is the principal of Nicky Fried Consulting Inc. She helps organizations to translate strategy and change so that employees understand where the organization is going and how they support it through their daily actions. Learn more about us at http://www.nickyfried.com/.
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