Everyday influence tactics not found in leadership books
February 18, 2010
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed, or sign up for my newsletter ==>
to receive the free Change Starts Here Workbook. Thanks for visiting!
While setting forth inspiring visions, making bold decisions in support of change, and modeling desired behavior with integrity is the stuff of leadership legend, change ultimately happens in small steps taken daily to nudge people in the right direction. Consider the following influence tactics that people use every day at work that, when used with caution and in small doses, can help get people to do things they might not otherwise do. You won’t find these in leadership books!
Nagging. When someone is dragging their feet or in need of small behavior correction, a few repetitive requests or reminders might do the trick. The risk is that you might become an annoyance and he might dig in his heels further. Before the nagging gets to that level, ask what might be holding him back, and offer to help.
Begging. Although getting on your knees and crying will most likely not win you favor, going the route of “Please… Pretty please… Pretty please with sugar on top…” used occasionally with someone you know will work. It is important for your dignity that you escalate your request with increasing urgency without sounding desperate.
Cajoling. You should only taunt someone you know well and in good humor. The last thing you want to do is hurt someone’s feelings or offend him by striking a nerve, so cajole coworkers with caution. But, insinuating that your colleague doesn’t want to try something because he is a sissy, or is not smart enough, or whatever he would want to prove wrong might spring him into action.
Bribery. While it sounds illicit, bribery is simply offering something in exchange for what you would like the other person to do. Mutual back-scratching or trading favors are common ways to influence someone who doesn’t believe the value of performing an activity is worth the effort to do it. Note: Do not offer or request anything illegal or unethical!
Flattery. The saying goes, “Flattery will get you nowhere,” but anyone who has been given a well-placed acknowledgment or compliment knows it can go a long way. Of course, someone will see through a compliment given just before a request is made. She will know you are buttering her up. But if you can brighten someone’s day with a genuine acknowledgment, she is bound to repay it.
Threats. As a last resort, it might help to inform someone that if she doesn’t play along, something bad is going to happen. The manner in which you send this message makes all the difference. It’s most effective if it sounds like a kind warning instead of intimidation. If your next course of action is to get her boss involved, it might be a good idea to bring this up, so she has the opportunity to act before that happens.
When have these worked for you?
How have they backfired?
What would you add to the list?
Ten Essential Tools for Change Agents
February 2, 2010
Change agents are individuals within organizations who influence change without having direct authority over people who are going through the change. The following are ten things that effective change agents use to influence change in their organizations. Read more
Three Myths About Organizational Change
January 5, 2010
Our beliefs about what change is and how it works can influence our willingness to take on the challenge appropriately. Change agents who believe these three myths might find their initiatives stuck in a rut.
Myth #1: The goal is change.
Perhaps we are victims of language. Organizational change practitioners commonly talk as though the end goal is change itself. It is common to say “implement change” as if the change itself is the goal. It’s not! Change is the process of bringing about the desired future state. Read more
Traits and skills of effective change agents
October 1, 2009
Yesterday I received a call from a recruiter who found my site through a search engine and saw that I worked with change agents. She asked if I either had or knew of an assessment to qualify candidates for change agent positions. Her client was specifically looking for a canned proven test. Unfortunately, I had to share that I didn’t know of any (and asking my network has also not netted any existing assessments).
In fact, if implementing change were that scientific and predictable, success would certainly be easier, faster, and occur more often. One of the reasons I offer one-on-one coaching for change agents is that each scenario is different, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution to implementing change.
I do believe there are certain characteristics or skills of change agents that are important, and that I watch for while coaching. If any of these are lacking, I might explore further to see if improvement might pave the way to success.
- Systems thinker. Seeing the relationships between moving parts. If you pull one lever, what cogs are likely to move?
- Relational. Cultivating relationships at multiple levels of an organization.
- Analytical. Using data and measurements to assess progress.
- Influential. Using multiple forms of influence to get people to try new things and adopt different behaviors.
- Resilience. Organizational change is rife with obstacles and resistance. Resilient individuals will keep going.
- Facilitation. Most change projects I know involve some form of team facilitation.
- Difficult conversations. For example giving feedback to executives.
- Communication. Beyond conversations, speaking and writing are also important for change agents.
- Energy. Drive. Conviction that the change must happen.
- Observant. Having a knack for seeing opportunities for improvement and discrepancies that are hurting the initiative.
What else would you add to this list? Any that you agree or disagree with?
Avoid Scattershot Change: Plan Communication
July 14, 2009
No change initiative can occur successfully without proper organizational communication. When communicating for change, messages are conveyed to audiences with the purposes of keeping people informed and mobilizing the organization. Communication is the means to gain attention, educate, and get individuals and groups to take action to move the change initiative forward.
As an internal change advocate for your organization, communication is one of the main tools you use to reach your goal and desired outcome. Yet, we frequently see people who are responsible for implementing change who use communication in a haphazard fashion, without a solid plan. The resulting hodgepodge of newsletters, posters and meetings tells a less-than-compelling story of change. Read more
The perpetual nature of organization change
June 30, 2009
I’m reading Daryl Conner’s book Managing at the Speed of Change, published in 1992. On page 41, he lists the following changes that organizational leaders considered crucial to success, compiled from a survey he conducted.
- Initiating major reorganization plans
- Improving competitiveness through the implementation of total quality-management processes
- Incorporating information systems as an integral part of business and production strategies
- Integrating customer-service mentality and behaviors throughout the organization
- Responding to new or increased global competition
- Accommodating the turmoil associated with mergers, acquisitions, and leveraged buyouts
- Redefining the organizational culture to be more supportive of corporate business objectives
- Initiating cost-containment mechanisms
- Rightsizing the work force
- Establishing employee-involvement programs to generate a sense of empowerment and commitment
- Establishing new products and markets
- Incorporating new production/manufacturing procedures and machinery
- Adjusting to the changing profile and needs of today’s employees
- Complying with new government regulations
Sound familiar? We’re still facing the same challenges today as we were 17 years ago – even some of the terminology is the same. Perhaps the difference is the number of concurrent changes going on, or the rate at which organizations and people are expected to change. (Consider the fact that this book was written at the dawn of the internet.)
The list speaks to the perpetual nature of organizational change. In the last 17 years, much research, learning and theorizing has been done to better understand how to make change easier. The fact is that change might get easier and better understood, but it never goes away. There is always a new set of employees, circumstances, leadership, technology and environmental factors that require a better way to move forward. The way we accomplish that tends to fall into the same categories of change over the years.
What would you add to this list in light of today’s environment?
How many of these are you currently working on in your organization?
A common picture of the ideal organization
May 18, 2009
Even though organizations have different purposes and strategies, I think we tend to have a common picture of the ideal characteristics of an effective organization. I wonder if these are the things you are trying to bring about in your organization:
- Multi-directional trust (leadership, employees, peers)
- Transparency and feedback
- Ample, clear, compelling, consistent communication
- High-performing teams
- Data-based decisions
- Accountability to results
- Clarity of vision
- Congruence of personal work with organizational goals
- Alignment between business units and departments
- Breakdown of silos, turf wars, and self-protection
- Atmosphere of mutual respect
- Employee engagement
- The idea of a “well-oiled machine”, efficient standardized processes
- Effective, value-added meetings
I would love to hear what else you might add to this list, and if any of these would actually decrease your success. Please share using the comments.
The fear of implementing change
April 14, 2009
In the Beyond Buy-in workbook, one of the 5 steps to raising leadership support for your change initiative is to Diagnose the Gap between each leader’s current actions and behaviors and the ones you would like them to demonstrate to better support your change initiative. There are a number of places to look at what causes the gap, and one of them is fear.
Yes, not only do people in general “fear change,” but even leaders have fear of implementing change. Consider these common fears:
- Failure
- Looking stupid
- Being wrong
- Rejection
- Not being good enough
- Being judged
- Losing popularity
- Inferiority/Not as good as everyone else
- Helplessness
- Damaging relationships
- Letting people in
- Being challenged
- Being ignored
- Success!
Thank you to my Twitter friends for their contributions. Please add to the list using the comments below.
Inquiry: What fears do you have about implementing your initiative?
How to deal with a clueless boss
March 2, 2009
I recently answered the following question on LinkedIn:
How do you (convincingly pretend) to listen and respect your Pointy Haired Boss? How do you hide the fact that you are thinking “my God, you are so clueless yet so oblivious to it”?
Name-calling aside, it is easy to identify with the author’s plight. Who among us has not had the same thought at one time or another (or for years at a time!)?
Most answers up to that point advised him to either quit as soon as possible or just grin and bear it. The following was my brief response:
Consider that you are contributing to his cluelessness if you are not providing constructive feedback. Instead of asking how you hide it, perhaps the question to ask is “How do you respectfully inform your boss that s/he is negatively affecting your or your company’s performance?”
I’m guessing that’s not the response he was looking for when he asked the question, but he probably wasn’t satisfied with the other two options either.
Sure, he could quit, but what if he really enjoys his work and his coworkers, and doesn’t want to leave the company? Besides, what happens next time he finds himself in the same situation?
The “grin and bear it” solution creates a pressure-cooker scenario. Accepting the situation as-is does nothing to solve what is most likely a real problem. It is not going to fix itself.
So, if addressing the issue is the best solution, how do you respectfully inform your boss that he is negatively affecting your or the company’s performance? Follow these steps:
- Stop the name-calling and talking behind his back about it (and griping on public forums!). It only serves to destroy your own integrity, and it fuels your rage.
- Realize that the “clueless” leader is the norm, not the outlier. The higher up in the organization you are, the less people tell you what you don’t want to hear. And you don’t notice the change.
- Get clear about what the real issue is. If you’ve been working with this boss for a while, chances are that everything he says is annoying. Take a step back to understand what really needs to be addressed. If it still seems like a lot of things, choose the most important. You don’t want to generate a laundry list or it will seem like an attack.
- Make sure you are in the right frame of mind for an effective conversation. Approach it with a genuine perspective that you are trying to help your boss, or at least doing the best thing for the company. If you go into the conversation seeking to right a wrong or to exact some kind of revenge, not only will your boss be more defensive during the conversation, but it will be more awkward afterward.
- Plan when you will have the conversation. You don’t necessarily have to schedule it with your boss, but know ahead of time for yourself when and where you will talk.
- At the beginning of the conversation, ask permission to give the feedback. It is unlikely that he will say “no,” and after saying “yes” he at least needs to hear what you have to say.
- Unless you have permission to represent a group, don’t drag other people into it. It might be comfortable to make yourself seem like one of many, but from the boss’s point of view, that’s a mutiny.
- Be honest and direct. Tell your boss the experience from your perspective, and what the implications are. Use specific examples.
- Expect your boss to be defensive. He may deny it or even turn it around to be your own fault. Don’t become defensive yourself. If you feel that you’ve made your case, thank him for letting you share your perspective and politely end the conversation.
- Thank him for listening (even if it seems like he didn’t). If the conversation went well, ask how you can best follow up.
Perhaps it’s not your boss who needs his mirror polished. As an organizational change agent, you know the leaders who need to change their own behavior to make the initiative successful. If you are not having these conversations, who is?
If you need to have a conversation like this, but you struggle with the best approach, please contact me and we’ll talk through it.
Eight Fundamental Ingredients Of A Successful Change Initiative
August 20, 2008
Organizational change is a complicated endeavor. The forces at work that continue the status quo are formidable, but not impossible to overcome. Set yourself up for success by laying the foundation with these eight fundamentals. Read more
Don’t miss a thing!
Subscribe
in a ReaderSubscribe
via E-mail
-
