AN IDEAS INTO ACTION GUIDEBOOK
Influence
Gaining Commitment, Getting Results
Second Edition
IDEAS INTO ACTION GUIDEBOOKS
Aimed at managers and executives who are concerned with their own and others’ development, each guidebook in this series gives specific advice on how to complete a developmental task or solve a leadership problem.
| LEAD CONTRIBUTORS | Harold Scharlatt |
| Roland Smith | |
| CONTRIBUTORS | David Baldwin |
| Curt Grayson | |
| Peter Scisco | |
| Davida Sharpe | |
| Gary Yukl | |
| DIRECTOR OF ASSESSMENT, TOOLS, AND PUBLICATIONS | Sylvester Taylor |
| EDITOR | Peter Scisco |
| ASSOCIATE EDITOR | Karen Lewis |
| DESIGN AND LAYOUT | Joanne Ferguson |
| CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS | Laura J. Gibson |
| Chris Wilson, 29 & Company |
Copyright © 2011 Center for Creative Leadership.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.
CCL No. 448
ISBN 978-1-60491-091-9
CENTER FOR CREATIVE LEADERSHIP
AN IDEAS INTO ACTION GUIDEBOOK
Influence
Gaining Commitment, Getting Results
Second Edition
Harold Scharlatt and Roland Smith
THE IDEAS INTO ACTION GUIDEBOOK SERIES
This series of guidebooks draws on the practical knowledge that the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL®) has generated, since its inception in 1970, through its research and educational activity conducted in partnership with hundreds of thousands of managers and executives. Much of this knowledge is shared—in a way that is distinct from the typical university department, professional association, or consultancy. CCL is not simply a collection of individual experts, although the individual credentials of its staff are impressive; rather it is a community, with its members holding certain principles in common and working together to understand and generate practical responses to today’s leadership and organizational challenges.
The purpose of the series is to provide managers with specific advice on how to complete a developmental task or solve a leadership challenge. In doing that, the series carries out CCL’s mission to advance the understanding, practice, and development of leadership for the benefit of society worldwide. We think you will find the Ideas Into Action Guidebooks an important addition to your leadership toolkit.
Table of Contents
Which Influence Tactics Do You Use?
How Situation Affects Influence
Identifying Benefits and Challenges
Developing Your Influence Session Script
Conducting an Influence Session
Reflecting on Your Influence Session
EXECUTIVE BRIEF
Influence is an essential component of leadership. Your position in an organization and the power it gives you aren’t always enough to motivate people to do what you ask. You may negotiate with or persuade people to make short-term behavioral change, but to create sustained change, you will need to influence them, which includes negotiation, persuasion, and other methods. Developing your skill at using different influence tactics can help you achieve results when you use those tactics to get support from direct reports, peers, bosses, and even clients and vendors.
The tactics of influence take many forms (see Table 1). After reading this guidebook, you will be familiar with different influence tactics that leaders use. You will also get a sense of the tactics you tend to use most often so that you can decide whether or not you could be more effective by using alternative approaches with different people or in different circumstances. Different combinations of tactics can be more or less effective for achieving change and increasing trust, while other combinations may bring short-term adjustments but damage long-term relationships. You will see how different organizational roles and different situations affect your use of influence tactics, and you will know what to do before, during, and after an encounter in which you try to influence another person. When you treat every attempt you make to influence as a learning experience, then you can continue to enhance your skill at using this crucial leadership capability.
Why Influence?
Influence is the power and the ability to personally affect others’ actions, decisions, opinions, or thinking. As such, influence is an essential component of leadership. Most leaders want to have more of it, but may be unaware that a tactical approach can increase their personal influence. Leaders need it to sell ideas and to motivate people to support and implement decisions—sometimes your ideas and decisions, and sometimes those of others that you represent.
Your position in an organization and the power (the capacity or potential to exert influence) it gives you may not be enough to persuade and engage people. Many contemporary organizations have adopted flexible, matrix structures that rely less on hierarchy and more on a leader’s ability to influence and win commitment.
Positional power does not equal personal power.
Influence is important because it achieves desirable outcomes. You can use your influence to communicate your personal or your team’s