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The art of persuasion

So how do you get things done through others when your responsibilities exceed your formal authority? The answer lies in knowing how to exercise power and influence.

Today’s complex business world means that things no longer get done simply because someone issues an order and someone else follows it. The majority of us work in socially intricate organisations where we need help not only from those who report directly to us, but also our colleagues, top management and individuals and organisations outside the business in order to accomplish our goals.

Such a complex environment often leaves us in a ‘power gap’ because we must depend on people over whom we have little or no direct control. So how do you get things done through others when your responsibilities exceed your formal authority? The answer lies in knowing how to exercise power and influence.

Individuals who are good at influencing will invariably possess strong emotional intelligence, but despite this any influencing strategy has to be rational and logical and individuals should consider and respond to the six steps outlined here.

  • Step 1: What is the situation over which you need to exceed influence?
  • Step 2: What is your goal?
  • Step 3: Who do you need to influence?
  • Step 4: What makes them tick?
  • Step 5 and 6 What tactics and behaviours should I use?

Step 1: What is the situation over which you need to exceed influence?

The path to successful influencing involves discovery, preparation and dialogue. To help the discovery and preparation stage, you must first create your stakeholder map. Simply create a large ‘map’ of all interacting relationships that surround you at work. Think beyond your usual contacts. Like you, stakeholders are part of wider networks and by finding common networks between you and those you need to influence, you will quickly see opportunities for influencing at a distance, and for being at least ‘heard’; if not seen.

Step 2 and 3: What is your goal? And who do you need to influence?

Then look at your ‘map’ and ask yourself two simple questions, do people know who you are? And are people influenced by you? Then ask yourself how successful are you in being seen and heard within your own organisation? For example, do you get involved in cross-functional projects or get involved in the company’s social network, and seek to establish your credibility through knowledge, expertise and be inconsistent? 

There are lots of other things you can do to raise your profile within the organisation, although the opportunities you have will depend on the culture within the business and what you consider to be the behaviours that are valued within the organisation.

Step 4: What makes them tick?

To get the support and information, resources and help that you require from others, particularly your boss, it is essential to develop and maintain a good working relationship with those you wish to influence. It may be obvious, but few of us actually do the following:

  • Find ways to learn about your boss’ goals, pressures, strengths, weaknesses, and working style
  • Be sensitive to your own needs, objectives, strengths, weak spots and working styles
  • Use all of this information to help create a relationship with your boss that fits his and your needs and styles. In this way the relationship can be characterised by unambiguous mutual expectations
  • Work to maintain your good relationship by keeping the boss informed, behaving dependably and honestly and by using your boss’s time and other resources selectively.

Maintaining an awareness of what makes others tick and incorporating this knowledge in your influencing strategy will help you a great deal. Do not regard any compromises you agree to as a surrender, but rather an essential element of constructive influencing because before people buy into your ideas they will want to see you're flexible enough to respond to their concerns. Effective influencers recognise the importance of give and take.

Step 5 and 6: What tactics and behaviours should I use?     

Effective influencers share a number of characteristics when working with colleagues. They always frame their goals for common ground and connect emotionally with their audience. At the heart of framing your goals is possessing a solid understanding of your audience because it is important to establish common ground.

One of the key principles of a persuasive argument is to start from a position that is accepted by the person you are seeking to influence. If you are trying to influence upwards, for example to the Board, the common ground should be pitched with a strategic focus in mind.

It is important to study the issues that matter to your colleagues. Use conversations, meetings and other forms of dialogue to collect key information. In terms of impact and lasting significance, face-to-face and telephone contact is likely to be most successful and in this respect, email should be used sparingly. Successful influencers must be good at listening and should not be afraid to adapt their original ideas. Such a thoughtful approach will appeal to your audience.

Successful influencers will present evidence to support their arguments in the right way and will also use language in a particular way. For example, numerical data will be supported with examples, stories, metaphors, and analogies to make their position come alive. This use of language paints a vivid picture and in doing so lends a compelling and tangible quality to your point of view.

The future of influencing?

Long gone are the command-and-control days of managers managing simply with decree or authority. Electronic communication advances and globalisation have eroded hierarchy within organisations as ideas and people flow more freely than ever and decisions get made closer to the markets. In this environment, influencing is increasingly a negotiating and learning process through which you must lead colleagues to a ‘problems shared’ solution.


By Paul de Zulueta, Learning and Development Consultant, MaST International
For more information on MaST's range of learning and development programmes, please see www.mast.co.uk.