Using Your Power to Influence: The Internal Change Agent
“Your ability to influence others is critical if you want to drive any improvement or change project. The application of techniques and processes is not sufficient to change behaviours and business cultures. Reliance on using authority and the power that goes with it is insufficient to create a long lasting change. What is required is the skilful use of a repertoire of behavioural techniques to bring about change and improvement in how we do business.”
I was presenting at a conference recently and member of the audience asked me a question. She wanted to know how to prepare the organisational culture for change and in what circumstances should you either introduce or delay the introduction of strategic change. In other words, when is the right time to start that strategic process? My answer was simple, “Start sooner”.
I believe that everyday we should all be supporting the creation of a readiness for change within our businesses. It does not matter what industry we work in or what sector. A commitment to create a climate of ‘change readiness’ is essential in any circumstance. Change should be the norm for any business culture. After all, there are always better, more efficient, leaner, innovative and faster ways to move from where we are to a new desired future. No organisation introduces change processes just for the sake of it. Embracing and creating a continuous and challenging culture, that promotes improvement which supports recovery, with the power to build robust businesses, should be the norm.
Do you have the Capacity and Capability in House to Drive Change?
Those who fail to challenge and build a culture of continuous improvement will in all likelihood be putting their organisation at risk. If we are not creating a readiness for change all the time then we are probably doing very little on our ‘organisational change agenda’. If we are not making strides to do this right now it means we are probably standing still. And if we are standing still –we are actually going backwards. As I noted above, there is never a better time to build that Change culture. It starts with recognising that we have to work on developing internal capability to drive improvement, with external consultants if need be to shake up management thinking. This can be a good thing, but over reliance on ‘externals’ is not good for morale or for the esteem of staff.
Change Skills & Influencing Strategies
An over reliance on external catalysts and a failure to develop line managers skills in the change arena this amounts to a belief that our managers just don’t have the capability and capacity to implement change. This reflects on their self esteem and further promotes the negative attitude amongst top team direct reports and their people that senior management “don’t think we are good enough and trusted to introduce change”.
Once there is commitment to ‘up skill’ the business leaders, managers and team leaders then the real focus has to be on what can we do to give them the power to influence the change process for the better. What do we need to do to develop our people to become the drivers, the change champions and enthusiasts to install improvement? Perhaps surprisingly, managers usually live up to the demands of the task and are highly competent in what they do. Otherwise you would not employ them. But the issue is, do our managers and technical experts have the real expertise to know when change is working and when it needs a drive to sustain the momentum required? Whatever the technical specialism supports your organisation, what is critical is that all professional technical staff need the meta skills of interpersonal and behavioural skills which support their day to day tasks.
New Skills Drive Superior Performance
The thinking and techniques which has got organisations and their management teams to their current level of performance will not be sufficient to get them to the next higher level of functioning that the modern economy demands. There is a need for technical specialists such as accountants, IT professionals, project managers, consultants, quality and manufacturing engineers, auditors, governance and risk consultants to commit to practise to complement their technical skills with behavioural mastery which includes Change leadership, facilitation, using motivation, persuasion, conflict management, influence bargaining and negotiation, to promote a climate of change continuous improvement and political manoeuvring and managing turf wars.
Change skills start with working with people, understanding their motivations, engaging with them and influencing them to look at things differently. I think we can all see the importance of this in the context of moving big macro corporate change programmes forward as well as on the micro level with personal development.
Most of us enable change to take place, not through the use of authority and being assertive, but, relying on the ‘meta’ skills of influence and persuasion. If we have to rely on our job titles or being of senior rank then that is a shame. As is too often the case, only a small percentage of any workforce have received training in this ‘soft skills’ arena, and yet it’s an area where rapid learning is experienced, which does have a major impact on personal effectiveness in driving improvement.
I find it amazing that organisations get the balance between technical and soft skills training all wrong. Staff are trained to develop their technical skills in their core competence but the execution of their role and their effectiveness is achieved not by just demonstrating this facility, but the behaviours and skills that support them. Let me illustrate the point.
Technical Competence is not Enough
We may admire the manufacturing engineer who can solve almost any problem, but should they be challenged to resolve a problem of 'conflict in the work team' cannot meet the challenge, because the development in change skills is undervalued in comparison to training in manufacturing techniques. It is also reflected in sales environments.
The impact that ‘change skills’ can have on performance is enormous – especially if the account manager starts losing customers, the insurance agent loses the contract, the engineer alienates a joint venture partner, or the instrument mechanic notices that his clients are migrating to other suppliers and providers.
Collaboration & the New Economy
Working collaboratively with staff is central to the New Economy. Employment relationships which were once strained and adversarial are now replaced by a holistic approach of working together in partnership. In the UK, the NHS is trying hard in this area, as are a number of other public sector organisations. The private sector now has little choice but develop their people if they wish to retain the best.
If the average employer committed to developing superior development in mastery of political and behavioural skills with their staff they could impact their business performance for the better. The average service organisation has below par sales staff interacting with their customers. In some cases toxic relationships exist by default. Customer facing staff really have to understand the psychology of customer retention and acquisition and this is achieved by understanding what makes their customers tick. Developing techniques to move staff towards a win-win is ecological for both parties. If you rely on using guile or pushiness for short term gain with buyer remorse the result, leaving you with a reduction in clients and a lousy reputation – this is not the way. As soon as you start to push the clients and staff into that position you are moving towards win-lose – with you the loser.
Soft Skills Development
These skills can be really hard to acquire for staff who have never valued or practised them. Only recently I was talking with a risk manager friend about a presentation he had to give to the management team in a large Bank. He was clearly uncomfortable about it, realising he needed to practise, so he developed his very own ‘death by PowerPoint’; too many slides, too many words. It was guaranteed by slide six the whole management team would have switched off. He did not understand the basic psychology of learning, change, influence and persuasion.
My views were sought. My opinion is that PowerPoint is only a software tool to draw the attention of the audience to the presenter. Focus must always be on the presenter not the slide show. PowerPoint should be composed of prompts or illustrations designed to focus the attention of the audience to the next dynamic point delivered by the presenter. Effective PowerPoint reinforces the power of the presenter – it should never distract or bore the audience. As you can guess, the risk manager devoted all his time to the slide show and none to preparing to present through rehearsal. The first time he stood up to present was his very first live rehearsal and it was obvious to all attending! Attention span of the top team was lost and although the content of the presentation was technically robust – its impact on management thinking was lacklustre.
The simple use of repetition and rehearsal is what creates mastery in any skill, and this is no different when talking formally (or otherwise) to people. You’d never improve your swimming stroke, driving, golf swing by watching PowerPoint, so how are you going to give people confidence in your business skills if you never get up there and rehearse?
The Emotional State of Confidence is not shared by all
Perhaps one of the most prevalent self limiting beliefs held by managers about their style is a lack of confidence in developing superior interpersonal relations and when presenting or trying to influence others. Confidence and self esteem are not journeys upon which you embark and then arrive at some time in the future. They are emotional states that can be accessed anytime by anyone – you just have to know how to access these emotional states, and this can be learned easily. Early on in our Change & Influence Workshops, we deal with the issue of confidence and self esteem. It holds many people back from being all they can be and stops too many achieving their true potential. It is geared around identify issues and the presence of self limiting beliefs. I am told we are born into this life with two fears – the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises – yet we go through life gathering more fears and self limits all the time.
For further information on devising Influencing Skills email Philip
I was presenting at a conference recently and member of the audience asked me a question. She wanted to know how to prepare the organisational culture for change and in what circumstances should you either introduce or delay the introduction of strategic change. In other words, when is the right time to start that strategic process? My answer was simple, “Start sooner”.
I believe that everyday we should all be supporting the creation of a readiness for change within our businesses. It does not matter what industry we work in or what sector. A commitment to create a climate of ‘change readiness’ is essential in any circumstance. Change should be the norm for any business culture. After all, there are always better, more efficient, leaner, innovative and faster ways to move from where we are to a new desired future. No organisation introduces change processes just for the sake of it. Embracing and creating a continuous and challenging culture, that promotes improvement which supports recovery, with the power to build robust businesses, should be the norm.
Do you have the Capacity and Capability in House to Drive Change?
Those who fail to challenge and build a culture of continuous improvement will in all likelihood be putting their organisation at risk. If we are not creating a readiness for change all the time then we are probably doing very little on our ‘organisational change agenda’. If we are not making strides to do this right now it means we are probably standing still. And if we are standing still –we are actually going backwards. As I noted above, there is never a better time to build that Change culture. It starts with recognising that we have to work on developing internal capability to drive improvement, with external consultants if need be to shake up management thinking. This can be a good thing, but over reliance on ‘externals’ is not good for morale or for the esteem of staff.
Change Skills & Influencing Strategies
An over reliance on external catalysts and a failure to develop line managers skills in the change arena this amounts to a belief that our managers just don’t have the capability and capacity to implement change. This reflects on their self esteem and further promotes the negative attitude amongst top team direct reports and their people that senior management “don’t think we are good enough and trusted to introduce change”.
Once there is commitment to ‘up skill’ the business leaders, managers and team leaders then the real focus has to be on what can we do to give them the power to influence the change process for the better. What do we need to do to develop our people to become the drivers, the change champions and enthusiasts to install improvement? Perhaps surprisingly, managers usually live up to the demands of the task and are highly competent in what they do. Otherwise you would not employ them. But the issue is, do our managers and technical experts have the real expertise to know when change is working and when it needs a drive to sustain the momentum required? Whatever the technical specialism supports your organisation, what is critical is that all professional technical staff need the meta skills of interpersonal and behavioural skills which support their day to day tasks.
New Skills Drive Superior Performance
The thinking and techniques which has got organisations and their management teams to their current level of performance will not be sufficient to get them to the next higher level of functioning that the modern economy demands. There is a need for technical specialists such as accountants, IT professionals, project managers, consultants, quality and manufacturing engineers, auditors, governance and risk consultants to commit to practise to complement their technical skills with behavioural mastery which includes Change leadership, facilitation, using motivation, persuasion, conflict management, influence bargaining and negotiation, to promote a climate of change continuous improvement and political manoeuvring and managing turf wars.
Change skills start with working with people, understanding their motivations, engaging with them and influencing them to look at things differently. I think we can all see the importance of this in the context of moving big macro corporate change programmes forward as well as on the micro level with personal development.
Most of us enable change to take place, not through the use of authority and being assertive, but, relying on the ‘meta’ skills of influence and persuasion. If we have to rely on our job titles or being of senior rank then that is a shame. As is too often the case, only a small percentage of any workforce have received training in this ‘soft skills’ arena, and yet it’s an area where rapid learning is experienced, which does have a major impact on personal effectiveness in driving improvement.
I find it amazing that organisations get the balance between technical and soft skills training all wrong. Staff are trained to develop their technical skills in their core competence but the execution of their role and their effectiveness is achieved not by just demonstrating this facility, but the behaviours and skills that support them. Let me illustrate the point.
Technical Competence is not Enough
We may admire the manufacturing engineer who can solve almost any problem, but should they be challenged to resolve a problem of 'conflict in the work team' cannot meet the challenge, because the development in change skills is undervalued in comparison to training in manufacturing techniques. It is also reflected in sales environments.
The impact that ‘change skills’ can have on performance is enormous – especially if the account manager starts losing customers, the insurance agent loses the contract, the engineer alienates a joint venture partner, or the instrument mechanic notices that his clients are migrating to other suppliers and providers.
Collaboration & the New Economy
Working collaboratively with staff is central to the New Economy. Employment relationships which were once strained and adversarial are now replaced by a holistic approach of working together in partnership. In the UK, the NHS is trying hard in this area, as are a number of other public sector organisations. The private sector now has little choice but develop their people if they wish to retain the best.
If the average employer committed to developing superior development in mastery of political and behavioural skills with their staff they could impact their business performance for the better. The average service organisation has below par sales staff interacting with their customers. In some cases toxic relationships exist by default. Customer facing staff really have to understand the psychology of customer retention and acquisition and this is achieved by understanding what makes their customers tick. Developing techniques to move staff towards a win-win is ecological for both parties. If you rely on using guile or pushiness for short term gain with buyer remorse the result, leaving you with a reduction in clients and a lousy reputation – this is not the way. As soon as you start to push the clients and staff into that position you are moving towards win-lose – with you the loser.
Soft Skills Development
These skills can be really hard to acquire for staff who have never valued or practised them. Only recently I was talking with a risk manager friend about a presentation he had to give to the management team in a large Bank. He was clearly uncomfortable about it, realising he needed to practise, so he developed his very own ‘death by PowerPoint’; too many slides, too many words. It was guaranteed by slide six the whole management team would have switched off. He did not understand the basic psychology of learning, change, influence and persuasion.
My views were sought. My opinion is that PowerPoint is only a software tool to draw the attention of the audience to the presenter. Focus must always be on the presenter not the slide show. PowerPoint should be composed of prompts or illustrations designed to focus the attention of the audience to the next dynamic point delivered by the presenter. Effective PowerPoint reinforces the power of the presenter – it should never distract or bore the audience. As you can guess, the risk manager devoted all his time to the slide show and none to preparing to present through rehearsal. The first time he stood up to present was his very first live rehearsal and it was obvious to all attending! Attention span of the top team was lost and although the content of the presentation was technically robust – its impact on management thinking was lacklustre.
The simple use of repetition and rehearsal is what creates mastery in any skill, and this is no different when talking formally (or otherwise) to people. You’d never improve your swimming stroke, driving, golf swing by watching PowerPoint, so how are you going to give people confidence in your business skills if you never get up there and rehearse?
The Emotional State of Confidence is not shared by all
Perhaps one of the most prevalent self limiting beliefs held by managers about their style is a lack of confidence in developing superior interpersonal relations and when presenting or trying to influence others. Confidence and self esteem are not journeys upon which you embark and then arrive at some time in the future. They are emotional states that can be accessed anytime by anyone – you just have to know how to access these emotional states, and this can be learned easily. Early on in our Change & Influence Workshops, we deal with the issue of confidence and self esteem. It holds many people back from being all they can be and stops too many achieving their true potential. It is geared around identify issues and the presence of self limiting beliefs. I am told we are born into this life with two fears – the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises – yet we go through life gathering more fears and self limits all the time.
For further information on devising Influencing Skills email Philip
