Influence
In today's less hierarchical and more pressurised workplace, we can no longer rely on our position or job role alone to make things happen. There's an ever-increasing need to be able to genuinely influence others using our credabilty and our inter-personal skills.
Individuals are now frequently measured by their ability to influence others at work: it is the method by which we make our mark, and by which we motivate and involve others in helping us to achieve our objectives. Most of us begin our working lives using a small number of instinctive techniques to influence others. Some of these will be effective, but there will be times when you just can't work out why what you're saying is not having the effect you want!
Individuals wishing to improve their ability to influence are often interested in finding ways to:
- Influence others without the need for positional power or authority
- Build trusting, productive relationships with others at work
- Develop and maintain their personal credibility
- Repair their personal credibility in situations when it has been eroded
- Develop useful techniques and strategies to influence others who are not easy to influence
As we become more experienced, and as we see a more obvious need to influence positively, we usually develop a wider repertoire of influencing techniques. However, in order to achieve this, it is essential that we become more conscious and more strategic about how we go about influencing others. Otherwise, we will simply stick with the same methods, wondering why the people around us are becoming more infuriating and infuriated!
"The greatest ability in business is to get along with others and to influence their actions." John Hancock - American Founding Father
How to spot effective influence
Is the person:
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Prepared - do they take time to consider the interaction: what they want from it, what the other person wants from it, what the best overall approach is, and how to deal with any specific issues?
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Able to protect the on-going relationship - do they create and maintain a genuine empathetic rapport and seek win-win outcomes?
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Avoiding manipulation - have they allow the other person to have control and freedom to make their own decisions?
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Using the power of their position sensitively and appropriately - do they avoid using their role or their status as the primary tool of influence?
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Communicating clearly and persuasively - do they indicate the benefits of their ideas to the other person, and are they able to neutralise resistance through active listening and creative problem solving?
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Responsive - are they flexible in their approach, matching it to the needs of the person and the situation, and seeking alternative methods when necessary?
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Successful - are they able to create genuine commitment from the other person? Are they never satisfied with reluctant compliance from those who are not easy to influence?
Influencing Skills Training from H2
Our influencing skills training is designed to empower our delegates to become more effective in their roles by developing their ability to positively influence others. We aim to strike a balance between presenting essential background information, and facilitating participative exercises and discussions that are both challenging and motivating, and that enable useful learning to take place that can be directly applied back in the workplace.
We can deliver influencing skills training virtually, or at a venue of your choice, for any number of participants.
Ready-to-Go Courses: Over the past 24 years, we've worked hard to devise and develop a range of courses that suit the broad needs of our customers. Ready-to-Go course titles relating to the topic of influence include:
- Influencing Skills
- Emotionally Intelligent Leadership
- Assertiveness for Women
- Conflict Management
- Managing your Manager ("Proactive Supervisee")
- Meeting Skills
- Presentation Skills
- Sales Skills
- Customer Service
- Negotiation Skills
Bespoke Courses: If you have something more specific in mind, we can design and deliver a tailored course for you. Following a short pre-course consultation, we'll put together a course programme that reflects your specified priorities, and that includes exercises based on real-life case studies/scenarios.
One-to-One Training: We also offer influencing skills training for those who may benefit from the undivided attention of our trainer. These one-to-one sessions are entirely focused on the specific needs/interests of the delegate, and are extremely well received for achieving lasting learning and observable improvements.
No-obligation Quote
Please CONTACT US today - just give us a brief outline of what you're looking to achieve, the number of participants and the proposed location, and we'll get back to you shortly.