Colin Gautrey

Understanding vs. Influencing

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It came as a surprise to discover in this research that those skills which relate to developing greater understanding were deemed to be less critical than the actual act of influencing. Our construct of political skill defined seven dimensions, three of which related to developing understanding. These three were ranked lowest. The reason for our surprise was that, based on our experience and the literature review, much emphasis is placed on developing a keen insight into what is going on, understanding what makes people do the things they do, being able to understand how others interact, etc. This surprise was shared by all of our interviewees, with one quipping, "how can you influence with any degree of confidence if you don't first understand?" Read More

Men vs. Women

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A strong divergence of view was identified between men and women in our survey. Overall, women scored a mean of 4.90 compared to 4.50 for men (max. 5.0). This was not entirely unexpected, given the common notion that women tend to be more socially aware and concerned with relationships. However, the surprise came when probing more deeply into this factor, which forms a lesson for us all. It appears from the literature that there has been no successful attempt to find differences between the genders when it comes to Read More

The Value of Experience

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Generally it was found that more senior individuals place far more emphasis on political skill. This is perhaps no surprise, but does provide focus for developing more junior staff, particularly those with talent and potential. In addition to these differences being noticed at a dimension level, several individual items showed significant differences. For instance, directors and above considered that developing clear objectives, sensing the feelings of others and being aware of their own emotions are far more critical than their junior colleagues. Some of the qualitative interviews allow us to elaborate on some of the potential reasons behind this evidence. Read More

Social Niceties

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It was established in the literature review that researchers consider that political skill needs to be exercised in a social environment. This is consistent with experience in that in most cases, there is a strong need to influence individuals which, aside from logical reasoning, is as social interaction. From our research, it appears that the social aspects of political skill are not being recognised by practising managers. This was demonstrated by the fact that of the bottom 10 ranked items (of the total 55), 5 included the word "social". Read More

The Criticality of Political Skill — Conclusion

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To bring this article to a conclusion, we decided to comment on the implications of this work for those responsible for senior management development. These remarks may also be useful to individuals who are interested in developing their political skill.
    1. The first point to draw to the attention of development professionals is that this study produced an overwhelming view that these skills are of critical importance to success. It could be argued that many of the skills delineated are already well known; however, it should be noted that all of the respondents were cognisant of the nature of this survey, i.e. that it was to better understand the nature and criticality of political skill. Hence by participating they were also indicating their interest in this area. The literature review identified that there is in appropriate situations, merit in adopting a political theory of leadership. This being the case, serious consideration should be given to reviewing existing development programmes to increase the prominence of influencing and political skills, particularly bearing in mind that we have identified a lack in this area. This lack may be more about perception than reality and that what is missing is the adoption of the political perspective within organisations' training programmes. Read More

Secrets to Influence Series

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These secrets of influence were originally published in 2008 and have proved popular ever since. On a flight from NYC to London, Colin Gautrey wrote these based on his experience of coaching and training thousands on the subject of influence. These 21 entries are a great summary of what he believed to be the most important elements of successful influence. Have you ever wondered...
  • How do powerful people become powerful?
  • What do they do that you don't do?
  • Why are they so successful at influencing people?
  • Do they have any tips to share?
If so, you're in the right place. Colin has helped thousands to become more influential; and in this series, he shares some of the secrets he has discovered along the way. By taking heed and developing on these secrets, you too will be able to become more influential, in work and in life. In this series, Colin shares these secrets as principles of influence which all successful influencers adopt. He also gives practical ideas on how you can implement each of the principles.

The Secrets to Influence

Develop and Protect Integrity

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Bullying and the Politics of Power and Influence

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This guest article by Keryl Egan first appeared in Training Australia Magazine,.

Bullying behaviours include not only observable and explicit humiliating abuse but also hidden, insidious attacks upon a person and their capacity to do their job, their enjoyment of productive working relationships and the advancement of their career. These bullying behaviours include...
  • Blocking access to training and promotion
  • Withholding information essential to do the job properly
  • Spreading malicious rumours, lies, professional slurs
  • Unfair use of disciplinary and assessment procedures
  • Persistent undue criticism and scrutiny, inaccurate accusations about quality of work
  • Setting workers up to fail by setting impossible deadlines and targets
  • Undermining responsibility
  • Isolation and coercion
  • Creating a climate of fear via emotional abuse or public humiliation
To date, advice to those suffering psychological injury from this kind of bullying has centred around following a recommended grievance process or counselling for stress management. As a clinical psychologist, I have seen many people in my practice who take one to two years, sometimes more, to recover from a sustained bullying campaign in the workplace. Some never recover and withdraw from their profession or are permanently unable to perform at previous levels of competence and confidence. Others cannot adjust to the humiliating loss of status and career, nor can they accept that they are shells of their former selves. They become anxious and depressed, but they are also angry, not only at the bully but at the system which failed to protect them. Such post-traumatic stress results from the shattering of their assumptions about the basic goodness of human beings and about their own basic self-worth. Those who encountered a psychopathic type of bully have glimpsed an evil they had not thought possible in their ordinary working life in a "safe" Australian society. Read More

21 Dirty Tricks at Work

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Dirty Tricks21 Dirty Tricks at Work is about lies. The type of underhand, pernicious and downright Machiavellian scheming that goes on in business every day. An estimated £7.8bn is lost each year in the UK alone through unnecessary and counter-productive office politicking. But 21 Dirty Tricks at Work is also a book of hope. It exposes the classic political manoeuvres and gives practical advice on dealing with them to the vast majority who just want to do a good day’s work.

21 Dirty Tricks at Work provides you with all the information you need to spot negative tactics and self-interested strategies. It shows you how to spot the games being played and how to come out with your credibility intact and your sanity preserved.

 

So, if you are fed up of being on the receiving end of constant back-biting and skulduggery, read 21 Dirty Tricks at Work and get Machiavelli on the run!

Author’s note:Since first publication, this book has helped people of integrity understand what is going on around them, and then has helped them to work out what to do. Based on the regular contact we have from our readership, it is clearly worked, as we knew it would. We are thrilled to learn that sales of this deceptively informative book are growing year on year. To get a taste for what we have covered, take a look at the summaries. Hopefully, we can welcome you as a reader soon.

 

 

The Gautrey Influence Blog

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