Client Confidential

What Are You Hiding?

March 16, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

Sometimes, you may have the irresistible urge to hide your views, opinions and feelings from others. However, communication is far more complex than simply the words you use. Your inner thoughts and feelings can leak out in so many ways. You may be able to put on a good show, but often, other people can simply smell that something is wrong. As human beings, we are extremely well equipped to detect these subtle clues — albeit much of this is subconscious. The phrase “I smell a rat” springs to mind. Despite this, attempting a cover-up is often a very attractive option, particularly if you are meeting with formidable characters, or those who you think would be upset by your true thoughts. And yes, sometimes it is prudent to do this, but you need to take care because of the risk of your real attitude being detected. If you say one thing and the other person thinks you may be thinking or feeling something different, one could say that they have caught you being untruthful. That could have a big impact on the extent to which trust survives within your relationship. And, if you want to be more influential, trust is essential — well, if you want enduring influence it is! Whenever you notice the temptation to cover-up looming, consider... Read More

The Power of Three

March 13, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

One of the joys of being a practitioner of the practical is the delight of seeing a simple idea land in seconds and make a positive impact on behaviour. It happened again today while running a workshop for a group of highly experienced professionals who were exploring the subject of influence — and it came within the first 20 minutes and it will last well beyond this day in all of our minds. It is not new, nor a revelation — just a helpful device to tune your communication and increase your influence. It comes down to three simple points... Read More

Aristotle, Rhetoric and Influence

March 4, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

On the conference stage, I often refer to Aristotle’s abhorrence of rhetoric as part of my argument that even if you don't like a subject, mastering it can still be preferable to ignoring or denying it. You may not like office politics, but avoiding it offers unscrupulous characters an opportunity to take advantage of you. Despite his dislike of the topic, Aristotle is regarded as the greatest teacher of rhetoric. He maintained that it gave power to weaker arguments and, thus, wanted to equip his students with the ability to defend their position against those with questionable motives. However, the study of rhetoric is also useful if you want to become more influential at work today. Like the Read More

Managing People with the Stakeholder Influence Process

March 1, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

In my book, Advocates and Enemies, I outlined the Stakeholder Influence Process as a means of achieving the influence you want in and around your work. What I didn’t elaborate on in the book was how you can also use this process to manage your team members and direct reports. If you believe that influence is a key part of their work, show them how to use the process. At your one-to-ones, you can ask them to talk through their progress by referring to the Stakeholder Influence Map. Remember, this is a process of enquiry. It poses the questions around a simple structure to elicit new actions to advance towards the objective in mind. As such, it becomes a great coaching tool for your people — all you have to avoid is the risk of putting forward your own ideas about what they should be doing! Here’s a quick approach you can follow… Read More

Be Careful Where You Sit

February 26, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

When office moves occur, petty politics can become quite tense, as any facilities manager will tell you. Moving someone from one place to another in the office is fraught with challenges. Although the most notable issues relate to having a pleasant view out of the window or being near friends, there can be some deeper political positioning going on which is worth being aware of. For instance…

Sitting near the boss. Ambitious people like to keep their ears open, gather intelligence and also welcome the frequent opportunity to informally chat to the boss. Add to this the opportunity to chat to other important people waiting for their meeting and it is easy to see why this is a popular seat. Added power also comes from the close proximity to other power sources.

Faulty Assumptions: Influencing Mistake No. 2

February 20, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

On my top ten list of common influencing mistakes, this is perhaps the most troublesome. Faulty assumptions, particularly about agendas, can easily land you in serious trouble. This mistake is highly likely to stop you achieving your goal — eventually. In the meantime, it can create havoc in your work, among your stakeholders and it will consume a great deal of time and energy. The similarities with tripping over in the street are remarkable. As you start to fall, you seem to know you are going to hit the deck. Rather than trying to lessen the impact, lots of arm swinging ensues as you try in vain to recover your balance. That the spectacle you create is amusing to others can also be another painful similarity! Yet it is easy to slip into this. As we go about our work we naturally focus on what is important to us. We consider the benefits, calculate Read More

Personal Power and Influence

January 29, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

To be successful in your career, you need to be able to influence other people. This involves developing personal power. You will want people to think positively about what you do, listen and accept your ideas and also do things that you need them to do. This can include influencing someone to give you a job or promotion, delivering a key project where you need their input and help or even advocating your skills and talent to other more senior people. Little can be achieved without the ability to influence others. One of the key ways of growing greater influence is to focus on building your personal power. Power doesn't equal politics, so you don't need to become a Machiavellian character to introduce more power into your career — nor do you need to betray your integrity! In a nutshell… Read More

Five Steps to a Healthier Network

January 27, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

Sharpen up and focus your networking in 30 minutes. Try this…

Get a list of the people in your network — perhaps by exporting from Outlook to Excel.
What percentage have you initiated contact with in the last six months? If it is a very long list and you want to move fast, randomise the list and check the first 100 names.
What percentage Read More

How to Map the Politics around Your Work

January 17, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

At some stage, if you want to be successful in any large organisation, you will have to become very adept at reading the politics. Yesterday, when writing an article about making an impact at the top table, the imperative of building political intelligence came into focus. Only when you have a firm grasp of what is really going on, can you start to navigate safely through the corridors of power. The usual way of building this insight is through many informal conversations over a period of several months, if not years. I am not talking necessarily about gossip, but rather the sharing of information, knowledge and insight which is one of the key benefits of effective networking. You can speed this up dramatically if you engage in a constructive process. Read More

Promotion Power Shifts

January 13, 2012 by Colin Gautrey

Congratulations, you have got a well-deserved promotion. Now what? May seem like a silly question because you are no doubt bursting with ideas, plans, and structural or strategic changes you are going to implement – and that is just the first 90 days! But before you rush in, pause for a moment to consider this. Read More

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