Colin Gautrey

Your Public Image Matters, More Than You Think

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You would be well advised to invest time in making sure your social media presence, especially your professional profile(s), are in tip-top condition to make you look your best. The relevance of this to people in the spotlight, seeking work, or trying to tease out the head-hunters is obvious. So, why should this matter to everyone else, especially those happily ensconced in large organisations? Read More

Are You Too Soft as a Project Manager?

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Incredible it may be, but the data is beginning to emerge that this could indeed be the case. The usual caveat about generalisations aside, this is what my recent research is starting to reveal. And, you don’t have to be a project manager to learn from these results. Based on a group of 195 project managers I have discovered, somewhat to my surprise, that they are more likely to be high in Tact and Diplomacy and low in Determination, than the general (professional) working population. To be honest, I had expected the opposite. These people all completed my Influence Profile that measures preferred behaviours when working with others. This is not looking at their actual behaviour, but rather the way they would most like to behave (which is reality is the default behaviour they use most of the time). Within this psychometric, four dimensions of behaviour are analysed and Read More

Attracting Attention

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If you can attract the favourable attention of the people who matter most in your work, and your life, you have overcome one of the main challenges faced by many people I talk to these days. Most new clients joining the Private Client coaching programme have getting noticed by the right people as a high priority. For those who are ambitious, this is normal. They have recognised that if they can get the support of their most senior stakeholders, their ideas will be able to start moving in the right direction. Doors will be opened, and then they can just walk on through and deliver something valued and appreciated by the top people. As with many things in the world of influence, a simple process, a determined approach and a certain amount of tenacity can do the trick. Here are seven vital steps you Read More

Command and Control: Alive and Kicking

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Some writers on leadership like to imagine that the ancient leadership style of command and control is obsolete and disappearing fast. Does it feel like that to you? It is certainly less prevalent than it may have been in the 70s and 80s, but it remains pretty vigorous — at least judging by the volume of examples I hear of each month. And perhaps it should be too. Command and control still has a place in leadership and it always will — provided it is done in the right way. Alive and kicking it is and you should be taking the latter word metaphorically rather than literally! Below I will share with you three scenarios where I believe command and control is absolutely the right style to adopt. And to help me avoid becoming the friend and mentor to mini-despots the world over, please make sure and also read the criteria for appropriate use of command and control at the end of this article! Read More

Handling Conflicting Agendas

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When you are clear about what you want to achieve, it is often frustrating to find that others do not share your enthusiasm. A great deal of time and effort is expended building the case, considering the risks and planning the execution. Everything seems to make sense and you are keen to get going – you want to implement swiftly. Then the problems start. Reaching out to your stakeholders, you begin to find out that some are not interested. They fail to buy-in to your project or, worse, don’t even give you the time to explain your plans. When you do get to see them, they start to share insights with you about other things going on elsewhere in the organisation, which seem to be in direct conflict with what you are working on. Trouble is, you can see that they may have a valid point. Doubts begin to Read More

Making Sense of Political Upheaval

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At times the power games and political manoeuvring appear undecipherable. An implicit feature of politics is that of imperfect information — not many know what is really going on. And the actors often relish and encourage that. Mere mortals should keep out of the way, unless they serve as useful and expendable pawns. In this article, I'm going to expand on a previous article (Understanding Your Reputational Context) and up the ante by sharing with you a process whereby you can apply Scenario Planning to deepen your insight and hopefully, foresight. Read More

Can I Trust You? Are You Sure?

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Obvious answer – of course you can! You know that. But, do they? It is far easier that you may realise for others to distrust you. You don’t need to do anything wrong to see their level of trust in you dip. Indeed, it may be nothing whatsoever to do with you. However, the negative impact on your work will be big. Read More

Six Pillars of Political Mastery

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Like it or not, politics is a key part of your work, especially at middle to high levels in large or complex organisations. There is simply no way of avoiding it. Why? Because your work was created by political ambition. At some point, someone thought it would serve their purpose if they created your role. What that purpose was, and how pure it was might be difficult to see. In all probability, that person also had to overcome opposition to create your role, to win the budget, the approval and also, to maintain it. All of these things require influence, or politics. The words are really the same, as are the actions. The main difference between them is the intent fuelling the action – and the harmful consequences tolerated. So, you are slap bang in the middle of a political world, like it or not. Read More

Demonstrating Determination: The Key to Success?

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To succeed you need to be determined, and you need to show that determination to your colleagues. Hiding your drive behind a mast of sociability or tact simply doesn’t cut it. On at least nine out of every ten workshops I run, the most senior people present have the highest scores for determination on their Influence Profile. Although nobody wants to admit that they lack determination, the scores clearly show they would sooner be the nice guy, or favour harmonious relationships. The degree of raw determination seems to count for little when it comes to success, if you neglect to let people know that you are determined to succeed. As you may imagine I have a few theories about why this is the case, and I’ll save them for another day. The important thing I want to drive home here Read More

Using Social Capital to Build Political Muscle

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Traditional approaches to developing influencing skills focus on the individual. However, there is an opportunity to adopt a different mindset — instead of working out how you can be more influential, think of how you can make your team more influential. As leader, the more influential the team becomes, the more influential you can become too! Referring to countries, The World Bank has noted that, “Increasing evidence shows that social cohesion is critical for societies to prosper economically and for development to be sustainable”. If social cohesion can be good for countries, it can also be good for teams and organisations. Read More

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