Colin Gautrey

“It’s a bit political” Walking into Danger

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When a new assignment, project or job carries the caveat – it’s a bit political – be very careful. Costas came on our third call and immediately I could tell that he had news. We had been doing some preliminary work to reposition him with the global IT leadership team, and to start thinking differently. To date, he has built his brand on hard delivery of tough/big projects, but lately has found this out of favour. “Good news, I’ve been offered a new project based in Seoul. It’s will take 50% of my time and is a major challenge. The boss has said it’s a bit political, and I’ve been sold in to save it.” “Fantastic, tell me more.” I’d love to say it was down to me but, I think that this had been brewing for a little while, and I just came along at the right time to help Costas land it. Costas went on to say that he has been asked to go in and fix Read More

Five Suggestions Before You Resign

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An interesting call last Friday, the summary of which you may find useful. Maria has been subscribed to the Influence Blog for several years after seeing me present at Warwick Business School. She finally decided to schedule a call to discuss a challenge that has been bothering her for a while. Afterwards, she described it as “the best discussion she’d had in years. Finally, someone who really understood what she was going through.” And, I think there are some important points that may help you if you are in a similar position to Maria. In a moment, I’ll share with you the suggestions I gave her, which will help her to avoid resignation. First, here are the bare bones of her story: 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Some writers on leadership like to imagine that the ancient leadership style of command and control is obsolete and disappearing fast.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

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

Help! Stakeholder on the Warpath

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Outside the saloon bar, footsteps could be heard. Approaching slowly, spurs clattering on the boards as each step brought the intimidating presence of the stakeholder closer. The shadowy silhouette, complete with Stetson, paused briefly, the steaming sunlight concealing the set of his face, and the weapons he carried. Violently swinging the doors open, taking a step inside the room, he boomed… “So, we’re here to talk about the figures are we?” Or at least, this is how it appeared to Aisha, a client of mine who had been dreading this particular showdown. The problem was that this stakeholder was on the warpath, and had been gunning for Aisha for a few weeks. That all Aisha wanted to do was to help him seemed to matter little. Luckily, we had a little time to talk it though a few hours before the meeting that helped her to prepare. The key points of her approach included: Read More

Harnessing the Power of Informal Groups

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We normally view organisations as being split into formal groups such as marketing, operations, sales, etc. To this formal structure we can add cross-functional project teams created for specific purposes. This represents the way formal power assets are divided within the organisation. However, underlying this is an informal structure — groups of people with something in common. They could share common sporting interests, educational background, or even the fact they all smoke. These informal groups can have a massive impact Read More

Top Ten Ways Bosses Annoy Their Team Members

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Having sifted through hundreds of responses and comments over the last few weeks, I am now able to reveal the top ten things that annoy people about their boss. You can use this list as a boss, to score yourself, do some self-reflection and perhaps, begin to mend your ways. On the other hand, you might be inclined to give yourself a nice pat on the back. If so, watch out for that old twin demons of delusion and complacency. Alternatively, maybe you are getting a little annoyed with your boss at Read More

The CXO Guide to Influence

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Although originally stimulated by the CIO Legacy Report, this guide will be of value to any CXO, or aspirant CXO in need of boosting their capability to influence stakeholders, especially internal stakeholders. Right now, I don't intend to address the critical need for high levels of influencing skills, except to say that the less you have by way of natural sources of power, the more you need to be able to influence.  And by influence, I mean getting genuine buy-in from key powerful stakeholders who can help or hinder your progress. Based on my work with many executives and directors over the last 10 years, there are five key areas you need to focus on. All successful CXOs will score highly on each of these. Read More

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