influence without authority session handout

Influence without Authority

Getting your Boss to Agree (and

Act!)



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Document Revision

Revision Date 4/7/2015

able of Contents Influence without Authority 3

Getting your Boss to Agree (and Act!) 3

The ethics of influence 4

Using the Triangle of Influence 5

Who is the hero? 7

What makes them tick? 8

Creating change 9

Where the magic happens 10

Appealing to the Hearts and Minds 11

Balancing Rational and Emotional Appeal 12



Getting your Boss to Agree (and Act!)

What do you do when you have no power or authority over the audience?

Interestingly. Do you realise that you cannot persuade anyone without using VERBS?



The ethics of influence

Most people agree that coercion is unethical and education is ethical. But consider a parent forcing their child to buckle their seat belt or a Government issuing propaganda.



Using the Triangle of Influence

There are three things that you can do to make it easier to EDUCATE or PERSUADE your audience ETHICALLY

Three questions you need to answer before you can influence someone else.



Using the Triangle of Influence

It is time to turn the tables. You are not the hero. Sorry about that. Your audience is the hero. Your job as an influencer is to ENCOURAGE, ENABLE and EMPOWER them.

If you think you’re the one in power… you’re wrong! It's up to the audience to decide whether your ideas get acted upon or not. Remember the WIIFMs for them. Set them up for success



Who is the hero?

They want to know what you can do for them (not, as you suspected, what they can do for you). They are the hero on this journey and your role is that of the mentor. Yoda is the classic mentor example of a wise, humble mentor.

Like Yoda- influencers should

1. Give people a special gift (insights that will improve their lives) As Yoda taught Luke about the Force. 2. Teach the hero how to use a magical tool (a new skill or a mindset) something that enables them to reach their objectives and yours. 3. Help the audience get unstuck - explain how these new tools will help them rise to the challenge ahead



What makes them tick?

Getting to know your audience is critical to your success in influencing them.

Doers - instigate activities, recruit and motivate others. Ask them to assemble, make decisions, gather, respond or attempt Suppliers - have resources. Ask them to acquire, fund, support, or provide resources. Influencers - change perceptions. Ask them to activate, convert, empower or promote. Innovators - generate ideas to add value to and spread your ideas. Ask them to create, discover, invent or pioneer.



Creating change

1. Develop your controlling statement 2. Clarify your big idea

Develop your controlling statement 1. My Perspective - they have come to hear me speak. 2. Communicate what is at stake - what's the audience pain?

3. Stated as a complete sentence - always use a noun and a verb

Clarify your big idea

Include your point of view From pain to gain

What's at stake

You can’t simply push them over the edge, they need to jump.



Where the magic happens

Prepare for opposition

Comfort zone

Obstacles (mental or practical) Politics (would it shift power?) Misunderstandings (potential for them) Fear Vulnerabilities

All forms of resistance are REAL because it is how they PERCEIVE it to be in reality.



Appealing to the Hearts and Minds

Everyone loves a story. It helps our brains to accept change when we can easily compare and contrast the good and the bad. Right and Wrong. Anticipate their concerns and use these within the narrative.

To win them over you must always appeal to the heart and the mind.



Balancing Rational and Emotional Appeal

Ethos (character and credibility - shared values and experiences) Logos (evidence through structure, words and data) and Pathos (stir emotions and imagination)

All of your audience members (and you) share 3 basic human needs:

1. We fundamental want to comply (within our chosen society) and conform (do things the way society expects us to behave).

2. We do not like to stand out! 3. When your argument makes the audience

FEEL that you are picking them out as non-compliant, wrong or simply for being different, then your argument falls on deaf ears.




Balancing for the audience

1. An audience that needs more credibility and emotional content.

2. An audience that needs to be more logical yet credible.

3. An audience that needs a lot of logic and some emotional appeal.

Many people fail to get to know the people they wish to influence. So you can always use one of the four universal appeals.




When you do have a chance to get to know your audience, then you can ask this simple, non-offensive question: What did you enjoy doing at the weekend? Find a buddy to practice this with now. I recommend that you write down the responses and try to capture every value word. If it is not obvious, try to establish if they recalled through the timeline. Take care to note the verbatim words they use (e.g. kids or children or son or family) because a synonym that you prefer might mean something different. Why this works. Most people do the things that are most important to them at the weekend. And yes, some people work all weekend, by choice.

influence without authority session handout

Documents

authority influence

triangle of influence

ethics of influence

able of contents influence

yoda influencers

humble mentor

classic mentor example

yoda taught luke