Summarizing - Art of developing influence

 Summarizing - Art of developing influence 

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 

As we have discussed the art of influencing for the last 14 weeks, let us summarise the key learnings.
 

• While we go up the career ladder, beyond a certain point, we need to get things done beyond our functional boundary, and positional power alone will not help. We need to develop influencing skills to get things done.
•  We need to be aware of our dominant influencing style (logical, commanding, balancing, or engaging) and be mindful of other person's influencing styles. We need to modify depending on the context and other people's styles. Most workplace problem is due to inflexibility in influencing style.No single style will help in all situations. It is more about awareness. 
• We can see some patterns in highly influencing people in the workplace. Two things we can learn from them. One is their mindset or thinking pattern, and the other is their behavior or practices to influence others.

Regarding mindset

 

• They operate with a WIN-WIN philosophy and always look at maximizing their impact and others in every interaction.
• They will always look at the position with pride and make their body language and tone positive, which helps to influence others easily.
• They have a high level of clarity of what they want in each interaction/task and operate an outcome-based thinking process.

Regarding practices

• They put their continuous effort into building their credibility by developing expertise or improving relationships with others.
• They display respect for others by keenly listening
• They empower others by outlining the task and not indulging in micro-management, however available when the situation is required for the people
• They are good at communication, and they are more expressive while explaining the need for the task
• They will always look for fixing the process than people.
• They will develop charisma by being authentic in their domain.

 
To summarise, developing the art of influencing takes time and effort. However, the payoff will be high for any professional's growth, and everyone has to invest in it.
 
Have a great week ahead!

Charisma Vs. Influence

 Charisma Vs. Influence 

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)

As we discussed the mindset and practices that highly influencing people demonstrate in the workplace to get things done, one of the queries asked by my friend related to influence.

"Some people are born with inherent charisma, and they influence people easily. Is it possible to develop charisma? 

i have also encountered this question myself at the beginning of my career. This question is relevant to the Influence topic and deserves the answer ... I've included my perspective below. 

First, we need clarity between charisma and charm as we interchangeably use both. My friend means that some people are charming by nature and use their charm to influence; Is it possible to develop charisma?
 
Charm is associated with surface-level traits like friendliness, appearance, and appealing first impressions. In contrast, charisma is related to deeper-level attributes like authenticity, quality to inspire others with conduct, trust, and admiration. It is associated with confidence and passion in what one does.

Generally, people with charm readily connect with people at first instance. They are outgoing, expressive, fun lovers, friendly nature, and attract others easily. (sometimes, too much of it lands them in trouble!). 

Most of us believe that the person with the charm will have all the qualities to influence others and be good at getting things done. However, this belief is not true. It is just perception; anyone can become charismatic with effort and conduct.

For example, You are selling yourself in an interview and influence with your charm; you may be appealing instantly. But there is no guarantee that you will get the offer. However, you can get an offer if you influence with your charisma (as quality).

In a professional context, we must focus more on developing charisma to become influencers. When we concern too much about charm, it will affect our self-esteem.
 
The movie "M.S Dhoni's- untold story" beautifully depicts the perception of charm and its impact on others. In the early days of playing in Ranchi tournaments, on the first day of the test match, MSD did well. Then in the evening, MSD & the team met Yuvaraj Singh first time very closely on a basketball ground and internally felt inferior to Yuvaraj's charm or instantly appealing personality.

The next day, the MSD team played against Yuvaraj Singh and badly lost the match. While narrating the game to his friends, MSD said, "We did not get defeated in the cricket ground; we got defeated in the basketball ground itself." That is a very insightful observation by MSD. 

Later on, we all know how things turn around! That is, charisma wins over charm.
 
The key learning is that some people are gifted with charm, which does not mean they are successful influencers. Anyone can develop the skill of charisma with character building and consistent effort in delivering results, through which one can become a charismatic leader.

Charm is a subset of charisma. Natural charm is all about character, and it is all about how confident one is and how others feel good about their presence.

Anyone can develop Charisma regardless of their personality type.

You are highly influential and blessed if you are both charmed and equipped with charisma !!

Have a great week ahead.

Are we fixing processes or people?

  Are we fixing processes or people?

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 

We discussed some of the mindsets of highly influential people in the workplace to get things done. We mentioned win-win, how they look at work, and clarity of what they need.

Regarding practices, influential people work on themselves to build their credibility through relationships and expertise. The second practice is giving others their time, energy, and knowledge. The third practice is displaying respect by listening. The fourth practice is empowering others. The fifth practice is effective communication.

The next practice the people do is "Fixing processes than people." 

What is meant by Fixing processes than people?

It is all about continuously refining the process to avoid mistakes. Whenever a problem happens, look for the gap in the process than in the people.

It is more about process orientation.
 
People with process orientation have high likeability factor than the person who is finding fault with people and trying to fix some people responsible for the problem.

Influencing power or the ability to get things done is enhanced when a high likeability factor exists.

Generally, there are two types of people in the organization. One set of people (Type A), if any problem happens, the momentary reaction would be, "Who mistakes it is?". Their immediate intention would be first to fix the person, then find a solution for the problem.

For the other set of people ( Type B) (fewer in numbers! ), if any problem happens, the momentary reaction would be, "Why this happened, and what needs to be done?". Their immediate intention would be to recognize the problem and look for a suitable process, eventually fixing the people.

As a human being, whom we would like more, Type A or Type B…?

Most of us like Type B people, and this likability factor enhances their influencing power.
 
When we look for the process solution to a problem without fixing people first, we develop compassion towards others, making us highly influential people in the workplace.

I work with one CEO who is soft-spoken and calm; whenever a problem happens, he never loses his temper, fixes the process, and educates the person with more compassion. People never complain about him and like to work with him. Works get done out of respect for him than his power.

Only a few people get this practice right, and they become influencing people.
 
It needs awareness of our reaction to problems and practice fixing the process.
 
Have a great week ahead.

Purposeful communication to get things done

 Purposeful communication to get things done 

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 

We discussed some of the mindsets of highly influential people in the workplace to get things done. We mentioned win-win, how they look at work, and clarity of what they need.

Regarding practices, effective people work on themselves to build their credibility through relationships and expertise. The second practice is giving others their time, energy, and knowledge. The third practice is displaying respect by listening. The fourth practice is empowering others.

The next practice the people do is "Effective communication."
 
Effective communication and its relevance:
 
We often discussed the importance of effective communication in this forum for professional growth. From a perspective of influencing and getting things done, communication is one of the critical elements.

Generally, we like people who give clear instructions on what to do than those who do not have clarity in expectation and cannot articulate. This will have a direct impact on the ability to get things done.
One powerful practice that highly influence people do use in their communication process is purposeful communication.

What is purposeful communication?

It is all about communicating with others by outlining the purpose of the task as much as possible than merely saying what you want.
 
For example, you may want to know which material has been consumed more in the last three years to reduce costs.
.
You have two options to communicate to your team to get the details.
 
Option1:
 
"I want consumption data of material for the last three years."
 
Option 2:

 "I want to understand which material is consumed more in the last three years to look for consumption reduction to reduce cost."
 
In both options, you communicate the same. However, in option 2, you elaborate on the purpose, which will give more clarity to team members, and in high probability, they will filter the data with more insights.

The reason is that people like reasoning, and it will give clarity. When clarity is given, the output's speed or quality will be more than in the case of providing simple instruction.
 
When we practice this purposeful communication technique in all interpersonal communication, we subconsciously outline why/ what/ when /who, and how as much as possible, wherever required.
 
The idea is to give clarity to get things done easier than leaving people with ambiguity, reducing the ability to get things done.
 
Experimenting with your next communication to check its effectiveness would be best.
 
 Have a great week ahead!

Empowering others

  Empowering others  

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 

We discussed some of the mindsets of highly influential people in the workplace to get things done. We mentioned win-win, how they look at work, and clarity of what they need.

Regarding practices, influential people work on themselves to build their credibility through relationships and expertise. The second practice is giving others their time, energy, and knowledge. The third practice is displaying respect by listening.

The next practice the people do is Empowering others.
 
What is meant by Empowering Others?
 
Empowering is giving power to someone to do something, which makes them feel elated and confident once they have done it.

It consists of Giving macro level direction and guidance when required and backing up when in trouble.

Most of us do not like to be managed with micromanagement. When we experience micromanagement with anyone, we do not like that person much.

One of the surveys tries to discover the qualities of the best-ever bosses in the workplace. The findings reveal that people do not like micro-managing and rate the person as the best boss who empowers them with direction and guidance at an appropriate time.
 
For example, consider the situation. Your boss is asking to send a mail to a customer about recent development in a product.

He gives the overall purpose of email communication, outlines what needs to be included, allows you to draft the mail independently, and backs you on the consequences; then, it is empowerment. In this experience, you feel that you are learning something new and like your boss, and he will easily influence you.
 
Alternatively, if he asks you to send a mail, dictates what needs to be included, and spends time checking line by line, then it is not empowerment; it is just micro-management.In this experience, you may feel undervalued and not like your boss much; in turn, you may not be influenced by him so easily.
 
The point is, by nature, we all want freedom with boundary conditions. When we provide an empowering environment and experience to our people, they like us more, and as a reciprocation, they can be influenced relatively easily.
 
Sometimes, due to our anxiety about doing everything perfectly and of losing our reputation due to the mistakes of others, we tend to be more micro-managing, and, in this process, we lose the advantage of the influencing edge.
 
This needs awareness and practicing to balance micro-management and monitoring the progress at a high level. The art of delegation with empowerment is one of the skills every manager and leader has to learn.
 
Have a great week ahead!

Displaying Respect by listening

 Displaying Respect by listening

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 

We discussed some of the mindsets of highly influential people in the workplace to get things done. We mentioned win-win, how they look at work, and clarity of what they need.
Regarding practices, effective people work on themselves to build their credibility through relationships and expertise. The second practice is giving others their time, energy, and knowledge.
 
The next practice the people do is consistently displaying Respect by listening.

Relevance of listening and Respect:

One of the basic longing needs of all human beings is: Being heard.

Listening is beyond hearing the words. It is all about  GIVING ATTENTION to others and being willing to listen to others. Attention can be demonstrated to someone when they speak through our body language, like posture, eye contact, and acknowledgment.

When someone spends time actively hearing, it conveys Respect to others; in turn, the other is obliged to give it back.
Conveying Respect is not about expressing salutations like Mr/ Mrs or Sir / Madam; it represents positional hierarchy and will not influence people.

Beyond positional power, displaying Respect through listening will impact influencing.

Listening is a sign of Respect. It shows that you value what the speaker has to say. If you take the time to listen to someone by focusing on the speaker, you are showing them that they are important to you.
 
How do highly influencing people demonstrate in the workplace?
 
Create more forums for dialogue and feedback. 

They create forums to meet people and share information. That could be structured review forums or mail communication encouraging others to voice their views.

One of my bosses shares some of his learnings /outcomes after he attends some programs and encourage others to voice their opinion. By the way, he conveys that he respects others by sharing and allowing them to talk.
 
Moving around beyond hierarchy:
One of the habits of highly influencing people is they move around in the office and are keen on approaching people easily.
 
In all the above demonstrations, the essential quality they display to others is "I respect you as a human being"… when that message is imbibed to others, others will reciprocate when they are influenced to get things done.

Let us discuss some other practices next week.
 
Have a great week ahead.

Giving before Getting

  Giving before Getting 

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 

We discussed some of the mindsets of highly influential people in the workplace to get things done. We mentioned win-win, how they look at work, and clarity of what they need.

Regarding practices, influential people work on themselves to build their credibility through relationships and expertise.
 
Another practice the people consistently do is giving to others before getting.
 
What does giving before getting mean?
 
It is all about giving our time and sharing our knowledge or experience with others without much expectation of returns instantly.
 
Why is this important?

The act of giving and its consequence is based on the law of reciprocation.

The law of reciprocating is explained as when someone does something to you; you feel obligated to reciprocate or do something in return for them.

We might have experience in our personal life as someone gifts us for our birthday, and we accept it. However, we feel obligated to return it to them and will do it on their birthday or some other occasion. That is the design of human emotions.
 
Influencing people use the same principle in the workplace by giving their time, energy, and knowledge to others without thinking of returning immediately. Still, by nature of law, others will return it later when they need it.
 
For example, a colleague comes to you for guidance on investment or debt prepayment, as you have experience in it. When you take your time and share your knowledge, practical experience on do's and don'ts, and the nitty-gritty of financial aspects, the other person leaves with respect for you. You will not get any immediate return except maybe your self-satisfaction.

At a later stage, when you need any help from the same colleague to get things done for your functional activities, relatively you will get things done quickly as the other person is obligated to give it back to you, and they use the opportunity to help you out in the situations.

How can you give to others?
 

• You can give your time to others when they approach you.
• Patiently listen to their concerns, even if you do not have any solutions
• Sharing your knowledge and experience may open up new thought processes for them. People will never forget those who show new possibilities or approaches to their problems.

 
The point is world works based on the nature of law, and one of the laws is people are obliged to give back what they got. When we can give more to others, eventually, more people are obligated to give it back to us; by the way, you easily influence others to get things done when you want.

Just ask yourself how much time you are spending to give to others in a day.
 
Have a great week ahead!
 

How to build credibility?

  How to build credibility? 

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 

Continuing last week's discussion on developing credibility at the workplace to influence others to get things done, let us understand how some effective people build their credibility.
 
Building credibility at the workplace happens at two levels

1. Relationship building
2. Expertise in functional / domain

 Relationship building:

​People with high credibility consistently demonstrate that they are trusted people to listen, are not harmful to anyone, and work in the interest of others. They always show they are reliable to associate with.

How do they demonstrate they are reliable?

One holistic way of demonstrating this is through ease of approach.

Ease of approach is more than just physically or digitally approaching them quickly. It is all about how you feel after approaching them.

Some people are inconsistent in their mood, and we may need to know precisely their mood and whether we will get positive receptiveness when approaching them. Those people lose the trust of others as they are inconsistent in their mood and emotionally unstable.

For example, one of your colleagues swings his mood from extremely pleasant to angry at any moment during the conversation. Will you consider him/ her a reliable person to reach out to?
Certainly not.. because inconsistency in conduct will lead to a loss of trust.

An emotionally balanced person is always considered a trustworthy person as far as relationship building is concerned. That is the base for relationship building.

Expertise in functional or domain:

We cannot build credibility even if we are good in relationships but lack expertise in our function or domain.

Highly credible people are not just available for access but also share their knowledge and wisdom from their functional expertise whenever an opportunity arises. They will demonstrate their thought leadership by sharing their perspectives, ideas, and references whenever others need them.

They will consciously develop or polish their competency in their functional expertise.

Building credibility is a long-term, time-consuming process primarily around relationships and expertise in functional areas.

It is about character building, staying relevant in functional expertise, and sharing with others. 
 
There is no shortcut to building credibility…
 
 Have a great week ahead.

Building Credibility to influence

  Building Credibility to influence

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 

We discussed some of the mindsets of highly influential people in the workplace to get things done. We mentioned win-win, how they look at work, and clarity of what they need.

One of the practices or efforts put by highly influencing people is developing Credibility at the workplace among peers, colleagues, junior colleagues, and customers.

What is meant by Credibility?

Credibility is all about the believable or trustworthiness of someone in some aspects.
 
For example,

You may have some clarification in tax filing. Whom do you approach or consult?

A well-known practicing chartered accountant/auditor only.

Because we firmly believe or trust them as they have proven qualifications and practices. That is the Credibility they earn or possess.

Credibility comes from consistent action or behavior on character or demonstrating domain expertise.

How Credibility has an impact on influencing?

Any transaction in a professional environment happens through TRUST. The Trust will come from repetitive behavior or demonstrating expertise consistently. When we earn the Trust, others will respect our ideas or plan and be ready to follow us. In that way, we can get things done at the workplace.

Relatively we have an edge to influence or sell our ideas to others over those who do not build Credibility.

Recently one of the retired CEO from corporate published his book on career planning and became a GENUINE best seller in the market. He had not spent any money on advertising. He has only built Credibility for the last 20 years as a leadership and management expert. People believed that he might also have some message on career planning and make it a big success. That is the power of Credibility in influencing.

When we have some technical or business challenges, we approach some people for solutions because they establish Credibility as thought leaders in respective technical or business aspects. We readily accept them as they earn our Trust and respect.

Building Credibility is one of the traits of every professional at any level and requires consistency and time to build. Once we make Credibility, it will have a compounding effect on the influencing power.
 
Let us discuss the various methodologies to build Credibility next week.
 
Have a great week ahead!
 

What do you want?

  What do you want? 

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 

As we discuss the mindset and practices used by highly influencing people to get things done, we have highlighted the two mindsets like, "Win-Win Mindset" and "How do you see yourself? ".
 
The third practice is "Outcome based thinking," which is a powerful practice by all effective people.
 
Outcome-based thinking :

It is all about starting any interaction or business deal with the objective.
 
It is all about clarifying what we want to achieve in the end.

It is beyond visualization. 
 
Why is this important?

• When you start with the end objective, it brings focus within you.
• Half the battle is won when you start with the end objective and express yourself to others about your expectation.
• It connects with others as they are in a position to listen 
• When you start with the end objective, you likely think about what may go wrong and proactively prepare for it.

 
When starting any conversation or deal, the thought process of highly influencing people is as follows.

What do i want at the end?
What do others want, and what may be their objection?
If there is an objection, what would be my counteroffer? 
How will i bring to a conclusion with a win-win mindset?

In project management, one of the traits expected from a successful project manager is OUTCOME BASED Thinking and STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT and Having Plan B if something goes against the plan.
 
Anyone can develop outcome-based thinking with practice.

For example, when proposing a new idea to colleagues and management/clients, you can always apply outcome-based thinking and likely win the proposal.

What do I want at the end?
My idea has to be acceptable by others as such, or with minor modification
What is others' need, and what may be their objection?
How the new idea may affect others and what could be their views
 If there is an objection, what is my counter-deal to be a win-win?
If my idea is not acceptable as such, what could be my other alternative which is fine for  others ( Proactiveness)
How I will bring it to a conclusion?
Either i withdraw my idea( loss-win)  or accept another's suggestion to modify my idea (win-win)
 
We positively influence others when we think about the outcome before the start.

The mindset is straightforward. In reality, except few, most of us are not proactively prepared for 360 views when we start, which causes us to be poor in influencing.

It just needs awareness and preparation with practice before getting into any conversation or business deal.
 
Have a great week ahead.

How do you see yourself?

  How do you see yourself?  

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 

Last week, we discussed the mindset of win-win in every interaction and business dealing to enhance influencing skills in the workplace.
 
Enhancing influencing skills is one of the primary skill sets everyone should develop, and it is not a quick fix or set of techniques.
 
Developing the influencing skill is a combination of mindset, behavior, practices, and more you are aware of, and applying it will make you a better influencer at the workplace.
 
From that perspective, we will discuss a set of mindsets and practices which we can observe and relate with the most influencing personalities.
 
One such mindset is a win-win mindset.

The second mindset or belief is how you see yourself. 
 
What is meant by "seeing yourself"?

It is all about how you perceive/look at your position and yourself in the professional setup.

It is not the position title or how others see you.
 
For example, the organization gives you the title of Quality Head. It is provided by others or perceived by others. That is ok, but how you see yourself determines your influencing power.
 
Are you feeling like an empowered quality head, or are you one among the functional head? The honest reflection will bring a new perspective to you about yourself.
 
Why is this reflection important?
 
How you see yourself and your feelings will enhance your self-esteem. It will change your outlook, body language, tone, ownership feeling, or responsibility.
 
I came across many people who own their functional responsibility beyond their title, and eventually, people respect them, even though, in the beginning, they were misunderstood.

You can also relate to some people who use the following phrase, who will go beyond their boundaries to make it happen.
 
My production speed or output  will go down
My quality will affect…
My inventory will go up …
 
That verbal language reflects their ownership, and they will be influencers relatively compared to others.
 
In one of my client organizations, management recruited a junior storekeeper who had core experience in that function. The organization has an open store concept in which anyone can pick the material with verbal approval from the plant head, and anytime they update the records. After the new storekeeper took charge of the role, he refused to issue the material on an ad-hoc basis even though he was directed by the plant head to do so.
He firmly stated that he was the custodian of materials, was accountable for inventory value, and could not accept or issue material without proper documentation, even if directed by the plant head. Initially, people did not accept him; later on, they respected him as he influenced them to bring the right way of working.

My key learning is that he looks at his position as more powerful, and that feeling makes him more commanding and influencing people to do the right things.
 
The point is how you look at your position, and yourself will enhance your feel about yourself. When you strengthen your self-image, you get the power to influence others. It is one of the mindsets of highly influencing people.

 Let us discuss other practices and mindsets next week.

Have a great week ahead.