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Influencing Across Organizational Boundaries II

by JenniferVMiller on Jan 11, 2012

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Excerpts of presentation to the Western Michigan Chapter of PMI on 1-9-12

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Excerpts of presentation to the Western Michigan Chapter of PMI on 1-9-12

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Thanks for inviting me tonight, I’m delighted to be here. Ready to get right to it?
As mentioned in my speaker introduction, I’ve had the privledge of running several high-visibility projects during my time in corporate America. And now, in my current role as a professional development consultant, I work with people all across the globe, many of whom lead projects. So I’m familiar with the challenges you’re up against. Let’s take a look at a few of those challenges. CLICK to “the CEO…”
First section: “ Carlos” – “I want you to be stewards for your organization. Act like you’re the CEO.” Don’t you love it when they say that? “I want run your project like you were the CEO of your own company.” Click to next: problem is. . . Sometimes those in positions of titled power to forget that the rest of us don’t always have the “lever” of power that a title brings. Click to: But you still have to get it done. You must still get your project delivered on time, within budget and with satisfied customers, yes? TRANS: Here’s another set of challenges you may face: CLICK to next slide: 5 Reasons Projects Fail
First section: “ Carlos” – “I want you to be stewards for your organization. Act like you’re the CEO.” Don’t you love it when they say that? “I want run your project like you were the CEO of your own company.” Click to next: problem is. . . Sometimes those in positions of titled power to forget that the rest of us don’t always have the “lever” of power that a title brings. Click to: But you still have to get it done. You must still get your project delivered on time, within budget and with satisfied customers, yes? TRANS: Here’s another set of challenges you may face: CLICK to next slide: 5 Reasons Projects Fail
First section: “ Carlos” – “I want you to be stewards for your organization. Act like you’re the CEO.” Don’t you love it when they say that? “I want run your project like you were the CEO of your own company.” Click to next: problem is. . . Sometimes those in positions of titled power to forget that the rest of us don’t always have the “lever” of power that a title brings. Click to: But you still have to get it done. You must still get your project delivered on time, within budget and with satisfied customers, yes? TRANS: Here’s another set of challenges you may face: CLICK to next slide: 5 Reasons Projects Fail
According to the authors of the Silence Fails study, business leaders who successfully address one or more of the five issues are 50-70% more likely to fully achieve their project objectives. Here’s the connection: even though you might not have the direct authority via the power of your title to address the 5 barriers to project success, you can use your personal influence to help shape a positive outcome. Tonight I will share with you ideas to help you expand your influence– to use it within your project team and across organizational boundaries. My talk tonight draws on my experience as a corporate project manager, my educational background in psychology and I’ll even throw in some biology and sociology as well. So, you don’t need to feel like Dilbert and only hear “give up”. You can make a difference and I’ll show you how. TRANS: So, how am I defining “influence” tonight?
Let’s talk specifically about the traits that make someone influential. . . .
As you can see from the definition I’m using, I’ve chosen simple, a value-neutral definition. CLICK to next slide : “Influence is about using the power of who you are….” For my reference only, if there are questions about power pow·er - noun Possession of the qualities required to get something done. pow·er - noun One possessing or exercising influence or authority.
Tonight, I’m going to talk about how you can use your influence to benefit your project AND your organization. My philosophy is that we can always use more traffic on the high road in our organizations, so the tips I suggest to you tonight come from a basis of using your influence in the most positive way possible. To that end-- I’m also going to challenge you– to think about this slide for a moment: Reflect: how do you show up at work each day and how do you leverage who you are to make a positive difference? CLICK to next slide: What makes someone influential?
Tonight, I’m going to talk about how you can use your influence to benefit your project AND your organization. My philosophy is that we can always use more traffic on the high road in our organizations, so the tips I suggest to you tonight come from a basis of using your influence in the most positive way possible. To that end-- I’m also going to challenge you– to think about this slide for a moment: Reflect: how do you show up at work each day and how do you leverage who you are to make a positive difference? CLICK to next slide: What makes someone influential?
Let’s talk specifically about the traits that make someone influential. . . .
The ideas I will share with you in the next few slides come from a book called “Influencer”, written by a group of consultants from a consulting company called Vital Smarts. I have no material interest in this book– it’s simply one of the best books I’ve read on change management and using positive influence that I’ve read. I’m going to break it down by each of the three traits, according to the authors and then add my own observations for how you can develop these traits. CLICK to next slide: Competence
Example: Have you ever known a colleague and said to yourself, “He’s really a great guy, but he couldn’t find his way out of a paper bag?” Chances are, you do not find that person isn’t very influential. CLICK to reveal: Your competence is a given. It’s the “price of admission” for the job you do.
ASK: Who out there feels like they’re not as trustworthy as they could be? I know, it’s like the equivalent of me asking “do these pants make my butt look fat?” – Who’s going to say “Yes!”, right? We all would like to feel that of COURSE we are trustworthy. And you know what? In most cases we are. But consider this: there are internal, unseen measuring sticks that our team members, our colleagues and our leaders are using to gauge our trustworthiness. And it’s possible that you aren’t even aware this is going on. Let me illustrate with a concept. . . ASK: How many of you have heard of a touchstone? In ancient times, people who wanted to determine the value of a metal such as gold would use a touchstone to determine the purity of the metal. To perform the test, they would scrape the metal against a dark stone and look at the marks that the metal left. They would then compare the marks on the touchstone to an existing sample of gold to decide if the gold met their criteria for quality. In much the same way, people in organizations have an interpersonal benchmark they use to evaluate the trustworthiness of their leaders and co-workers. It’s like a touchstone for trust— people who don’t measure up are lacking in that “social lubricant” that Warren Bennis was talking about. I developed a concept called “Trust Touchstones” to help people figure out where they may be missing the mark in developing trusting relationships. CLICK to next slide.
Let’s go through these: Ethical : Think of the Ethics Trust Touchstone as containing the basic ingredients of healthy working relationships. It’s a person’s moral compass. When people gauge your trustworthiness using this stone, they are looking for honesty and integrity. As they say on the commercials, “But wait, there’s more!” There are other touchstones that people use to gauge another person’s trustworthiness. The number of stones are as varied as the people on this planet, but there are some general categories that most people use: Cultural – in which “culture” can mean either our ethnic or national heritage or our organizational culture. Example: When I first went to work for Herman Miller, which has a very strong organizational culture, I had several people take me aside and say that some of my word choices or actions (which had been perfectly fine at my previous employer) weren’t really consistent with the “Herman Miller way.” What these well-meaning mentors were telling me in a round-about way: if you continue to behave counter to our culture, you won’t be trusted around here.” Educational: Sometimes one’s educational background creates an interesting “trust” issue. Example: client who works in the Environmental Health and Safety division of her company. She recently received her Masters in EHS. She admitted to me that while she really likes all of her colleagues, she did feel that those who didn’t have the EHS educational credentials were not helping to uphold the importance of the EHS discipline. Let me be clear: this woman was NOT saying she didn’t “trust” her colleagues– on an ethical level. She was saying she lacked trust in their abilities. Interpersonal : I call this the “chemistry” factor. ASK: can you think of a colleague that you just don’t “click” with and you can’t really put your finger on why? Maybe you’re tempted to chalk it up as a “personality conflict” and that can lead to less trust. So you may be wondering: CLICK to “Do I measure up?” Here are some behavioral clues that people are looking for when they are gauging your trustworthiness.
Let’s go through these: Ethical : Think of the Ethics Trust Touchstone as containing the basic ingredients of healthy working relationships. It’s a person’s moral compass. When people gauge your trustworthiness using this stone, they are looking for honesty and integrity. As they say on the commercials, “But wait, there’s more!” There are other touchstones that people use to gauge another person’s trustworthiness. The number of stones are as varied as the people on this planet, but there are some general categories that most people use: Cultural – in which “culture” can mean either our ethnic or national heritage or our organizational culture. Example: When I first went to work for Herman Miller, which has a very strong organizational culture, I had several people take me aside and say that some of my word choices or actions (which had been perfectly fine at my previous employer) weren’t really consistent with the “Herman Miller way.” What these well-meaning mentors were telling me in a round-about way: if you continue to behave counter to our culture, you won’t be trusted around here.” Educational: Sometimes one’s educational background creates an interesting “trust” issue. Example: client who works in the Environmental Health and Safety division of her company. She recently received her Masters in EHS. She admitted to me that while she really likes all of her colleagues, she did feel that those who didn’t have the EHS educational credentials were not helping to uphold the importance of the EHS discipline. Let me be clear: this woman was NOT saying she didn’t “trust” her colleagues– on an ethical level. She was saying she lacked trust in their abilities. Interpersonal : I call this the “chemistry” factor. ASK: can you think of a colleague that you just don’t “click” with and you can’t really put your finger on why? Maybe you’re tempted to chalk it up as a “personality conflict” and that can lead to less trust. So you may be wondering: CLICK to “Do I measure up?” Here are some behavioral clues that people are looking for when they are gauging your trustworthiness.
Add example from professional experience
According to the authors if Influencer, possessing the first two influence traits – competence and trustworthiness will gain you respect as a professional. Now, before we get to the third influence trait, would you please take a look at these four questions on the next slide and silently answer to yourself. Think if it as an influence “pop quiz”. CLICK to: How Plugged In Are You?
This third trait is like the “secret sauce” (Or X-Factor) of influence. TOT - There’s a local radio station that runs a “TOY” program during the holidays– “Think Outside Yourself”– the program is meant to highlight people who are generous– with their time or resources. In the same way, an Influencer is a “TOT”– a person who has the company’s best interest in mind and is willing to “pay it forward” even if there is no material interest to him or herself. Well-connected: did you know that people who have a strong network report a higher job satisfaction than those who don’t? Gracious: it’s easy to become short-tempered or a task master with deadlines that loom. Remember this: people who look up to you are giving you the gift of their trust. Don’t abuse that trust by being abrupt or seemingly ungracious about their attempts to connect with you. Accessible : I’m not talking about answering your texts and emails 24/7. This kind of accessibility is about being emotionally available to people when they need to communicate with you. Not just in the room but plugged in to what they’re saying.

Influencing Across Organizational Boundaries II — Presentation Transcript

Influencing Across Organizational Boundaries Presented by: Jennifer V. Miller skillsourcewmi.com | 800.585.1247
Your challenge
You’re in a meeting and your company CEO tells you to “act like you’re the CEO.”
- Problem is, you aren’t the CEO.
- But you’re still expected to get it done– under budget, on time and with satisfied customers.
We don’t have the same levers of authority that the company CEO does. So we have to work our levers of influence differently.
According to the authors of the Silence Fails study, you can increase the probability of your project’s success by 50 – 70 % with the power of influence. silencefails.com
What is influence?
in·flu·ence - verb To shape; to give direction to
We can all use a bit more traffic on the high road . . .
Influence is about using the power of who you are to get things done in a positive way.
What makes someone influential?
Traits of Influential People The book “Influencer” identifies these 3 traits:
Competence Your competence is a given. It’s the “price of admission” for the job you do. 1
- To be influential, it’s not enough to be really good at what you do.
- You must also have. . .
Trustworthiness
- “ Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work.”
- Warren G. Bennis
- Author, leadership expert
2
- Are you trustworthy?
- Bet you said “yes!”, right?
- Consider this:
- Did you know that it’s not enough to be honest and ethical to be deemed “trustworthy”?
- There are other measuring sticks that people are using.
In ancient times people used a touchstone to gauge the quality of a piece of metal. Today, in much the same way, our colleagues use trust touchstones to determine the quality of our trustworthiness.
Examples of Trust Touchstones™
- Ethical
- Cultural
- Educational
- Interpersonal
Do I measure up? ™“ Trust Touchstone” is based on the upcoming book The Touchstones of Leadership by Jennifer V. Miller
People use the touchstones to determine if you are:
- Congruent – words match the deeds
- Open – willing to accept differences
- Reliable – delivers on promises
- Compassionate – caring about people
- When you are both competent and trustworthy, you will be well-respected in your occupation.
- But that’s still not enough to be truly influential.
- To be really influential, you need a third trait.
- You must be:
Plugged In
- Able to “T.O.T.” – Thinks Outside Themselves
- Well-connected across the organization
- Gracious to people who look up to them
- Emotionally accessible and willing to really hear people
3 People who are plugged in are:
- Your influence can’t be conjured up.
- It must be grown, little by little, like seeds planted and then nurtured.
What will you do today to grow your influence?

Influencing Across Organizational Boundaries II

by JenniferVMiller on Jan 11, 2012

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Influencing Across Organizational Boundaries II — Presentation Transcript