Within work, in order to complete your tasks, you have to depend upon many people whom you do not have direct authority over to supply you with information needed to complete your work on time, in budget and quality specifications.

1. Helping Teams Work 8 of 12
Influence Strategies
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2. Hello – I’m Mike Cardus of
Create-Learning Team
Building & Leadership. An
expert in creating &
sustaining high
performance teams.
www.create-learning.com

3. Do’s and Don’ts For Dealing With Resistance To Your Project
Identifying Reasons People May Resist Your Project
Recognizing Resistance To Your Project
Is Your Data Persuasive?
Influence Strategies
Dealing With Team Problems
Dealing With Difficult Team Members
Handling Team Conflict Through Compromising vs. Consensus-Seeking
Conflict Management Approaches
Making Team Decision Through Consensus
Running the Team Meeting
Team Leaders’ Biggest Team Meeting Mistake
www.create-learning.com

4. 5 Ways to Influence People
As you work to complete your
Team Project, you will have to
influence many people in order to
get cooperation for your project,
and the same approach doesn’t
work with everyone. So you’ll need
to be familiar with a variety of
influence approaches (or
strategies) and know how to
choose among them.
Definition
Influence refers to the use of
personal energy to create an
impact upon, redirect, or change
the outcome of a particular
situation.
www.create-learning.com

5. Key Principle:
Influence strategies fall on a continuum. The one end being those
that push people into action and the other being those that pull
them (i.e. create a situation in which people want to do
something).
What makes one influence strategy more appropriate than another
is a combination of:
 The situation
 You and your capacity to influence
 The person you’re trying to influence
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6. Biggest Influencing Mistake
Communication Mismatch
When it’s time to influence
people, many managers tend to
reach for the same strategy
every time: persuasion.
In many cases, this is a good
approach and works quite well.
But some managers often do this
even when the other person
already has the
data/information, or has already
taken it into consideration, or is
not open to hearing it.
In these situations,
persuasion does not work.
www.create-learning.com

7. Have you taken these steps?
 Where it makes sense you’ve simply asked the other person. (Note: this sends a
positive signal: i.e. that you view the other person’s interests as important.)
 You’ve checked with others who know this person better or are in a better
position to ask about interests.
 You’ve made inferences about what matters to the person based on his/her
position, department goals, public behavior or comments, etc…
 You’ve imagined yourself in the other person’s position and have made a list of
what would be important to you if you were that person.
Have you Considered These Possible Interest?
 Desire to keep job
 Money
 Resources
 Need to be seen as competent
 Need to prove value to the
organization
 Reputation
 Others’ perceptions
 Power
 Control over events or departments
 Fairness
 Saving face
 Concerns about a relationship
 Setting a precedent
Checklist:
Identifying Others’ Interest
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8. What to Do When You’re Negotiating
1. Identify the issue: what you’re negotiating about.
2. Identify your own and the others person’s interests (see
Checklist: Identify Others’ Interests for guidance).
3. Focus on interests rather than positions. Think about what you
have to offer the other person (i.e. how you might satisfy
his/her interests), and how to make your offer attractive to this
person. Think about what he or she has that would satisfy your
interests; don’t be afraid to ask for what you want or suggest
trades.
4. If the other person’s style bothers you, don’t let it get in the
way of negotiating. The goal is to get both parties’ interests
satisfied, not to become best friends.
5. Generate alternatives, discuss them, evaluate, select, and
implement.
6. Repeat as necessary.
www.create-learning.com

9. You can influence effectively
when you identify your own
interests and those of the person
whose cooperation you need.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/8402660230
www.create-learning.com

10. Do’s and Don’ts For Dealing With Resistance To Your Project
Identifying Reasons People May Resist Your Project
Recognizing Resistance To Your Project
Is Your Data Persuasive?
Influence Strategies
Dealing With Team Problems
Dealing With Difficult Team Members
Handling Team Conflict Through Compromising vs. Consensus-Seeking
Conflict Management Approaches
Making Team Decision Through Consensus
Running the Team Meeting
Team Leaders’ Biggest Team Meeting Mistake
www.create-learning.com

11. Helping Teams Work 8 of 12
Influence Strategies
www.create-learning.com