This document summarizes a presentation about influencing organizational change without direct authority. It discusses key concepts like influence without authority, managing up, and organizational savvy. It outlines John Kotter's eight stages of creating major change and common errors. The presentation provides strategies for gaining trust and credibility to influence others, and practices applying influence tactics through role plays. It emphasizes that even leaders need to influence and the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The goal is for attendees to identify high-impact ideas to apply and ways to follow through on taking action.
Managing Up & Cultivating Change: Influence Without Authority
1. Managing Up &
Organizational Savvy:
Influence Without
Authority
Admission Officers
Conference
May 15, 2019
Ari M. Betof, Ed.D.
Organizational
Sustainability
Consulting
2. Organizational
Sustainability
Consulting
Managing Up & Organizational Savvy: Influence Without Authority
Agenda
• Understanding Your Role In Context
• Key Concepts – Influence Without Authority, Managing Up, &
Organizational Savvy
• Practice J
• Takeaways
6. Influence –
“the power or capacity of causing an
effect in indirect or intangible ways”
or
“the act or power of producing
an effect without apparent
exertion of force or direct
exercise of command”
~Merriam-Webster
7. Influence –
“The capacity to impact agendas and
outcomes, and bring other people on
board.”
~The Influence Effect
10. Managing Up –
“To many people, the phrase ‘managing your boss’ may sound
unusual or suspicious. Because of the traditional top-down
emphasis in most organizations, it is not obvious why you need
to manage relationships upward—unless, of course, you would
do so for personal or political reasons. But we are not referring
to political maneuvering or to apple polishing. We are using the
term to mean the process of consciously working with your
superior to obtain the best possible results for you, your boss,
and the company.”
~John J. Gabarro and John P. Kotter, “Managing Your Boss” in
Harvard Business Review (January 2005)
11. Savvy –
“having or showing perception,
comprehension, or shrewdness
especially in practical matters”
~Merriam-Webster
Photo: BoardEffect Annual Conference
12. Organizational Savvy –
“Organizational politics are informal,
unofficial, and sometimes behind-the-
scenes efforts to sell ideas, influence
an organization, increase power, or
achieve other targeted objectives.”
~Survival of the Savvy by
Rick Brandon and Marty Seldman
14. Organizational
Sustainability
Consulting
Managing Up & Organizational Savvy: Influence Without Authority
So, how do you….
Influence the arc of change at your school without
explicit authority through managing up and leveraging
organizational savvy?
16. Organizational
Sustainability
Consulting
Managing Up & Organizational Savvy: Influence Without Authority
So, how do you….
Influence the arc of change in your school without
explicit authority through managing up and leveraging
organizational savvy?
First, we have to
understand how
change happens in
organizations…
17. Organizational
Sustainability
Consulting
Managing Up & Organizational Savvy: Influence Without Authority
Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major
Change
1. Establishing a sense of urgency
2. Creating the guiding coalition
3. Developing a vision and strategy
4. Communication the change vision
5. Empowering broad-based action
6. Generating short term wins
7. Consolidating gains and producing more change
Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major
Change
1. Establishing a sense of urgency
2. Creating the guiding coalition
3. Developing a vision and strategy
4. Communication the change vision
5. Empowering broad-based action
6. Generating short term wins
Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major
Change
1. Establishing a sense of urgency
2. Creating the guiding coalition
3. Developing a vision and strategy
4. Communication the change vision
5. Empowering broad-based action
Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major
Change
1. Establishing a sense of urgency
2. Creating the guiding coalition
3. Developing a vision and strategy
4. Communication the change vision
Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major
Change
1. Establishing a sense of urgency
2. Creating the guiding coalition
3. Developing a vision and strategy
Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major
Change
1. Establishing a sense of urgency
2. Creating the guiding coalition
Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major
Change
1. Establishing a sense of urgency
Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major
Change
Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major
Change
1. Establishing a sense of urgency
2. Creating the guiding coalition
3. Developing a vision and strategy
4. Communication the change vision
5. Empowering broad-based action
6. Generating short term wins
7. Consolidating gains and producing more change
8. Anchoring new approaches in the culture
Eight Most Common Errors of
Change Processes
1. Allowing too much complacency
2. Failing to create a sufficiently powerful guiding coalition
3. Underestimating the power of vision
4. Under communicating the vision by a factor of 10
(100 or even 1,000)
5. Permitting obstacles to block the new vision
6. Failing to create short term wins
7. Declaring victory too soon
8. Neglecting to anchor changes firmly in the culture
John P. Kotter’s Leading Change
19. Organizational
Sustainability
Consulting
Managing Up & Organizational Savvy: Influence Without Authority
Reflecting on Successful Change
• Think about a time when you or someone you know
within an organization (not the head) championed a
positive change you care about?
• Spend 2-minutes freewriting…
-What happened?
-Why?
• Share
30. Practice – Role Play “True North”
1. Identify an initiative that
you want to influence
2. Select an influence tactic
3. Write a brief summary
4. Groups of three (3)
5. Facilitated role play:
- “I liked…”
- “I wish…”
- “What if…”
33. Even the most senior leaders need to influence
without relying upon authority –
“It is an illusion that once upon a time
managers could make their direct reports do
whatever was needed. Nobody has ever had
enough authority—they never have and
never will. Organizational life is too
complicated for that.”
~Allan R. Cohen, Influence Without Authority
36. Organizational
Sustainability
Consulting
Managing Up & Organizational Savvy: Influence Without Authority
Takeaways
• Identify 1-3 impactful ideas that you want to bring back
to your school
• Decide a way these ideas won’t get lost in significant
volume of daily work
• Then, decide how you are going
to hold yourself accountable
for follow-through
• Execute on your
takeaways plan
38. Two Resources to Learn More
Influence:
Gaining Commitment, Getting Results
Second Edition
by Harold Scharlatt and Roland Smith, Center for
Creative Leadership
Getting Things Done When You Are
Not in Charge
Second Edition
by George M. Bellman