Tackling Your Toughest Influence Challenges: Tools for Leading in a Matrix

Tackling Your Toughest Influence
Challenges: Tools for Leading and
Influencing in a Matrix
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Speaker: Elizabeth Rayer
Principal & Director of Corporate Education
Vantage Partners
Carol Bonett
Senior Consultant, Corporate Education
Vantage Partners

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Vice President, Editorial Director
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Mike Prokopeak
Vice President, Editorial Director
Chief Learning Officer magazine

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Elizabeth Rayer
Vantage Partners

Carol Bonett
Vantage Partners

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Tackling Your Toughest Influence Challenges
Tools for Leading and Influencing in a Matrix

Brighton Landing West 10 Guest Street Boston, MA USA 02135 www.vantagepartners.com
This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, or in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission. Copyright © 2012 by Vantage Partners, LLC. All rights reserved.

About Vantage Partners

Mission: Drive measurable business results by transforming the way companies
negotiate with, and manage relationships with, key internal and external business
partners

Practice Areas: Corporate Education, Strategic Alliances, Sourcing and Supplier
Management, Outsourcing Governance and Relationship Management, Key Account
Management, Payer‐Provider Relationship Management

Spin‐off of the Harvard Negotiation Project

Faculty at Harvard University, the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and the US
Military Academy at West Point

Leaders in international conflict resolution through CMG (now part of Mercy Corps)
• Arias Peace Accords,
• Post‐apartheid South African constitution

Copyright © 2012 by Vantage Partners, LLC.

Vantage Partners publications

Copyright © 2012 by Vantage Partners, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

What do we mean by “Influence”?

The ability to resolve conflicts, solve problems, reach joint decisions, and
get results with or through others
The exercise of this ability — without requiring the use of force or formal,
direct authority

Influence applies in many contexts….
decision–making, cross functional
resource allocation, managing and
leading others, internal alignment and
implementation


Today’s organizations drive the need for
influence

Enterprise–wide initiatives and matrix reporting lines means dependency
on others whom there is no formal authority over to achieve goals
Seeking creative solutions to complex problems means having to
constantly engage in constructive efforts to mutually persuade people
with different priorities, skills, knowledge, and ways of working
Balancing competing priorities and tradeoffs means having to manage up
to secure resources or negotiate deadlines and priorities
Relying upon command/control to make decisions and take action is no
longer sufficient (nor effective) to get things done


Poll Question:  Influence a core competency?

How often (or how much) do your employees need to rely on
influence skills to meet their goals and objectives?
1. Rarely
2. Occasionally
3. Often
4. Most of the time
5. All the time


Poll Question: Influence competency in your
organization

How would you rate the influence capability within your
organization?
1. Poor
2. Inadequate
3. Average
4. Good
5. Excellent


Common influence strategies and tactics often
prove inadequate

• Approaching influence as something that is
done to others, and not a collaborative activity
to be engaged in with others
• Creating conversations that allow for only two
responses ‐ agree or disagree
• Focusing only on attractive ways of presenting
our own ideas without doing enough to
understand resistance of others


The challenge

When the stakes are high, when we are confronted with
a complex landscape of myriad stakeholders with
conflicting interests, and when we need to influence
others with whom we will have ongoing interactions,
and thus need to build strong working relationships, a
fundamentally different approach to persuasion is
called for


Common influence traps

1. Spending too much time trying to get others to understand
your point of view
2. Spending too much time trying to get people to say “yes” and
not enough trying to understand why they are saying “no” (and
“selling”)
3. Spending too much time trying to influence the wrong people
4. Assuming efficiency and inclusion are mutually exclusive in
decision‐making


Poll Question: Which traps do people in your
organization most typically fall into (select all that
apply)?
1. Spending too much time trying to get others to understand
their point of view
2. Spending too much time trying to get people to say “yes” and
not enough trying to understand why they are saying “no” (and
“selling”)
3. Spending too much time trying to influence the wrong people
4. Assuming efficiency and inclusion are mutually exclusive in
decision‐making


What are the results of these traps?

Common Traps Results

Spending too much time trying to They may feel disrespected and/or
get others to understand your pressured;
point of view

Spending too much time trying to
get people to say “yes” and not They feel unheard; and respond
enough trying to understand why
they are saying “no” (“selling”) with more (vehement) objections

Spending too much time trying to Wasted time and confusion
influence the wrong people

Assuming efficiency and inclusion Delays in action around decisions
are mutually exclusive in decision‐ or overlooking important
making information or perspectives

Copyright © 2012 by Vantage Partners, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 18

Requires a different set of assumptions

Mindset / Thinking Skills/ Behavior Results


Trap 1: Spending too much time trying to get others to
understand your point of view

Different perspectives

riveting tedious tedious riveting


Different perspectives

anticipation dread dread anticipation


The Ladder of Inference

Share Think about how you reached
My Conclusions Their Conclusions your conclusions. What data
Inquire are you focused on? How do
you reason from that data to
your conclusion? Inquire into
the reasoning paths of
others.
Share
My Interpretations Their Interpretations
Inquire

Share In your discussions, move
My Data Their Data “up” from data to
Inquire interpretations to
conclusions. Expose your
data and reasoning to
DATA POOL challenge.
The Ladder of Inference is based on the work of Chris Argyris and the partners of Action Design.


Trap 2: Spending too much time trying to get people
to say "yes” and not enough trying to understand
why they are saying "no.”

Key insights about influence

You can’t change someone’s mind unless you know where their mind is
When faced with a “No,” there is nothing more disempowering than
assuming the person you are trying to influence is stupid, crazy, or evil
People do what they believe is their best interests (regardless of whether you
think it is a good idea or not)


Currently Perceived Choice Chart

Decision maker: ______________________
Question: “Shall I today ________________________________________?”

If “Yes” If “No”

– +

– +

– +

– +

– +

– + I can always say “yes” tomorrow
Copyright © 2012 by Vantage Partners, LLC. All rights reserved. 27

Currently Perceived Choice (CPC) Chart

Decision maker: Carol (Operations)
Question: Shall I this day give in to the unreasonable demand from Liz (Sales)
to deliver the report early so she can look good?
If “Yes” If “No”
I jeopardize my other priorities, + I stay focused on my priorities.
including deliverables to my boss. + I keep my boss happy.
I have to work even longer hours, or + I stand up for myself.
ask someone else in my group to do + I make Liz better in the future
it. (your lack of planning is not my
I reward bad behavior (was not emergency).
consulted about the change of + I don’t work long hours, or
timeline) and set a bad precedent. impose on my colleagues to help
I come across as a pushover. with my projects.
I promote Liz’s agenda at my own + I can always say yes later.
expense (I get no recognition.)

Copyright © 2012 by Vantage Partners, LLC. 28

Trap 3: Spending too much time trying to influence
the wrong people

Stakeholder & Influence Mapping

Business Unit Marketing Finance
Henri
Golda

Ladonna ?
–
Tom
=
? Ahmed

+ +
= +
José
Ashesh
Ang
– +
Rick You
Copyright © 2012 by Vantage Partners, LLC. All rights reserved.

Trap 4: Assuming efficiency and inclusion are mutually
exclusive in decision‐making

Why is it important?

Who has the authority to make a decision can be unclear


If Unclear, the result is a decision making
bottleneck…

At a leading automaker, product developers and marketers were
asked who was responsible for making new models:
When asked, “Who has the right to decide which features would
be standard”…
64% of Product Developers said “We do”
83% of Marketers said “We do”

When asked, “Who has the right to decide which colors will be
offered”…
77% of Product Developers said “We do”
61% of Marketers said “We do”

Paul Rogers and Marcia Blenko, Harvard Business Review,
33

Why is it important?

Who has the authority to make a decision can be unclear
Involving too many people leads to delays in action
An insufficiently inclusive process risks overlooking important
information or perspectives
An insufficiently inclusive process may lead those who feel excluded
to resist implementing decisions
Soliciting input can feel risky because it often creates an expectation
that advice or suggestions will be followed
People often assume that to affect the outcome of a decision they
must be a decision maker
Different people have different Interests and should have different
roles in making decisions

The D‐I‐C‐N Tool

Those people who
Person to manage the process have formal
of getting to the decision and authority
ensuring that the decision gets to actually make
made. the decision.

Decision Driver Inform Consult Negotiate

Complex Those who need to The parties who may
issues, actions, or be told about the act as advisors to the
decisions that have decision because decision makers and
been broken into they will need to whose views ought to
implement it or will be considered before
specific
be impacted by it.
sub-issues. taking action, but who
do not have authority
to vote on the decision
or reject whatever
decision is made.


Poll Question: Which tool discussed today do
you thing would be most helpful in solving your
toughest influence challenges?
The Ladder of Inference (seeing things differently)
Currently Perceived Choice chart (getting into their shoes)
Stakeholder and Influence Mapping (determining an optimal
sequence to engage stakeholders )
D‐I‐C‐N (clarifying decision‐making rights and responsibilities)


What are the results of a different mindset and
thus, approach?
New Approach Results

First seek to understand their The other person feels heard, and
resistance (uncover their interests) are therefore more able to hear
you

Actively look for ways to satisfy You are more likely to propose
their interests something to which they can
and will say “yes”; they feel valued
Identify stakeholders for each
unique situation  and work to build Efficiency to the process of
your network   understanding who the
stakeholders are and thus, getting
Clarify roles and responsibilities input and  alignment
upfront, including who actually
needs to agree Decisions are carried out with
appropriate input and buy‐in


Summary

Enhancing our ability to work effectively in a
matrix through influence depends in large part
on changing deeply engrained assumptions
about influence, and beginning to view both
ourselves, and others, in a new and different
light.

Copyright © 2012 by Vantage Partners, LLC. All rights reserved.

Vantage Partners

A spin‐off of the
Harvard Negotiation Project,
Vantage Partners helps
companies achieve breakthrough
business results by transforming
the way they negotiate with, 10 Guest Street
and manage relationships with, Boston, MA 02135 USA
their suppliers, customers, T: +1 617.354.6090
and alliance partners – and F: +1 617.354.4685

enhancing collaboration across www.vantagepartners.com
internal organizational
boundaries.


Questions & Answers

Elizabeth Rayer
Vantage Partners

Carol Bonett
Vantage Partners

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