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Influence Without Authority - Part 3

This is the third post in our series on influence. Part 1 and Part 2 offer six techniques to increase your influence, and here are three more.

7. Propose experiments

Change is hard. It’s a threat. Experiments, on the other hand, reduce our sense of threat by explicitly acknowledging that we’re merely trying something different for a limited time, and the decision is reversible. So change your language to propose experiments instead of changes. Try using these questions:

  • Are you willing to try this for the next month and then re-evaluate?

  • Is there a small step we could try?

  • How could we test and compare these two ideas?

8. Tell stories

The human brain is wired to love stories. Stories grab our attention, and sometimes the hardest part of influencing people is simply getting their attention. Some tips on story telling:

  • Tell a story of your past struggles and solutions you found

  • Tell a story of a potential future that awaits us, if we can take the right steps

  • Make your stakeholder the hero of the story; you might be the 'sidekick’ who helps them get there

9. Build trusting relationships

Trust is the foundation of influence. And building trust requires an investment of time and effort.

The book The Trusted Advisor (by Maister, Green & Galford) offers a formula for trust:

Trust = (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy) ÷ Self-orientation

To increase trust, you must reduce self-orientation, and increase intimacy. Some ways to do that include:

  • Invite others to tell you about themselves. Shut up and listen - with curiosity.

  • Make time to talk with people about their lives outside of work. Go to lunch, or set aside even 10 minutes of meeting time each week for non-work-related conversations.

  • Be genuine, and act humbly.

  • Ask “What can I do to help you?”

We hope you’ve enjoyed our series on Influence. Now a challenge for you: pick one technique and one situation where you’ll try it. Which one did you select? Leave us a comment!

Bradley Swanson