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Influencing Skills
The document discusses the importance of influencing and negotiating skills in modern workplaces, emphasizing non-authoritarian approaches to motivate others effectively. It outlines techniques for building rapport, matching behaviors, and understanding psychological needs to enhance influence. Additionally, it presents key factors that impact the success of influencing others, such as credibility, arguments, and appeals based on ethics, logic, and emotion.
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Introduction of Influencing and Negotiating Skills; summary of the course and its objectives.
The definition of influence, why it matters in modern organizational contexts, and the shift from authoritarian to collaborative approaches.
Fable illustrating influence; importance of influencing skills for motivation over force and persuasion. Various workplace scenarios where influencing skills can be applied to improve outcomes and relationships.
Key elements for successful influence; emphasizing rapport building techniques as foundational.
Matching as a rapport-building technique; factors that increase the success rate when influencing others.
Describes different starting points for influence and the significance of likability and social connection.
Insights on how intelligence levels affect influence and the importance of meeting others' needs.
Discussion on credibility factors and tailoring arguments to enhance influencing effectiveness.
Three types of persuasive appeals: ethos, logos, pathos; and their role in successful influencing.
Five tactical conditions for effective influence and the significance of authority in influencing.
Example of an influencing scenario applied by a team member; summary of key learnings from the course.
Final thanks and acknowledgment of the course material from Manage Train Learn.
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Influencing Skills
- 1. 1 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics INFLUENCING AND NEGOTIATING SKILLS Influencing Skills
- 2. 2 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics The Course Topics series from Manage Train Learn is a large collection of topics that will help you as a learner to quickly and easily master a range of skills in your everyday working life and life outside work. If you are a trainer, they are perfect for adding to your classroom courses and online learning plans. COURSE TOPICS FROM MTL The written content in this Slide Topic belongs exclusively to Manage Train Learn and may only be reprinted either by attribution to Manage Train Learn or with the express written permission of Manage Train Learn. They are designed as a series of numbered slides. As with all programmes on Slide Topics, these slides are fully editable and can be used in your own programmes, royalty-free. Your only limitation is that you may not re-publish or sell these slides as your own. Copyright Manage Train Learn 2020 onwards. Attribution: All images are from sources which do not require attribution and may be used for commercial uses. Sources include pixabay, unsplash, and freepik. These images may also be those which are in the public domain, out of copyright, for fair use, or allowed under a Creative Commons license.
- 3. 3 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics ARE YOU READY? OK, LET’S START!
- 4. 4 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics INTRODUCTION It is now widely recognized that, in most situations, authoritarian ways of managing people do not work. Instead of getting people to do what we want, the authoritarian approaches of "I know best" and "I'm in charge" end up causing antagonism, anger and a job not done. In place of dictating skills, people who want to work with others use influencing skills. These skills use non-forceful techniques to work with people rather than against them. As a result, relationships improve, people feel valued and the job gets done.
- 5. 5 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics WHAT IS INFLUENCE? The word "influence" comes from the Latin "in" meaning "in" and "fluere" meaning "to flow". Influence = the power to produce an effect, often unobtrusively (Oxford English Dictionary) "Influence is the ability to affect others' thoughts, feelings and actions - seen only in its effects - without exertion of force or formal authority." (Elaina Zucker) "Influence is the process by which one person modifies the attitudes and behaviour of another person. Power is the means by which he or she does it." "Organisations are fine weaves of influencing patterns where individuals seek to get others to think or act in certain ways."
- 6. 6 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics WHY INFLUENCE MATTERS Influencing others is a vitally important and relevant skill for our times. This is because... 1. people are less inclined than in the past to accept naked shows of organisational power. You may think you have succeeded when you impose your will on others but you may only have sent resentment underground. 2. there is a greater recognition today that to get anyone to do what we want requires more than simple threats and bribes. We need to be more subtle and responsive to others' needs. 3. organisations recognize that brute force and conflict are usually counter-productive and wasteful of time and energy.
- 7. 7 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics THE WIND AND THE SUN The following fable is told by Aesop: The North wind and the sun were having an argument as to which was the more powerful and, not being able to agree, decided to put it to the test. They spied a traveller and decided that whoever was the first to remove the traveller's coat would be the winner. The North wind tried first. He blew a strong cold blast, but the more he blew, the more the traveller held his coat tight around him. The sun's turn came. He began to shine on the traveller with all his warmth until the traveller grew faint and, unable to bear it any longer, took off his coat and retreated to the coolness of a nearby wood. Thus the sun was the winner. Moral: Influence is greater than force.
- 8. 8 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics WHERE INFLUENCE WORKS You can choose to use influencing skills across a wide range of workplace issues... 1. to get something you want that is in the possession of others or controlled by them without recourse to force or threats or manipulation 2. to encourage people to change their habits, views, opinions, decisions, plans, actions, lifestyles 3. to affect the way someone feels about you or others 4. to help in facilitating a team of which you are either leader or member 5. to improve workplace relationships 6. to have a say in the way a person in a position of higher authority makes a decision that affects you 7. to have an involvement in decisions in areas where you have no direct line authority.
- 9. 9 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics INFLUENCE AND MOTIVATION Influencing skills are of crucial importance to those who manage others because they are an alternative and more effective way to motivate people. 1. Force: force as a motivation tool invariably works when you want someone to do something but results in demotivated people who plot revenge. 2. Persuasion: persuasion as a motivating tool can be very effective. Persuasion makes use of strong logical arguments to get someone to do something. One of the chief drawbacks to using persuasion is that, if people can be persuaded one way, they can just as easily be persuaded another way by another equally powerful argument. 3. Influence: influence works better than either force or persuasion. Unlike force, it doesn't alienate people. Unlike persuasion, it allows people the freedom to make up their own minds.
- 10. 10 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics WE ARE EASILY INFLUENCED In 1979, S E White and T R Mitchell carried out an experiment to show how easily we are influenced. They put together two teams of undergraduates who were employed to do some stock work for one of their professors. In each team there was a "plant": in one team a positive plant who throughout the job was primed to make positive comments such as "this is interesting work"; and in the other team a negative plant, primed to make comments such as "this is boring work". At the end of the job, both teams were questioned. The team with the positive plant scored much higher on satisfaction ratings than the team with the negative plant, thus showing that the plants in the teams had managed to influence the way the rest of the team thought about the job.
- 11. 11 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics CONSCIOUS INFLUENCE While the vast majority of influencing happens without influencer or influencee noticing it, influencing only becomes a practical skill when it is practised consciously. David McClelland of Harvard University discovered in his research that there are four key elements in successful influencing. These are: 1. you must know what end result you want to achieve 2. you must tune in to other people's wavelengths 3. you must have self-confidence 4. you must have a desire for authority over others. McClelland then found that given these factors an influencer can select from three strategies. He can simply tell someone what to do; he can influence others by the use of interpersonal skills; or he can work symbolically by setting an example which others then copy.
- 12. 12 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics FIRST, BUILD RAPPORT Establishing rapport with someone else is an important pre- condition to any attempt to influence them. If you are wanting to influence a stranger, for example someone smoking in your train compartment, it is essential. There are 3 keys to building rapport: 1. notice what is going on in the other person. You don't have to be a psychologist to do this, but you can observe from what the other person is doing what their likely mood, thoughts and emotions are. You can also listen in an empathic way. 2. see things from the other person's point of view, whether you personally share this view or not. This is known as "shifting perspective". 3. match their movements, mood and thoughts to establish a pattern of liking and harmony. You are then on each other’s wavelength and can begin to influence them.
- 13. 13 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics MATCHING TECHNIQUES Matching is a powerful rapport-building technique. It is based on the principle that when others are like us, we like them more, find them less threatening and are prepared to trust them enough to be influenced by them. Matching is related to mimicking and mirroring but is distinctly different. Mimicking copies another person's gestures and expressions without any attempt to empathise with them. Similarly, mirroring is an artificial and obvious form of copying someone else. Matching, on the other hand, seeks to get inside the way another person feels and thinks. It is a genuine attempt to understand their frame of reference. So, if they see things in a short-term frame of reference, matching attempts to see things the same way. Matching can extend to ideas, moods, values and even belief systems.
- 14. 14 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics FACTORS IN INFLUENCING There are seven different factors involved in influencing others. While you may be successful with only one or two of these factors present, the chances are greater when all these factors are present. 1. where you start from. If the other person is diametrically opposed to your point of view, influencing them to change their view will be very difficult. 2. their intelligence level 3. whether the changes you propose meet the other person's needs 4. your credibility 5. your arguments 6. whether you create the right conditions to encourage others to be influenced 7. how authoritative you are.
- 15. 15 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics WHERE YOU START FROM Whether you succeed in influencing someone to change their view - say, to yours or someone you are lobbying for - depends on where they are at the start of your attempts to influence them. There are five key stages on the spectrum. 1. diametrically opposite your point of view 2. more against your point of view than in favour of it 3. neutral 4. more for your point of view than against it 5. in agreement with your point of view. The best you can usually hope for is to move people by two notches on the scale. So you would be succeeding if you managed to influence someone to move from diametrically opposite your point of view to a neutral position or from neutral to total agreement with you.
- 16. 16 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics LIKING The link between influencing someone and liking them is well-established: Dale Carnegie wrote a best-selling book exploring this link called "How to win friends and influence people". You can't, of course, force people to like you; but one of the surest ways to get others to like you is to make up your mind to unconditionally like them first. You will also find others start to like you if you concentrate on the things you have in common rather than the things that make you different. Liking, or sociability, was found to be a key influencing skill by Kipnis. In his research of 360 managers he found that the seven most important influencing skills were: liking, assertiveness, forming coalitions, using reason, using authority, bargaining and threatening sanctions. “Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends with them?” (Abraham Lincoln)
- 17. 17 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics THEIR INTELLIGENCE Research has found that people at the higher and lower ends of the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) scale are harder to influence than those in the middle. The reason for this may be that those at the lower end of the IQ scale are less likely to understand strong arguments or be aware of the need for personal change. Equally, it may be hard to influence those at the upper end of the IQ scale because these are likely to be people who have worked things out for themselves. They may not be intellectually ready to accept that they should change their minds by someone else. If you need to influence people with closed minds, you may need to abandon the use of rational arguments and rely on another approach such as the needs approach.
- 18. 18 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics MEETING THEIR NEEDS We all rely on others to satisfy our needs, whether they are basic physical needs, social needs, needs of recognition or love and emotional needs. If you can put your finger on what others' psychological needs are, you can help them meet those needs, and thereby influence their thinking and feeling. This is the basis of traditional approaches to motivation at work in which we supply money, security, recognition and so on to meet people's needs. It is important to recognise that meeting others' needs can work benevolently or malevolently. Malevolent influence - in which you influence others manipulatively, against their own interests or to immoral and illegal ends - does not form any part of honest ways of managing others. "Influence is our inner ability to lift people up to our perspectives." (Joseph Wong)
- 19. 19 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics DIFFERENT NEEDS You can influence others by finding out how people see things and what they need from any situation. 1. If you know someone likes to be needed, say "Can you help me with this, Elaine...?" 2. If you know someone likes to be liked, say "You were great with those customers, Mark. I have a similar problem I'd like your help on..." 3. If you know someone likes to feel special, say "You usually have an interesting angle, Ali. What do you think about this...?" 4. If you know someone likes to think things out, say "I don't understand what that means. What do you think, Maureen?" 5. If you know someone likes to be certain of things, say "How can we make sure of this, Sheila?" 6. If you know someone likes to be doing things rather than discussing them, say "What do we need to do?"
- 20. 20 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics YOUR CREDIBILITY Getting others to believe in you is what is meant by your credibility rating. When your credibility rating is high, you are likely to have more success in influencing others. When your credibility rating is low, influencing is much harder work. Here are 8 things that will destroy your credibility. There are seven ways to increase your credibility: 1. have a good track record of influencing others positively 2. get people to believe in what you say 3. put together a good case 4. tailor your arguments to each person 5. use more than one argument 6. convince people that you would use force if you had to 7. do what you promise to do. "To please people is a great step towards persuading them." (Philip Dormer Stanhope, 1694 - 1774)
- 21. 21 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics YOUR ARGUMENTS Presenting a good case, tailoring it to those you want to influence and being flexible means having plenty of Push and Pull arguments. 1. Push Arguments use reason, logic and weight of argument. They are the kind of arguments inexperienced influencers use for most of the time. 2. Pull Arguments use empathy, feeling and attempts to understand what others need and want. They are used more frequently by experienced influencers. You can adapt your arguments to suit your audience. An audience of male managers only interested in the bottom line may be predominantly interested in your push arguments, while an audience of female front-line customer staff may be more interested in your pull arguments.
- 22. 22 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics AN APPEAL FROM ARISTOTLE Aristotle, one of ancient Greece’s greatest minds, identified 3 appeals which were used by speakers of his time. He called them: ethos, logos and pathos. 1. Ethos appeals are based on ethics and reputation. This could include endorsements from key people, building credibility, or citing expert testimony. Ethos is Greek for “character”. 2. Logos appeals are based on logic, and include statistics, facts and evidence. 3. Pathos appeals are based on emotion. This could range from fear of something you don’t want to happen to hope for something you do want to happen. Using all three kinds of appeals together will boost your persuasive power.
- 23. 23 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics TACTICAL INFLUENCING An influencing strategy works best when used with five tactical conditions... 1. A raising of the awareness of the need for change. This uses the stealth approach by influencing people gradually over a period of time until they can see no alternative to your views. 2. A repetition of your arguments although not so much that you frighten people off. 3. A creating of uncertainty in people's minds. When most people begin to have doubts, they seek some kind of authoritative opinion to restore their mental balance. 4. Suggesting action which does not commit people and allows them a way out if they don't like it. 5. A sense of urgency that, unless people make up their minds soon, an important opportunity will be missed.
- 24. 24 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics MAKE IT ACCEPTABLE In her book, "The Change Masters", Rosabeth Moss Kanter argues that if you want others to accept a change, you must use certain tactics to make the change appear more acceptable. So, when you present an idea, make it sound... 1. Triable: for example, we'll run a pilot first 2. Reversible: then they can go back to the old way if they don't like it. 3. Divisible: if they don't like one aspect, we can ditch that and keep the rest. 4. Concrete: tell them how it affects the bottom line. 5. Familiar: explain the change in terms they understand 6. Congruent: set proposals that fit in with what is already happening 7. Sexy: make it attractive, fashionable, exciting to the powers-that-be and high-profile.
- 25. 25 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics YOUR AUTHORITY An appearance of authority always aids the influencing process. Power negotiations, perhaps with suppliers or unions, are one example where you need to let the other side know you have authority. Another example is when a customer has a complaint and demands to see someone "in authority". To appear authoritative... 1. Have plenty of ideas and information to draw on. 2. Claim territory - play at home; look relaxed and in charge. 3. Speak slowly and deliberately. 4. Only change your mind for your reasons and not theirs. 5. Avoid overt threats; punishing others is a sign of fear. 6. Be proactive not reactive. 7. Get more information than you give. 8. Don't take too many notes, even if you need to. Do so out of sight of the other side.
- 26. 26 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics AN INFLUENCING SCRIPT John wanted the team to accept new working arrangements. Although he knew he had the power to make them accept the changes, he wanted to take them with him so he decided on a plan of influencing. First, he listened to their views. He found to his surprise that some of the team weren't so far away from his views but there were areas they were worried about. During the meetings he introduced a note of uncertainty about the division's future. Over the next few weeks, John mentioned the new arrangements at every opportunity. He used a range of arguments in favour of the plan and emphasised how they would meet the team's needs. John avoided any direct confrontation with the team, worked on appearing calm and in control and let them know he was totally committed to the plan himself. In time, every one of them took up the scheme with enthusiasm.
- 27. 27 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics THAT’S IT! WELL DONE!
- 28. 28 | Influencing Skills Influencing andNegotiating Skills MTL Course Topics THANK YOU This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn