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Tips On How To Influence People At Workplace

Business World Jul 14, 2015

Pradeep Lankapalli provides some tips for influencing colleagues, customers and industry partners So how can we influence others-be it colleagues, stakeholders or customers-if we have no direct authority to do so? In highly matrixed organisations, there will increasingly be opportunities to work across boundaries and teams; wherein influencing without authority will become a fundamental requirement for the operating model. However, it's a skill that anyone can develop, regardless of their role or level in the organisation. Here are a few tips that anyone can use to achieve shared goals and points of view with colleagues, customers and even industry partners.   1. Agree On A Desired End Outcome The first step to influencing others is to establish the end outcome you'd like to achieve. Ideally, this goal is something that everyone can agree which will be beneficial to all: customers, the company or the teams. A common outcome that clearly helps everyone be successful is a simple way to unite people in working together for a cause-regardless of where they are in the company or chain of command.<table align="right" border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3" style="width: 200px;"><tbody><tr><td><img alt="" src="http://bw-image.s3.amazonaws.com/Pradeep-Lankapalli-mdm.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 200px;"></td></tr><tr><td>Pradeep Lankapalli</td></tr></tbody></table>2. Establishing Trust Is Key At the very foundation of influencing others is a sense of trust. People must trust that you want the best outcome for the team, the business and the customers-and they must feel confident that you'll go about achieving that outcome in the right way. Establishing trust is a two-way street; you should trust the group that you are trying to influence and they should trust you. I believe that while it is often overlooked, earning and keeping people's trust is the most important element of influencing.   3. Look For Opportunities To Help Others Achieve Their Goals As Well There are many employees who don't necessarily report to me and my leadership team directly. However, I view it as part of my job-and my leadership team's job-to help them be successful. Look for ways to help them develop their skills and be their best by working together with them on this common purpose. Though the leaders they report to might be in a location, as on the ground, I help them achieve their objectives-and that also works to build trust for working together in the future. The same is true for my leadership team in all our Center locations.   4. Influencing Sometimes Requires Compromise Remember that successfully influencing others doesn't necessarily mean always getting your way. It will go a long way towards cultivating that all-important trust with others if people can see that you are sometimes willing to give in and compromise to achieve a desired outcome. Influencing others also requires asking, "What do you need from me to work towards our common goal?" People may need more data, more time, or more resources to accomplish what you want them to accomplish. Be open to showing others that you can give as well as take, and your influencing efforts will be much more successful.   Influencing without authority is all about agreeing on a shared, positive purpose. We all want to grow our business; we all want to develop our skills, we all want to do the right thing for our customers. When we start with these types of goals in mind, it's easy to show others that working together to achieve these objectives is in everyone's best interest-and influencing others then flows naturally from working towards those shared goals. I encourage everyone to put these tips into practice and see how influencing without authority can strengthen our teams and our company. The author is managing director India and global head of operations centers at Thomson Reuters