Just My E-pinion
By Cathy Bolger
Recently, former Vice President Al Gore found himself in the unlikely role of Hollywood celebrity, accepting an Oscar as producer of a documentary on global warming, titled An Inconvenient Truth. HR Management Trainer Cathy Bolger thinks she knows how Gore was able to gain so much acceptance … by using the same tool you can use in your organization’s affairs—influence. She describes how to use it in this guest column.
Most of the managers we coach and train can no longer rely on the traditional “command and control” management methods to get things done.
Today, effective managers must master the skills of influence to get things done through others. The good news is that the effective use of influence skills is more likely to result in commitment, as opposed to simple compliance—or worse, resistance. To gain a common understanding of what I mean, let’s start with a few definitions:
Commitment – The recipient (person being influenced) internally agrees with a decision or request from the agent (person influencing). The recipient will usually make a great effort to fulfill the agent’s request.
Compliance – The recipient agrees, but is apathetic or indifferent, and uses minimal effort to make something happen. For routine matters, compliance may be all that is necessary.
Resistance – The recipient actively avoids the action or task, often making excuses for lack of action. The recipient may even ask a higher authority to overrule.
How do you get commitment, raise compliance to commitment, and avoid resistance? The answer to all these questions is to properly use influence.
Influence Tactics
Gary Yukl, professor at the School of Business at the University of Albany, divides influence tactics into two categories – primary and secondary.* Primary influence tactics are more likely to result in commitment. They include inspirational appeal, rational persuasion, and consultation. Now let’s define those:
- Inspirational Appeal involves making a request or proposal that arouses the recipient’s enthusiasm by appealing to their values, ideals, and aspirations. To use inspirational appeal, do this:
–Appeal to the person’s ideals and values.
–Link the request to a clear and appealing vision.
–Use a dramatic, expressive style of speaking.
–Use positive, optimistic language.
- Rational Persuasion involves the use of logic and facts to attain desirable outcomes. To use rational persuasion:
–Explain the reason for a request or proposal.
–Explain how the person would benefit from your proposal.
–Provide evidence that your proposal is feasible.
–Explain why your proposal is better than competing ones.
–Explain how problems or concerns would be handled.
- Consultation seeks the recipient’s participation in planning a strategy, activity, or change for which the person’s support and assistance are desired. To use consultation:
–Ask for suggestions on how to improve a tentative proposal.
–State your objective and ask what the recipient can do to help you attain it.
–Involve the other person in planning how to attain an objective.
–Respond to the person’s concerns and suggestions.
Former Vice President Al Gore used all three of the above influence tactics in his movie, An Inconvenient Truth. He appealed to our values of making the world a safe place for generations to come, creating a powerful vision for many of us. He used rational persuasion as he cited reputable research on global warming. He then used consultation when he asked us to join with him in doing what each of us can do to help decrease global warming.
Using these tactics may not win you an Oscar in your workplace, but they’ll likely help you make good things happen there.
Cathy Bolger can be reached at cathy@cathybolger.com.
*Yukl, Gary. Leadership in Organizations, 2006. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, New York.
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