Greetings!
Welcome to this month's Ezine.
This month's Ezine/Newsletter contains a fourth case study from my current experience.
This case study is about "influencing without authority", official authority, that is.
It's a common challenge. One all of us will face many times throughout our careers.
How do you achieve influence when you don't have authority? Do you plead? Do you beg? Do you "act as if" you have authority? Do you just "go with the flow"? Do you invoke the name of a higher authority, like your boss?
How would you handle the case I've outlined below?
Enjoy and be well.
Steven Cerri
Note: If you have missed any of my previous ezines/newsletters you can find them archived at: Archived E-zines/Newsletters
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Main Article: "How do you influence when you have no authority?"
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Here's the situation.
Young engineers often believe that having authority and responsibility are the symbol of "making it" and that authority and responsibility go hand in hand.
Not so. Usually responsibility is easier to get than authority. In fact, managers are always looking for good people to take on tasks, and some of those tasks carry a lot of responsibility.
And yet, getting the authority that seems appropriate and, in some cases, necessary to get the job done is often very difficult to come by.
Many people think that influencing without authority is a rare occurrence. They believe that having authority is the norm. Actually, I'd estimate that at least half of the management and leadership that successful managers and leaders perform is accomplished without explicit hire/fire authority.
Even when one has authority, not exercising it is often the best approach to getting tasks done.
Most people don't want to feel that someone has authority over them, anyway. Most of us want to feel that we have some control over our own destiny. So exercising authority can often be a double-edged sword, so to speak. My approach is often to not use my authority except when I must.
In fact, there are certain positions that are completely devoid of authority and yet, are loaded with responsibility. I've held several such positions. One had the title of "Product Manager".
I was product manager at a printer company. I had a product line that was my responsibility and yet, all the components necessary for the product from printer, software, firmware, packaging, marketing, etc. were ultimately provided by people who were there to "support" me but didn't "report" to me.
Now sure, you can say, "Well come on Steven. All these people understood that there responsibility was to support you and your products. You didn't need "authority" to influence them. They knew if they didn't help you they'd be out of a job".
Fair enough. But suppose there were four product managers in the company.. which there were. And suppose that all four of us had products that needed the services of the various departments... which we did. And suppose that our schedules were independent of each other and we were all "competing" for the same services against competing schedules... which we were.
Now what do you do? How do you get your firmware, software, product at the head of the schedule when you need it there?
Do you just get in line and wait for your firmware, software, printers, etc. to get done? Do you just wait your turn? Or...
Do you "fight" for your product? Do you upset the various departments by "demanding" that your printer be supported first? (One of the product managers used this tactic.) Or...
Do you ask nicely for your product to get preferential treatment? (One of the product managers used this tactic.)
It seems like a "damned if you do and damned if you don't" situation. If you push too hard the people you depend on will be upset and then resist. If you don't push hard enough the people you depend on will support the other product managers first.
It's the old "Catch 22".
My approach.
I used a different approach. The fundamental premise of my approach is threefold.
First, everyone has a motivational structure that motivates and energizes them to do whatever it is they do. In this case, a motivational structure that will motivate them to do what I want them to do.
The second is that to motivate someone we must understand their unique motivational structure.
And third, if I want to motivate someone (i.e., influence them) I must align my request with their motivational structure. There must be a link between what I want done and what motivates them to act.
That's it!
It is relatively easy, when you know what to look for and what to ask, to determine the motivational drivers for an individual.
Once I understand those drivers, if it makes sense to me, I can align my request with those motivational drivers so that I can have influence without having authority over the individual or the team.
What I did.
I'll give you a specific example.
My printers were dependent upon firmware that had to be written specifically for my printer line. The manager of firmware development was responsible for supplying firmware for all the printer lines in our company.
There were many times when, for various reasons, I required special firmware, and I needed it soon or even "yesterday". By understanding the motivational drivers of the firmware manager I was consistently able to move my firmware to the top of the list to satisfy my schedule requirements. I consistently got my firmware ahead of the other product managers.
The other product managers often had difficulty with their products and schedules. One product manager consistently upset the people he depended on, and one of the other product managers was left to depend on the good will of those supporting our printers. I consistently got what I wanted.
This was just one example of influencing without authority.
The Bottom Line.
Once we understand that, 1) everyone has a motivational structure, 2) we can understand that motivational structure, and 3) we can align our request with that motivational structure, influencing without authority becomes as easy as a casual conversation. In fact, the way I teach it, it does take the form of a casual conversation.
Therefore, the determining factor regarding whether we will have influence is our ability to understand the communication dynamics and the motivational forces of the people we are attempting to influence. For many people this process remains a mystery. In my world it's no mystery at all.
What would you have done?
Do you have any experiences like this? Email me with your experiences or suggestions or ideas. I'm very interested in your thoughts.
Good luck and be well,
Steven
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| Influencing Without Authority Workshop
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Influencing without authority is a very big challenge for most of us. Whether engineer, manager, or executive. I'll be offering a course at the end of January, 2009 on "Influencing When You Don't Have Authority". Stay tuned or check out my website (www.stevencerri.com) in the near future for more detailed announcements.
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| Free Ebook and Free Stuff
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I now have a free Ebook available. Visit my website:
http://www.stevencerri.com
scroll down half a page and signup for my free Ebook!
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Check out the page http://stevencerri.com/index.php/articles/index/ (also known as the "FREE STUFF" button). There you'll find several articles and other useful information, all of it FREE.
Some of the Free Articles include...
- 10 Pitfalls to Advancing Up the Technology Management Ladder
- Definitions
- Being Right versus Being Effective
- Motivating People by Reference
- Case Studies
- So You Want To Be A Manager
- Mechanical Engineering Magazine Feature Article: Going Soft
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| I'm Giving A Presentation
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For those of you in the San Francisco Bay Area, I'm giving a presentation at the Consultants Network of Silicon Valley on October 21. Visit their website CNSV for more information. The topic will be "Effective Communication Tools for Consultants, Engineers, and Technical Professionals".
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| Skype Has Been Added
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For those of you who would rather use Skype for our coaching sessions, especially those who are international, Skype has now been added as a capability. Just download Skype to your computer and set up an appointment, and we can conduct a tele-coaching session with both voice and video!
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"If you are an engineer or a technical manager, imagine what it would be like to be as adept, successful, and effective dealing with people as you are dealing with your technology?"
Steven trains, coaches, and facilitates engineers and technical managers to BE the answer to this question. Steven is unique because he has made this transition himself. Get Steven's latest thoughts at: http://www.stevencerri.com
I'm sure you'll find the information in this newsletter/e-zine and other products useful to the advancement of your engineering and/or management career. Send questions, comments, and suggestions to: steven@stevencerri.com
Copyright©2008
STCerri International and Steven Cerri. You are free to pass this
information on to others and to reproduce it. If you reproduce
sections in whole or part please give attribution to Steven Cerri.
Thank you.
Be well,
Steven Cerri
STCerri International
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