the wide-ranging world of influence · assignments should take about 45 ... not having the prework...

I N F L U E N C I N G F O R O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L I M P A C T — P R E W O R K

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© Development Dimensions International, Inc., MMIX. Revised MMX. All rights reserved.

THE WIDE-RANGING WORLD OF INFLUENCE

Where will the next groundbreaking innovation come from? How will your organization address

competitive challenges? What actions can be taken to build and sustain employee engagement?

How do you fit into the picture? How can you contribute?

Soon, you will be attending the Influencing for Organizational Impact session. This session

focuses on equipping you with the competence and confidence to influence others to achieve

critical business outcomes. In this session you will work on developing a strategy for

influencing a current or future opportunity.

This prework consists of a case study and two activities that prompt you to think about your

business network and influence opportunities. Completing these activities will help you

participate fully and contribute to discussions and exercises during the session. These

assignments should take about 45 minutes to finish.

Before continuing, consider what “influence” means to you. For some people, influence is

simply a matter of persuading people to see their viewpoint or to get what they want. Other

people think of influence as a chance to make an impression or establish a reputation. Still

others think they’re influential if they can convince someone to change his or her opinion.

The Influencing for Organizational Impact course defines “influence” as:

Moving people toward a commitment that supports a specific business outcome.

Making things happen!

Note: Not having the prework at the session will put you at a disadvantage and reduce the

session’s value to you and your peers.

Please complete the assignments and bring the completed prework to the Influencing for

Organizational Impact session.

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Developm

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evised MM

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All rights reserved.

TRIVISION ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

You’ll soon be reading about Trivision, a developer and manufacturer of 3-D technologies. This chart illustrates the company structure and

introduces you to the key players (in shaded boxes) you’ll read about in the case study.

President

Pat Kline

Vice President, Global Sales

Ted Jankowski

Vice President, Production & Operations

Marty Simard

Product Manager,

TV1000

Cecile Thurman

Product Manager, Adapter

Louis Lin

Manager, Service and Support

Max Weymer

Product Manager, Trivision

Broadcasting

Rupert McGuire

Senior Manager, Marketing

Dolores Teaford

Sales Manager,

Europe & Africa

Open

Manager,

Procurement/ Purchasing,

Gerry Reingart

Manager, IT

David Bloom

Sales Manager, South America

Manuel Castillo

Manager, European/Asian

Operations

Stefan Skallgärd

Manager, Building Maintenance &

Security

Tina Pollenti

Sales Manager,

North America

Patsy Schwartz

Manager, American

Operations

Phil Tripoli

Manager, Accounting and

Finance

Piers Stanberg

Sales Manager, Pacific Rim

Chun Kee

Manager, Pacific Rim Operations

Ravi Rhanpur

Financial Analyst,

Gerhardt Klaus


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Cecile Thurman, Product Manager, TV1000

Pat Kline, President, Trivision

TRIVISION: A CASE STUDY IN INFLUENCING

FEBRUARY 24—FROM CERTAINTY TO CONFUSION

Cecile Thurman’s career was crashing down around her. In less than 10

minutes, her idea for Trivision’s product-pricing strategy went from “brilliant”

(in her estimation) to fodder for Trivision President Pat Kline’s shredder. At

the same time, her plan to outsource key components of Trivision’s TV1000

line was crumbling under the weight of an analysis by a low-level analyst in

Procurement/Purchasing. This couldn’t really be happening, could it?

“Cecile, this is Pat. I have Louis on speakerphone,” came the

distant voice of Pat Kline, president of Trivision.

“Hello, Cecile,” said Louis Lin, product manager for Trivision’s Adapter

group.

She tried to sound upbeat in her greeting. After the heated debate that had

concluded yesterday’s product strategy meeting, Thurman was certain her

ideas would be approved. She felt she had effectively presented her ideas

and countered every argument. But now she was wondering if Kline and Lin

(or probably Kline being pushed by Lin) really supported her. She sensed that something was

wrong from the silence that followed their brief, cordial openings.

“Cecile, I want you to hear it first,” Kline said. “We are reconvening the product strategy

meeting at 8:00 tomorrow morning in the boardroom. Bring anyone on your team who put

together the numbers from your presentation. We want to analyze the figures again. We’re also

going to run some numbers from Procurement/Purchasing against this. I’ve asked Sales to bring

their scenarios as well. This was clearly my mistake for not pushing for a broader decision-

making process from the beginning, but it’s better that we do this now, examining our options

fully, than to act hastily by selecting the only option that was presented. See you then.”

“Right, sure. I, uh, will see you then,” Thurman stammered, stunned and almost speechless.

Within 30 seconds her phone rang again. She was hoping it was Kline with a more positive

outlook on the pending meeting. It wasn’t.


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Gerhardt Klaus, Financial Analyst

“This is Gerhardt Klaus in Accounting. Louis Lin and Marty Simard asked me

to review the numbers on your outsourcing proposal.” Simard, Trivision’s vice

president of Production & Operations, had often discussed production cost-

cutting and outsourcing options with Thurman.

“I see some issues,” Klaus said. “Whoever put this together incorporated some

very old numbers, pricing these projects before the latest round of inflation. I’m

guessing they used two-year-old data at best. And they’ve completely

underestimated the transport costs by not projecting expected increases in fuel

and shipping costs. They also failed to factor in any of the new customs duties

and green regulations in Europe and Indonesia.” Klaus sounded for a moment as if he were

done, then spoke with renewed urgency. “And there’s a problem with outsourcing. I spoke with

someone in the Purchasing department—we’ll have huge penalties for pulling TV1000

component production away from existing suppliers unless we give them the outsourcing

business. Too expensive. Can we meet to go over this?”

“Whoever put this together” was Thurman herself. She’d been encouraged to assign the task of

pulling together the numbers to someone in her office, but with so much depending on this plan

and its associated pricing and so little time to grab the market opportunity, she’d decided that her

hastily gathered numbers would have to do.

“Sure, let me get back to you with a time,” Thurman said, anxious and deflated.

* * *

THE BACKGROUND—THURMAN, TRIVISION, AND THE TV1000

Trivision’s previous president, Ellen James, recruited Thurman from competitor Wagner

Communications. After graduating from the Institute for Communicating and Collaborative

Systems at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Thurman eagerly entered the 3-D

technology industry. She quickly climbed up the corporate ladder at Wagner Communications to

become a product manager. Despite her quick ascent to middle management at Wagner, she had

become a caretaker for a solid product in a solid market, with little chance to change market

outcomes or make a mark that Wagner’s leadership would notice. The job gave her the time to

learn the market while growing as a manager.


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Thurman was a quick learner and strong in many areas. However, her mentor at Wagner

convinced her that unless she developed better presentation skills and more confidence selling

her ideas, she’d never fulfill her full potential. So, even with a lack of dramatic news associated

with her product, she made the most of every opportunity to make presentations, becoming a

forceful—if sometimes less-than-diplomatic—speaker. As she accomplished the opportunities

open to her, Thurman began to recognize her career was going nowhere at Wagner.

Thurman was excited about taking on management of the TV1000 line at Trivision. The

potential for career growth was very attractive: new technology, fledgling markets, and a

competent leader in Ellen James, who quickly recognized Thurman’s expertise and

determination. The hire was good for Trivision too because Thurman brought extensive

experience in the education market and some experience in the health care market. James said at

the time, “We selected Cecile because of her experience at Wagner and because of her strong

orientation toward efficiency and cost management. Although her past responsibilities were not

nearly as large as they are now, we are confident she will adapt and become a strong performer.”

Soon after she made this announcement, James retired. Thurman was disappointed that the

person who had recruited her for Trivision—and who had become a mentor and friend during

their short time together—was gone. James knew Thurman’s track record, at Wagner and

Edinburgh, and immediately rewarded her for it.

In contrast, current President Pat Kline was more reserved in his approach to Thurman. A solid

judge of talent, he quietly observed and assisted when possible, and was gradually recognizing

Thurman’s contributions at Trivision. Despite his more calculated approach, Thurman liked and

admired Kline and wanted to gain his complete trust in her abilities. She reasoned that her

expertise in the education market, in which Trivision lagged behind Thurman’s ex-employer,

would take her one step closer to success. And, she reasoned, with the TV1000 line, how could

she lose?


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TV1000

The TV1000 System (a true 3-D to 3-D system)

consists of two components: a Trivex R lens for

digitally scanning the 3-D images and a

Turbovision processor. The R lens can be used

in any 3-D product designed to create and record

a 3-D image; the Turbovision processor is the

heart of all Trivision technology. TV1000 is

Trivision’s next-generation product, surpassing

the performance of Adapter lenses.

ADAPTER

Adapter, less expensive than the TV1000

System, converts almost any 2-D image to 3-D.

It consists of two components: an Adapter Q

lens, which converts a 2-D image into a saved 3-

D image, and the Turbovision processor. The

quality of the image is about half what is created

in TV1000 with its Trivex R lens.

(See pages 14 and 15 for additional information

on TV1000 and Adapter.)

Before TV1000, almost all 3-D

applications involved the use of

stereoscopic images—left and right

perspectives that are combined to produce

a complete 3-D image, which requires

special viewing glasses. TV1000, which

doesn’t require glasses and multiple-

camera perspectives, was a research

breakthrough and a quantum leap from the

avatar-creating applications and 3-D

communities that launched the industry. It

was a second-generation product for

Trivision and the industry as a whole.

Initially, Trivision focused its 3-D sales

exclusively on the business market. The

introduction of TV1000 allowed the

company to enter the potentially lucrative

health care and entertainment markets.

First-year sales in these markets were on

target. Although Trivision experienced

strong growth—driven by the TV1000—

its markets and competition now are

changing rapidly. One market

experiencing dramatic change and offering

great opportunities for Trivision is education.

The education market has had slow, steady growth, but it will explode in the next two to three

years. With more nontraditional students enrolling in universities, distance learning—with 3-D

capabilities—increasingly will become an integral part of virtual classrooms. In addition, several

European governments are considering providing educational grants to universities to redesign

their educational curricula and facilities to include state-of-the-art 3-D distance learning systems.

If this initiative succeeds in universities, there will be a follow-up opportunity to introduce the

same technology into the school system as well. If the European grants become a reality, all

vendors will be invited to compete in an area that could produce big sales and profits.


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Marty Simard, Vice President, Production & Operations

Along with technological advancements, the 3-D education market could be driven by sheer

volume as other countries adopt the technology. Competitor PrizmCast, which recently entered

the education market, is chipping away at Wagner’s presence in that market. PrizmCast is

adapting its proprietary health care technology for the education market. It can compete with

Wagner in reliability but falls short on value. Neither Wagner nor PrizmCast can touch TV1000

on quality.

TWO OPPORTUNITIES FOR TRIVISION

Thurman’s performance from the beginning was impressive. Clearly, she was the right person at

the right time for the TV1000 launch, which had been floundering before her arrival. The launch

delays had cost the company market capitalization and potential selling time against PrizmCast.

Thurman’s success in correcting the problems with the TV1000 launch earned her credibility

with President Kline. She had intended to use that credibility to influence Trivision’s operations

in outsourcing and product-pricing strategies.

OPPORTUNITY NO. 1: OUTSOURCING

At Wagner, Thurman had built a reputation as an effective cost-cutter. In

looking for ways to trim TV1000’s production costs, she and Simard,

Production & Operations vice president, often discussed the end-to-end value

stream for TV1000. They examined cost and performance from the suppliers to

end-customer delivery, looking for opportunities to improve margins.

Occasionally, Simard mentioned the potential to outsource the production of

processors and lenses, which—with some initial investment—could lower

TV1000’s costs. Thurman was excited by both the production and market

benefits of outsourcing and gradually built a case for it, culling information

from Simard over many months. She reasoned that a lower price point could

make the TV1000 popular to a wider audience and keep it competitive.


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In an e-mail to Kline, Thurman presented the results of her outsourcing conversations with

Simard. She believed that mentioning Simard’s name would persuade Kline, so she emphasized

his involvement. She wrote: “The TV1000 lens and processor combination is very complex, but

I know we can be more cost-efficient. A review of production data makes it clear that we lose a

lot of money on one of the components used in the Turbovision processor. I talked with Marty

about it, and he agrees that we can outsource part of the production process.”

Thurman added that reliability and cycle time would not be affected, production would be more

efficient and less expensive, and profitability would increase. “On the downside,” she wrote,

“the vendor requires a two-year contract, but that is the norm for these kinds of relationships.

We also must remember that cutting costs requires an investment. To prepare outsourcing

providers, we need to provide them with training and equipment. Compared to the final benefit,

this one-time investment is fairly small. I’m sure it will pay off, even in this first year. We can’t

make this decision without getting your approval. I’m hoping you will consider this option

during the budget process.”

After sending the e-mail, Thurman continued to work the numbers for outsourcing, grabbing

whatever time and data she could elicit from Simard to support her case but ignoring his

warnings to involve more stakeholders in building consensus on this decision. For example,

Simard noted that Procurement/Purchasing would need to be contacted because many current

Adapter suppliers also provide other components for TV1000; simply outsourcing the whole

stream of TV1000 production to new vendors could affect those agreements as well. “We can

outsource those too,” said Thurman, reasoning that Procurement/Purchasing’s buy-in was a

minor hurdle. When the time came, she was sure they could be swayed.

OPPORTUNITY NO. 2: PRODUCT PRICING

As far-reaching as the outsourcing decision was, its impact paled in comparison to the

ramifications of Thurman’s other proposal. She wanted to attack markets, especially education,

from a range of price points, which would require drastic changes in Trivision’s product-pricing

and life-cycle strategies. Thurman often cited the market reports about volume growth in

education, particularly opportunities at the low end of the market, where TV1000 was too costly.

She also believed Wagner Communications was taking its leading position in the education

market for granted now that it was seeking to expand into the health care market. She reasoned

that now was the time to act.


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Louis Lin, Product Manager,

Adapter

Thurman also knew that offering a range of price points was risky and must be approached

carefully. She acknowledged that lower-cost versions of TV1000 could cannibalize the higher-

priced products, thus eroding margins. If prices were discounted too quickly, margins could

evaporate. This change also would extend the life of the product longer than desired as

customers waited to move up to better systems. If prices were discounted too late, inventories of

overpriced, unwanted products might never sell.

Either one of Thurman’s proposals would have been a full-time job for a single manager, even an

executive with abundant staff and resources. Yet, Thurman took the lead on both opportunities

in addition to her full-time job managing the TV1000 program across all markets. She knew the

two proposals were considerable challenges; tackling them both and succeeding would forever

change her status within Trivision. Thurman constantly championed the two proposals amid

growing pushback.

THE DISGRUNTLED PEER

Thurman and Lin—her corporate equal—often sat in the same meetings

assessing the same issues. They shared many of the same resources at

Trivision, and the products for which they were responsible traveled along the

same production, sales, installation, and service routes. They had much they

could learn from each other, but their differing views on Thurman’s

outsourcing and product-pricing strategies were starting to cause problems.

Lin used his long-standing, close relationship with Kline every chance he got.

Still, he didn’t get the next-generation TV1000 position (which went to

Thurman), and that deeply disappointed him. Her position was highly sought

by many; Lin had been the most likely choice. At the time, then-president James felt Trivision

needed Lin to focus on the lucrative Adapter product, Trivision’s biggest moneymaking product.

Although Lin is a team player, he has not tried to make Thurman feel comfortable. He views her

endless drive as arrogance and believes that she is dismissive of fundamental Trivision values

that Kline is trying to instill in his leadership staff and workforce. Lin is a strong advocate of

Trivision’s teamwork value, which states, “Trivision associates work together in teams to

accomplish organizational objectives and meet customers’ needs. Teamwork includes placing

team and organizational goals ahead of personal goals, working collaboratively with others, and

valuing each individual’s unique contributions.”


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Initially, Lin believed that Thurman was merely a tough colleague out to prove her worth at

Trivision, especially after James’s exit. Lin, who joined Trivision when the company was

formed, had seen this happen repeatedly. Eventually, Lin reminded himself, people settled in.

But his relationship with Thurman took a negative turn when Thurman casually mentioned her

“brilliant idea” in front of clients at a dinner reception honoring a Trivision customer. With

sincere intentions to advise Thurman when it came time to put the plan forward, Lin asked her to

meet with him to discuss her idea. In that meeting he gave his honest feedback and mentioned

that he thought she wasn’t being rigorous in her analytical approach.

Lin’s advice surprised Thurman.

“Louis, this really is the best pricing strategy,” she said. “You could see by the way they reacted.

They’d love to get your systems at a lower price, and we could build upgrades to TV1000 into

their initial sales agreements. I don’t know why you keep fighting me on this. Your sales

volumes will go through the roof.”

Lin didn’t reply. But that’s when he decided that Thurman would have to deal with this one on

her own.

A NOD FROM KLINE

Thurman saw a narrow opportunity to convince Kline to adopt her recommendation. Before the

recent monthly product meeting, she repeated her mantra to him, saying, “Wagner is ignoring

education customers, especially the low end. They recognize what’s happening at the top of the

market but aren’t worrying about us elsewhere. Pat, we need to make the big pricing change

now and pour investment into education marketing.” She went on, “This is an ideal test market

for discounting TV1000 everywhere—entertainment, business, and health care.”

Her argument and her enthusiasm for the idea convinced Kline to give her a more formal forum.

He told her to proceed with developing draft proposals on outsourcing and product-pricing

strategies. However, he was concerned that it was too much work in addition to her day-to-day

responsibilities, so he encouraged her to pull in whatever internal or external staffing she needed

to prepare a sound approach.

“I know you’ve got the market experience, and I know you think this is right, but I need to see

more of the benefits to Trivision, not just your product and your education market,” Kline said.


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“Take your time making the best argument possible. And if you find out your best argument

isn’t good enough, I’ll still appreciate the effort.”

Thurman didn’t think she had the time to do an in-depth analysis, nor did she think that anyone

on her own staff knew the education market and the TV1000 product as well as she did. But she

did call her mentor, former President James, trying to learn more about the rationale behind the

company’s current strategies—or lack thereof.

“You know better than anyone that the technology is complex,” advised James. “I always felt it

was unwise to commit to a time-specific, dollar-specific strategy without clear signals from R&D

regarding when we’d have products emerging from the development pipeline. It took years to go

from Adapter to TV1000. It was longer than all of us expected. Your intuition on this may be

correct, but remember, you need to think not only about TV1000 and Adapter but also about the

next system, and the one after. A mistake here, and you could reduce product life cycle and

inadvertently lose millions in margin. You’ve got good people, especially in R&D; you should

leverage their expertise and experience.”

* * *

FEBRUARY 23—THE PRODUCT MEETING

The atmosphere at the Trivision product meeting was upbeat. Kline kicked it off by saying that

both TV1000 and Adapter had outperformed monthly targets. Thurman nodded absentmindedly

as Kline gave news of TV1000’s performance in the entertainment and business markets. They

were good numbers and she knew them well, but she was thinking ahead to her own moment

when she would lay out the future for Trivision.

Lin walked through his presentation of Adapter performance, market by market, region by

region. Thurman thought to herself, Enough! This is history. We need to be looking toward the

future. This won’t last, especially for Adapter.

When it was her turn to present, Thurman did the obligatory monthly review, hurriedly reciting

the numbers, almost dismissing the good performance of TV1000. She jumped to the core of her

update. She started by reviewing the outsourcing plan, naming the potential vendors, citing cost-

savings, and encouraging Kline and Procurement/Purchasing to review her spreadsheets quickly

(which had been e-mailed minutes before the meeting) so that she could get the go-ahead.


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Kline listened intently but gave no indication of approval or disapproval. Simard looked

surprised that their informal conversations had been transformed into a full-blown outsourcing

strategy. When Thurman said the strategy should be considered for all products, Simard became

visibly uncomfortable. For the first time he thought, OK, I’m Production. What will I be doing?

Meanwhile, the head of Procurement/Purchasing passed darting glances around the room,

looking to see if anyone knew anything about this.

Thurman, now more comfortable and passionate in her delivery, described how the outsourcing

strategy, combined with a revised and all-encompassing product-pricing strategy, would put

Trivision in a leadership position in the education market, revitalize its business market position,

and grow its health care and entertainment markets. She beamed, pleased with the assertiveness

of her presentation.

Thurman’s colleagues, especially the R&D managers, listened silently, their faces all wearing the

same look of surprise. Even Kline hadn’t expected such an “endorse this now” presentation for

the strategy, especially because details had been provided only minutes before the meeting.

Simultaneously, everyone in the room looked up at Thurman, then down at their screens, trying

to read the details in the full proposals.

Eventually, after Thurman told all she knew about the 3-D education market, outsourcing,

product-pricing, and life-cycle strategies, her colleagues began questioning her. Lin was first.

“Cecile? Maybe you didn’t hear what Pat or I said about the month that Adapter just had.

Adapter is cresting, and you want to sink it to the bottom of the discount bin. Please—”

Thurman politely interrupted him and repeated many of the statistics from her presentation. Why

doesn’t he see this? This will benefit him, she thought. With each question she did the same,

listening but assertively repeating her facts and figures.

“I was wondering, Cecile, if you’ve visited any of these contract facilities that will be making

our products under an outsourcing agreement or to any of our current suppliers’ plants?” asked

Simard. (Of all people, thought Thurman.)


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She lost her poise for a moment but quickly steadied herself. “No, I haven’t yet. But we’ve had

good reports from our foreign sales and distribution offices in those regions. They’ve been to the

facilities, they’re close with the executives in charge there, and they’re excited about having

production in their own backyards.”

The longer she answered questions, the more confident she became that she’d won every point.

She sensed a win.

Kline watched quietly, at times impressed and at times wincing as his team brought their

departmental agendas into play. He then calmly stood up and announced that the meeting was

closed; he’d heard plenty.

“I think it’s important that I quickly make some choices about how Trivision will proceed with

these matters,” he said simply.

* * *

POST SCRIPT

Thurman took Kline’s urgency to mean that her message had gotten through. She would have

never expected that she would hear from Kline the next day, announcing that they were

reconvening the product meeting—this time examining other options besides hers. Eventually,

she would come to question whether surfacing her “brilliant” ideas had been worth her effort

after all.


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TV1000 SYSTEM

In the past, almost all 3-D applications involved the use of stereoscopic images. Stereoscopic

images include left and right perspectives that are combined to produce a complete 3-D image.

Creating images this way required recording from two perspectives and wearing special viewing

glasses. Trivision’s technology meant that special glasses and multiple camera perspectives

were no longer required.

The TV1000 System consists of two separate components:

Trivex R lens: The R lens is designed for use in the digital scanning process when 3-D images are recorded. The R lens can be used in any 3-D product designed to create and record a 3-D image. The R lens creates images in the Alpha encoding format, which is designed especially for satellite transmission. The R lens also is used to recombine the saved 3-D image for projection (image output).

Turbovision processor: Scanned Alpha-encoded images are handled by the Turbovision processor. The processor is at the heart of all Trivision technology. The processor is dynamic in that it can learn and remember information. As the processor receives more and more scanned images, it adds to its standard database of images. The more it “sees,” the more accurate the final 3-D image is.


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ADAPTER SYSTEM

Trivision Adapter lenses are a much less expensive alternative to the TV1000 system. Adapter

lenses convert almost any existing 2-D image (for example, a photograph or movie) into a 3-D

image. The scanned data are handled by the Turbovision processor and are combined with a

huge database of imaging algorithms to create a reasonable approximation of 3-D. The quality

of the image is only about 50 percent of the R lens (less vivid, clear, and realistic).

The Adapter System consists of two separate components:

Adapter Q lens: The Adapter lens is used to convert traditional 2-D signals so they are saved as 3-D. It can be used in any product designed to convert a 2-D image into a 3-D image. The Adapter lens creates images in the Alpha encoding format, which is designed especially for satellite transmission. It also is used to recombine the saved 3-D image for projection (image output).

Turbovision processor: Scanned Alpha-encoded images are handled by the Turbovision processor. The processor is at the heart of all Trivision technology. The processor is dynamic in that it can learn and remember information. As the processor receives more and more scanned images, it adds to its standard database of images. The more it “sees,” the more accurate the final 3-D image is.


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ACTIVITY 1—YOUR BUSINESS NETWORK

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1—Think about the people and groups you influence and those who influence you.

Consider connections you have within your peer group, with those at lower levels, and with

those at management levels. In the far right column, write the names of individuals or groups

you rely on for insight, perspective, and direct support, both short term and long term.

Step 2—For people or groups with whom you have a strong relationship, click the box in the

Strong column. For people or groups with whom you need to establish relationships or with

whom you have a poor or dysfunctional relationship, click the box in the Poor column.

STRONG POOR PEERS–DIRECT REPORTS–TEAM–MANAGEMENT


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ACTIVITY 2—INFLUENCE OPPORTUNITIES

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1—Read the following to understand more about influence opportunities within your

organization.

In your position you have opportunities to personally influence people, groups, and outcomes every day. These opportunities, routine and expected, are an important part of your job as you involve others in getting work done and achieving business goals. For example:

You need to seek advice from an expert (someone with more experience than you in a certain task), but that person is difficult to access.

You need information from another group to finish a project or close a sale, but you haven’t been able to get it through e-mail or voice mail requests.

You want to influence senior management to institute a process improvement idea that’s worked for you in the past.

Other opportunities to influence might arise from large-scale change, organizational initiatives, or innovative ideas that involve many decision makers and a network of key players. These situations can have far-reaching implications, either within a single unit or throughout the organization. For example:

A new initiative sanctioned by the organization is expected to be implemented at all levels. You need to influence your direct reports to embrace the change and take appropriate steps to integrate it within team processes.

You need to get support—either funding or staffing—from senior management for a new project, initiative, or idea.

You want your partners to adopt a time-saving or money-saving idea that’s working in your group.

Step 2—On the next page identify several opportunities you have to influence others. Focus

on opportunities that will present themselves soon, that you find to be most challenging, or that

will contribute significantly to achieving business results. Be sure that the opportunities are

ones that you can influence directly from your position in the organization.


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Management—What opportunities do I have to influence upper management?

Peers—What opportunities do I have to influence my peer managers?

Support Groups—What opportunities do I have to influence across functional lines?

Step 3—Considering your identified opportunities, choose one that presents a challenge (e.g.,

the person or group is skeptical about the idea or resistant to change) and that you can share with

your peers in the session. Use the following prompts to describe the situation you’ve chosen.

Influence Opportunity—Describe the opportunity in detail.

Individual or Group—List the people or groups in the organization that you need to influence.

Select one person or group to focus on in the session.

Why do you need support or help from this person or group?


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What challenges might the person or group present? Are they:

Skeptical or hostile?

Resistant to change?

Uninterested?

Risk averse?

Organizational Benefits—What are the benefits? Why does this idea or issue matter?

Link to Organization’s Goals, Values, or Direction

Benefits to Person/Group

Supporting Evidence—What information, statistics, or expertise do you need to help

influence this person or group? If you have data (e.g., customer complaints, competitive

analysis, production reports, or articles) that provide backup support, attach it to this prework

and bring it to class so you can share it with your peers.

the wide-ranging world of influence · assignments should take about 45 ... not having the prework...

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