Fiona used the four influencing strategies
of investigation, calculation, motivation, and collaboration to persuade her managerial colleagues to overhaul the performance management system. The word influence means many things to
many people. To some it means being cunning, manipulative and tricky. While others consider influence the lifeblood of communication. We are all in the business of influence. L&D professionals are arguably professional influencers. Getting better at influencing should be an important and ongoing goal for all of us.
Influencing variables
There are three variables involved in any influencing situation or circumstance. One variable is your personal style and approach. You will tend to influence others the way you like to be influenced. Second, the people you are attempting to persuade also have a preference for how they like to be influenced. Use the ‘wrong’ strategy and you won’t be persuasive. We’ve all experienced this! And finally, each situation will favour a certain type of strategy. These three variables help explain the success or failure of any influencing attempt. In the context of learning and development, influence is about persuading others to think and act differently in ways that benefit themselves, their colleagues, stakeholders and customers. It certainly does not mean manipulation or trickery. Influencing must begin from an ethical standpoint. A new model of influence identifies four
primary ways L&D professionals (or anyone) can and do persuade others – this model is referred to as the Influencing Capabilities Framework. Here is a glimpse of the framework:
Push style Pull style Investigation Calculation
Motivation Collaboration Fig 1: The influencing framework In the first article we explored the push-pull
styles and the logical-emotional approaches and when best to use these in learning contexts. Let’s now briefly consider each of the four influencing strategies: Investigation; Calculation; Collaboration; and Motivation and their implications for training.
The inquisitive investigator (push style – logical approach)
As a strategy of influence, investigation basically means gathering the facts and presenting them in a logical and convincing manner. The presentation of a coherent and assertive argument based on well-founded research is a powerful form of persuasion in the right set of circumstances. People are usually not convinced by someone who doesn’t have a sound grasp of the facts; nor are they influenced by someone with wavering conviction or an incoherent presentation of their ideas. Even if you are logical, coherent, assertive, and well researched, that doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you will be persuasive. But these attributes are at least a good starting point. L&D professionals who have a preference for investigating like to research their topic;
Reference
Logical approach
Emotional approach
1 http://bit. ly/1N48Eo8
www.trainingjournal.com September 2015
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