Premise:
We now live in a world where we are going through a change of one kind or another. Even when we are not leading a change initiative, we are, at all times collaborating with others, who are not part of our team, people who have a different goal than our own, people whose contribution might be critical for our success.
In such scenarios, one of the skills that becomes critical for our success is our ability to align and influence the various stakeholders that we work with.
I have found that it helps if we are intentional about how we work with these stakeholders and add value to them and their work. If we are able to do that, it creates trust and respect, which leads to us building influence with them.
In this pursuit, it helps if we can answer, in all honesty, the following questions with respect to each stakeholder that we engage with on a regular basis.
Questions to ask about our stakeholders:
1. What are they trying to create or achieve and what is my contribution towards that? What do they need from me or How can I be of help?
2. What criteria do they use to assess whether my contribution to their work is successful? How do they track it or How can I track and share it?
3. What could I change in my areas of responsibilities over the next 6 months, to create a significant impact for them?
4. What systemic barriers prevent us from collaborating effectively with them and their team? How can we overcome them?
Once we are able to answer these questions for ourselves (sometimes with the help of the stakeholders) and act on them, we create a win-win situation for all of us.
If we are being practical, we may not be able to change much in our responsibilities or make a significant contribution to their success. However, knowing the answers to these questions provides us a clear understanding of what matters to them.
Once we know this, we can be intentional about how we engage with them. They will sense this awareness in our engagement with them. And we can use every small (or large) opportunity that comes our way to contribute to their success.
The key here is that we don’t just do this when we need something from them but keep doing this all the time.
In conclusion:
Just like you don’t go digging a well when you are thirsty, we don’t go building influence when we need it.
We need to be doing this much before we need their support in any way. If done right, you will find that our stakeholders will always be keen to working with us and supporting us in our success. It is also more fun if we work this way.
