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How To Influence People Who Don’t Report To You – Influence Without Authority · Enhance.training

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: How to influence people who don't report to you is a really important skill to make you more effective at work.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: The higher you rise in an organization, the more you'll be expected to work with those outside of your team to deliver results and desired outcomes.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Being able to influence without authority is vital when you get to middle management ranks and beyond.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: A sign of not having enough influence is when you ask others to help you and they make their excuses.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Or you ask them to deliver a piece of work for you and they miss the deadline agreed, or they email you with why they are delaying.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: To avoid this happening, learning how to influence people who don't report to you is extremely useful.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: The more influential you are, the quicker you'll be able to do your work, the less delays and frustrations you will suffer, and the more effective you'll be.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: To help you with how to influence people who don't report to you, we are covering firstly, make working with you a pleasure.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, be interested in them and their world.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Third, offer them value first.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, create common goals, and fifth, build a reputation of influence.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Creating and building influence with people that don't report to you does take work.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: That work is an investment in your own ability to do your job better and to be even more effective.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Learn how to be influential without authority.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: These skills will become invaluable to you as you grow through your career.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Firstly, to influence people who don't report to you make working with you a pleasure.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Who likes to work with difficult, rude, unhelpful, selfish, and problematic people?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Very few, if any.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Have you met any of these difficult people that have any real influence outside of their position?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: The very few I have met were very good at their jobs, so people grudgingly put up with them.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Being nice, friendly, helpful, approachable, etc.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: does not take much extra effort and it makes people happy to work with you.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Even more important, being easy to work with opens doors for you to use other actions to really build influence.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Individuals are much more receptive to people they like and appreciate.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: If they don't like you, you have to work three times as hard to influence them in other ways.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: It pays to be an easy person to work with.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: The second action to influence people who don't report to you is to be interested in the other person and their world.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: You like other people who like you.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: You are prepared to listen to people you like a lot more than you are prepared to listen to those that you don't like.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: You are happy to be influenced by those that you like and are probably quite resistant to being influenced by those you don't like.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: By genuinely being interested in the other person, you can quickly get them on side and start building a good relationship with them.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Practice listening, and I mean really listening to them with your full attention.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Ask questions to learn more about what they are telling you.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Find the areas you admire and appreciate about them and focus on these.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Be empathetic and caring towards them.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Make them feel important.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Do all of this consistently and they will feel that you like them and care about them.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is a great basis to build professional and personal relationships with them.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: The stronger your relationships and the stronger the mutual trust and appreciation between you, the more influence you'll have over them.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Be interested in the other person and build a good relationship with them to maximize your influence.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: The third action to influence people who don't report to you is to offer them value first.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Reciprocity is very powerful.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: When we help others first, they feel obligated to help us in return.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many ways you can help others.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Four of my favourites are, firstly, making the effort to help them when they ask for help.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, being approachable and receptive are important.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Putting yourself out to help them when they need it creates a lot of influence with that person.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, looking for opportunities to help them or do them favours.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: It might be spending 30 minutes guiding them through a problem, organising resources they need but are unable to get themselves, or sharing information or insights with them, etc.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Doing favours means being able to ask for favours back later on.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Third, teaching, mentoring and coaching are also great ways to offer them value.
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  SPEAKER_00: Share your experiences and skills to help them build their own.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Give them career advice, help them navigate the politics.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Being a helpful expert is a great way to build influence.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, protect them when they are under pressure or stressed or being taken advantage of, etc.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: These types of actions are always appreciated and build your influence with them.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: So go out of your way to help others.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Building up favours owed to you means that you can ask for a lot more help later on.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: We all need help to be effective.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: The more senior we become, the more help we need from others as we no longer create value directly.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: The most effective people in any workplace have learnt that reciprocity is really important and use it all the time.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Working to help others is a key part of teamwork.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles, and if you're new here, enhance.training shares people management expertise, resources, and courses teaching you how to be a great manager and build high-performing teams.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Learn how to improve how you influence the people around you by visiting us at enhance.training and take a look at our courses on giving feedback, saying no diplomatically, managing expectations, persuading others and more.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: The fourth action to influence people who don't report to you is to create common goals.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Most people work harder when they are helping themselves rather than when they are helping others.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is human nature.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Think through the benefits the other person will get when they help you.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Think through the benefits their team will get.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: What about the benefits gained by the function or business unit they're in and of course the company overall?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Another really important point: most people are happy to help when they know you are working to help the wider group, which indirectly helps them.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: People are a lot less happy to help when they suspect you are asking for help primarily to help yourself.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Communicate as clearly as possible the goals you are trying to achieve and link them directly to the benefits the other person will get, directly or indirectly.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Creating common goals are a great way to influence the actions and directions of others, especially when they don't report to you.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: The fifth action to influence people who don't report to you is to build a reputation of influence.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Building a reputation takes time and consistent actions on your part.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: When you have a reputation for being firstly trustworthy, i.e.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: you consistently do what you say and deliver what you commit to.
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  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, when you're competent, i.e.
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  SPEAKER_00: you are regarded as good at your job by your team, peers and bosses.
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  SPEAKER_00: Third, when you're respected, i.e.
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  SPEAKER_00: you are an easy person to work with, you help others, you are trustworthy and are competent.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be respected throughout the business.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: And fourth, as you gain more influence through all the actions you've taken, you know, being trustworthy, competent, respected, and helping others, being a good team player, etc.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Being an influential person creates more influence by itself.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Others know that you are more capable of helping them than the less influential people.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: You become a sought-after person, a go-to person to get things done.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: This gives you more opportunities to help others, build relationships and build favours owed to you, etc.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: This in turn means you become even more effective in your role because you suffer less delays and get a lot more help when you need it.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, in summary, building influence with people who don't report to you is an incredibly useful skill to develop.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: You'll become more effective in your role because other people will help you first before helping others, and you'll get a lot more help when you ask for it.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Building influence is an investment in your own effectiveness at work and is especially important in management positions.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: As a reminder, how to influence people who don't report to you includes the following actions.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Firstly, make working with you a pleasure.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, be interested in them and their world.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Third, offer them value first.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, create common goals, and fifth, build a reputation of influence.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions on how to influence people who don't report to you, influence without authority, please email me at support at enhance.training and I'll get back to you.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to take a look at the links in the podcast description for more resources to help you.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much for listening, and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.