Political Savvy

Influencing without formal authority

Half Day Course

• Realise the importance of developing ‘power bases’
• Analyse different types of influencing tactics and when to use them
• Promote a business case by ‘coalition building’

Overview

Some people feel very uncomfortable actively engaging in influencing others (especially when ‘office politics’ is involved) but this is a naïve view. Nothing happens in an organisation without building a level of support for a given action, and the only question is if the objective being targeted is based on an individual’s narrow self-interest or the ‘greater good’. The plain truth is that if you are not actively influencing what is happening in a company, you are at the mercy of someone else who is (and they may not have your best interests at heart!) So influencing (especially in the absence of ‘formal authority’) is a core business skill. This workshop considers the elements involved in identifying the key people involved in an issue and selecting the appropriate influencing strategy to engage with them on a win/win basis.

Learning objectives

By attending this highly interactive and practical half-day course you will:

• Understand why influencing is a key business skill
• Learn how to prepare a stakeholder analysis
• Realise the importance of power and how to develop ‘power bases’
• Analyse different types of influencing tactics and when to use them
• Appreciate how to ‘make a success of office politics’

Who should attend?

This course is ideal for Managers and Technical Experts who need to influence peers, colleagues and senior executives without using formal authority.

Feedback

Feedback is based upon peer review using Boulden assessment checklists. Completing the Boulden assessment checklists is not only valuable to the people involved in a given role play or case study, it also helps those completing them to gain an in-depth understanding of the building blocks that make up effective influencing strategies.

Remote Training

All of our workshops can be delivered as Remote Training via e-learning modules plus Zoom based virtual workshops. Please see our Virtual Training page for more information.