If you’ve not yet completed a STAKEHOLDER MAP… stop and go back and read PART 1 ‘Stakeholder mapping techniques’ first.
So you’ve got your map… and you know your stakeholders. Now you need to know how to use their INFLUENCE to progress your career. I’m going to help you understand stakeholder impact that will improve how you’re influencing others at work.
I’ll include a stakeholder analysis examples that will help you improve stakeholder engagement. A stakeholder engagement plan/stakeholder management plan really does make stakeholder relationship management much easier.
Each of the people you’ve drawn onto your stakeholder map has their own stakeholder map too! The way you build YOUR map and circle of influence wider is by answering ‘What is the relationship between all these people’?
Sometimes you’ll get what I like to call ‘slow to warm up’ people. We all have these people. The ones who are difficult, the ones who don’t get your awesome jokes, even the ones who’ve seen some of your mistakes. These people are not lost causes. Yes, it’s going to take more time, but one of the best ways to get to them is not by doing a song and a dance for them yourself, but involving other people in one of two ways or what I call ‘Stealth Influence’.
I’ve got two simple ways that use either your influence or other people’s… and trust me, these techniques work!
If you want to advance your career, you need to know WHO can influence your career, and HOW they influence each other.
1. Get someone who they like or admire to sing your praises
One client had a detractor, John who was dubious about her appointment to the firm. She didn’t waste much of her time impressing him. Instead she worked to impress the people who influenced John. That meant that it was harder for John to hold a negative judgement of her when he’d hear ‘Sarah’s a breath of fresh air!’ or ‘You wouldn’t believe the great idea Sarah came up with in our last meeting!’ John eventually got on board and they worked better together, not because he loved her himself, but it just became harder to ignore all the praise she earned from colleagues he did like.
2. By helping “Mr. Slow to Warm up” look good to their own stakeholders
Credit the good ideas they do have publicly. People love getting credit, and if you can be the person who sees their genius, they’ll likely thaw a bit with time. This isn’t about lying, but finding the kernel of a good idea out of their lips when you hear it, and passing it on to senior people as their idea.
All of this influence by stealth is very powerful stuff… and I’ve seen many promotions won by to this technique.
Set yourself a goal of raising your scores with people, even just a single point at a time. You’ll get that promotion in less time than you think – simply by being strategic about how to approach the right stakeholders.
I wish you every success in your stealth influencing.
It does take work.. But I promise it will be worth it… because remember … no one cares about your career as much as you do.
If all that stealth influencing is getting you closer to that promotion, you’ll want to download my guide ‘How to get a Promotion in 8 Steps’. It’s jam-packed with all the advice that’s helped 100s of clients get the careers they want.
