Today’s Ask the Executive Coach offers ten ways you can “lead up” and influence your boss and others. It’s not about power plays, it’s about being a leader who gets things done.
Q. How can I really influence those in authority over me?
A. In today’s complex organizational world, successful leaders will influence not only their direct reports, but those above them on the org chart. Middle managers have to deal with senior executives more often than ever. And, they need to influence across organizational boundaries as well.
Leadership is about influence. Plain and simple. Influence has always mattered at work but the rapidity of change and uncertain economies has created a necessity for it. Whether influence is necessary to obtain something, or you use it to ask for favors to achieve quicker and better results, it is critical to have and manage influence. You can’t achieve your objectives without getting help from others whom you do not control, particularly, your boss.
If you feel you can’t influence those in authority over you, you need to see your relationships with powerful people in a different way. Relationships do matter for success in an organization. No one person can accomplish much working alone, and the nature of how people connect with one another has major repercussions both for the organizations performance and for each individual’s access to information and resources.
As everyone who has ever worked knows, work relationships have the potential to be unsatisfying and ineffective. Negative relationships frequently become frozen, with neither person knowing how to improve the relationship. This was the situation that my client Becky faced. How could she continue working with the most difficult boss she ever had and yet influence her at the same time?
In coaching Becky, these were the steps that helped her use her own personal power and learn to “influence up”:
- Do your job! Be responsible for yourself and always be excellent at what you do. Have the right attitude.
- Get to know your boss. Study your boss’ personality type and how you differ in your approach toward people and tasks. Know their vision and values and what they are passionate about achieving.
- Accept that your boss isn’t and can’t be perfect.
- Manage your boss instead of your boss managing you by anticipating your boss’ needs and understanding their world or specific situation.
- Learn the skills of Crucial Conversations, and use them consistently, with your boss and others.
- Adopt a partner mind-set: Determine that you will be as responsible for the overall success of the team as your boss is.
- Explore what really bothers your boss and his or her likes and dislikes/expectations.
- Accept your boss’ concerns as legitimate. Succeed on their terms.
- Determine how your boss prefers to be communicated to, i.e. e-mail, text or face-to-face.
- Acknowledge your part in any difficulties that may arise. Raise your concerns in a direct or non-blaming way.
Becky’s boss didn’t change and was never perfect in her approach to people and situations. It wasn’t always easy, but over time, Becky earned her boss’ respect. As a result, work somehow seemed easier. Becky learned to partner with her boss instead of being the victim. She determined to help her career and her organization by stepping into her boss’ shoes and walking the same path together. In the end, the only thing you can do is lead your life. If you don’t, others will by determining what will happen to you. Life’s greatest rewards come from the choices you make, from how you decide to live under whatever circumstances you find yourself in.
As you reflect on your career, what needs to change in you to demystify the use of your own personal power to influence your boss?
