Strategies Tactics Explaining Legitimising Logical persuasion Asking Appealing to friendship Socialising Consulting Stating Stating Inspiring Appealing to values Modelling Exchanging Exchanging Alliance building Alliance building In fact, alliance building is regarded as a macro-strategy because it can involve a mix of different strategies and tactics to influence others. Strategies and tactics explained But what exactly do these strategies and tactics mean and how can we apply them linguistically? Strategies Tactics Expressions Explaining means giving reasons for what you want • Legitimising – using authority • Logical persuasion – using facts/logic • According to company policy • The facts speak for themselves Asking means exactly that or making a request • Appealing to friendship – asking a personal favour • Socialising – building rapport • Consulting – asking for input • Would you do me a favour and • I hear you spent a year in the US – I did too – when were you there? • Would you like to tell us about your ideas on Stating means saying what you want or think • Making a direct but polite statement • This report has to be finished by tomorrow 140 Influencing strategies and tactics Strategies Tactics Expressions Inspiring means affecting behaviour by emotion or example • Appealing to values – being motivational • Modelling – setting or leading by example • We all need to work our hardest and best to be in the top 3 • What I’ve learnt from experience is that if we do X in this way, Exchanging means trading something valuable to get support • Exchanging favours/ benefits • If you help me with , I’ll give you a hand with Alliance building • Alliance building means getting others on your side to help influence someone • We are part of the same team so shouldn’t we all be • We really need to pull together to achieve Negative tactics – beware how you use them! There are also four negative tactics which can be effective but should be used sparingly as they will damage a relationship. They are: avoiding which is failing to act or respond and thus reserving the right to say “I told you so!” when things go wrong; threatening which is expressing anger and being aggressive and saying things, such as “If you don’t do X, then I’ll make damn sure you don’t get Y!”; intimidating which is using power to get your own way if you are in the up position and being rude and insensitive, for example, “What do you know, you’ve only been here five minutes!”; and manipulating which can include having a hidden agenda and deliberately lying or misleading someone. Obviously, these tactics are needed occasionally, for example, to shut up a particularly obnoxious person but they won’t win you any friends and should be avoided at all costs if you want to maintain the relationship. Good influencers are fun to be around Finally, something to bear in mind is that people like being around good influencers because they are movers and shapers and make things happen. Think about it, who would you rather be with – someone who moans about things all the time and sits on their hands or someone who puts their head above the parapet and gets things moving along for everyone’s benefit? How to influence people and win friends 141 ᭿ Task 2 Respond to the situations below using any influencing strategy and accompanying expressions you feel comfortable with. In real life, of course, we don’t just stick to one strategy or tactic but mix and match them depending on the circumstances. 1. You arrived late at a hotel last night which is often used by your company. You are attending a conference which you helped organise – this is very hard work and you desperately need a good night’s sleep. However, the hotel is full of very loud football fans who are partying long into the night. What do you say to the hotel manager when you telephone him? 2. It is Friday lunchtime. You have arranged a weekend away with your family and want to leave early. Your boss has just sent you an email asking you to rewrite his entire presentation which he needs first thing on Monday morning. You know this will take several hours. What do you say in your email? 3. It is 6pm and you are just about to leave the office when you receive a voicemail from your colleague in the US. “Hi Ramona, this is Jenny from the New York office. You know that meeting we were planning for next week in New York for all European department heads – well it’s been cancelled because my boss is ill. Can you let your people know please asap. I’m waiting for your call – thanks.” What do you say when you leave her a voicemail? You will be more effective at influencing people if you adapt your tactics to their MBTI type. Read the following text to find out what MBTI type you are and how to recognise the characteristics of other MBTI types. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Dealing with difficult people is one thing but have you ever wondered why you seem to relate better to some people than others? Why some of your colleagues seem to be on your wavelength whereas others have very different thought processes and styles? Have you ever asked yourself “Why don’t they get it?” when an idea, conclusion or plan of action seems obvious to you? The MBTI is a widely used instrument for understanding personality differences – differences that can be the source of much misunderstanding and miscommunication between people. The MBTI can be effective in enabling you to identify your strengths and provides in a practical way a better understanding of yourself, your motivations, and potential areas for growth. Equally, it will also enable you to understand and appreciate those who differ from you. (Adapted from Wikipedia online). The MBTI is a personality test designed to assist a person in identifying their personality preferences. Katherine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isobel Briggs Myers developed the test during World War II and its criteria follow from Carl Jung’s theories in his work Psychological Types. The test is frequently used in the areas of pedagogy, group dynamics, employee training, 142 Influencing strategies and tactics leadership training etc. although scientific sceptics and academic psychologists have subjected it to considerable criticism in research literature. Complete the following light-hearted questionnaire and establish what MBTI type you are. Q1. Which is your most natural energy orientation? Every person has two faces. One is directed towards the OUTER world of activities, excitements, people, and things. The other is directed inward to the INNER world of thoughts, interests, ideas, and imagination. While these are two different but complementary sides of our nature, most people have an innate preference towards energy from the either the OUTER or INNER worlds. Thus one of their faces, either the Extraverted (E) or Introverted (I), takes the lead in their personality development and plays a more dominant role in their behavior. Extraverted Characteristics • Act first, think/reflect later • Feel deprived when cut off from interaction with the outside world • Usually open to and motivated by outside world of people and things • Enjoy wide variety and change in relationships with people Introverted Characteristics • Think/reflect first, then act • Regularly require an amount of “private time” to recharge batteries • Motivated internally, mind is sometimes so active it is “closed” to the outside world • Prefer one-to-one communication and relationships Choose which best fits: Extraversion (E) Introversion (I) Q2. Which way of perceiving or understanding is most “automatic” or natural? The Sensing (S) side of our brain notices the sights, sounds, smells and all the sensory details of the PRESENT. It categorizes, organizes, records and stores the specifics from the here and now. It is REALITY based. The Intuitive (N) side of our brain seeks to understand, interpret and form OVERALL patterns of all the information that is collected and records these patterns and relationships. It speculates on POSSIBILITIES, including looking into and forecasting the FUTURE. It is imaginative and conceptual. While both kinds of perceiving are necessary and used by all people, each of us instinctively tends to favor one over the other. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) 143 Sensing Characteristics • Mentally live in the Now, attending to present opportunities • Using common sense and creating practical solutions is automatic-instinctual • Memory recall is rich in detail of facts and past events • Best improvise from past experience • Like clear and concrete information; dislike guessing when facts are “fuzzy” Intuitive Characteristics • Mentally live in the Future, attending to future possibilities • Using imagination and creating/inventing new possibilities is automatic-instinctual • Memory recall emphasizes patterns, contexts, and connections • Best improvise from theoretical understanding • Comfortable with ambiguous, fuzzy data and with guessing its meaning. Choose which best fits: Sensing (S) iNtuition (N) Q3. Which way of forming Judgments and making choices is most natural? The Thinking (T) side of our brain analyzes information in a DETACHED, objective fashion. It operates from factual principles, deduces and forms conclusions systematically. It is our logical nature. The Feeling (F) side of our brain forms conclusions in an ATTACHED and somewhat global manner, based on likes/dislikes, impact on others, and human and aesthetic values. It is our subjective nature. While everyone uses both means of forming conclusions, each person has a natural bias towards one over the other so that when they give us conflicting directions – one side is more dominant. Thinking Characteristics • Instinctively search for facts and logic in decision-making situations • Naturally notices tasks and work to be accomplished. • Easily able to provide an objective and critical analysis • Accept conflict as a natural, normal part of relationships with people. Feeling Characteristics • Instinctively employ personal feelings and impact on people in decision-making situations • Naturally sensitive to people’s needs and reactions • Naturally seek consensus and popular opinions • Unsettled by conflict; have almost a toxic reaction to disharmony. Choose which best fits: Thinking (T) Feeling (F) 144 Influencing strategies and tactics . we were planning for next week in New York for all European department heads – well it’s been cancelled because my boss is ill. Can you let your people know please asap. I’m waiting for your call. interpret and form OVERALL patterns of all the information that is collected and records these patterns and relationships. It speculates on POSSIBILITIES, including looking into and forecasting. conflict as a natural, normal part of relationships with people. Feeling Characteristics • Instinctively employ personal feelings and impact on people in decision-making situations • Naturally