Why Design an Influence Approach?

Design thinking is an important concept that has emerged from the fields of architecture and engineering. It's a formal method for creative problem solving when the problem is complex and multidimensional. When you follow the process of design thinking, you begin with a goal and then examine many obvious and not-so-obvious aspects of the situation before coming up with alternative and iterative solutions. You can approach an influence opportunity in a similar way. Rather than using a more rational and scientific approach where you define all parameters first, you combine analytical and intuitive methods to learn all you can about the situation. You're not looking for a “right answer” but rather for an effective approach that could lead to a variety of possible outcomes.

The Pros and Cons of Planning

Most effective influencers tend to think about and plan for influence opportunities. The good thing about planning is that you go into the situation with greater confidence because you are much clearer about where you're headed and what to anticipate along the way. This is also a bad thing about planning, because it can give you a false sense of security and may lead you to ignore things that don't happen according to your plan—or a sinking feeling when you have an excessively rigid plan and the other person isn't following it. However, if you manage yourself reasonably well, you will keep some part of your mind alert for disconfirming data. (For example, you're trying to persuade a senior person in the organization to sponsor an innovative idea and he or she seems distracted and allows interruptions to your meeting. Or your spouse, instead of being enthusiastic about your new job opportunity overseas, suggests that it might be time to try a bi-continental relationship.)

Planning can occur at many levels. At the most basic level, it means framing your influence objective before you start influencing. This is a good habit to adopt, especially when the opportunity or the need to influence arises unexpectedly. If you have time to plan more carefully, you'll want to think through the influence framework as it relates to your particular influence opportunity. And, if you have an important opportunity, you'll probably want to devise a thorough plan based on the issues you've explored. This will take time but should pay off in effectiveness and efficiency—and in achieving good results.

Just as developing your influence skills can be compared to a fitness program, planning for a specific influence situation can be compared to preparing for a journey. As in adventure travel, you need to be in shape before you start; halfway up the mountain is not the place to develop your climbing skills!

Phase One: Mapping the Territory

Each of the components of the influence framework for your opportunity contains key information that will help you succeed or at least keep you from making serious errors. In the following chapters, each component is discussed. In Appendix B, you'll find useful questions related to these areas of focus as a stimulus to your thinking. Not all of them will be relevant to your opportunity, and you may think of others that are more useful. This part of the exercise is not particularly sequential, although it helps to start with your objective. You may find as you work back and forth that you have some insights that will change your original ideas. Once you've integrated this framework into your influence approach, you'll find it a useful and quick mental exercise, even in more spontaneous situations.

Phase Two: Charting the Course

You've explored the issues in the influence framework. Now you'll decide on your approach. Here are some steps you can take in this process:

• Clarify and refine your objective.
• Highlight the most important issues related to relationship and context.
• Select the three or four most useful behaviors, using the criteria you can find in Chapter 14.
• Modify your choice of behaviors based on what you know about yourself as an influencer, as well as the fit with the culture and the individual you're influencing.
• Develop some ways of expressing what you want to say at key points, framed so you will make sense and be interesting to the other person.

Phase Three: Troubleshooting

Think about everything that could derail your plan. Do some “if…then” contingency planning. What will you do if the worst case occurs? Consider also the possibility that you may be wildly successful and may have aimed too low. How can you adjust your aspirations upward during the meeting? Think of some alternate sources of need satisfaction if this influence opportunity simply doesn't work out as you intended.

Of course, it's difficult to focus on the downside when you're trying to be optimistic. A certain amount of “magical thinking” may set in, leading you to ignore possibilities that you don't want to believe could happen. (Magical thinking is the process we use to ignore the elephant under the rug, thinking that if we don't acknowledge it, perhaps it will go away.) By remembering to take this step before you're in the situation, you'll be prepared for most eventualities and less likely to be distracted from your goal by an unexpected response. The more important the situation, the more useful it is to consider multiple possible responses and plan how to deal with the ones that will have the most impact on your results. Like the best architects or designers, you'll want to create a solid, yet flexible structure within which to work—while always considering the possibility of stepping away from your structure to rethink it.