Process 1: Understand the Power Structure

A Powerhouse needs to know where the power lies in one's organization and beyond. A simple way to chart this out is to draw a network of contacts between all of the organization's important people, which highlights who influences who else. For the people you most need to influence, find out who influences them. By getting to know those influencers, you will be able to exert indirect influence.

Think about power in all of its forms, not just the power some people have due to their position in the organization. People can have power from their connections to others, their knowledge or expertise, their access to vital resources, or by their strength of personality and character.

And don't forget that a Powerhouse needs to think long term: some of the young, junior colleagues of today will become the powerful players of tomorrow. Invest in these relationships when they see you as a potential help to them, and you can easily build long-term relationships that you can benefit from in years to come. This will always be a portfolio investment. You cannot know which of your four junior colleagues will one day become a CEO, an influential commentator, a middle manager, or adopt an alternative career.

Process 2: Attract People to You

People like people who are:

• Like themselves.

• Like they want to be.

• Familiar to them.

• Inspiring.

• Enthusiastic.

• Helpful.

• Confident.

• Make them feel good about themselves.

Each of these offers a way to grow the strength of your magnetic personality. People who set themselves apart are rarely liked unless they have something very special to offer. We like people who get involved and clearly understand us. They fit in socially and culturally, but a Powerhouse may want to dress and act half a notch ahead of their peers, to come across as being at the top of the aspirational pile. The more we know someone, in general, the more we like them. So spend time with the people you want to build relationships with.

We are also attracted to confidence and inspirational behaviours, so walk tall, smile and be prepared to articulate a positive vision for what can be. Be enthusiastic and helpful to people and make them feel good about themselves by endorsing their ideas and complimenting them on their achievements. Be generous with praise and thoughtful about what you criticize, so that everything you say will make me think that that I am better off for having heard it.

Process 3: Create Your Reputation

'You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.'

Henry Ford

A Powerhouse knows that reputations are built on effectiveness. This is not about impressing people in the hope that they will help you in the future. It is about finding ways to be useful to the people you want to influence, so they will remember that they can depend on you.

Think about what reputation you want, so you can put your emphasis in the right place. For example, you may want a reputation as an ideas-generator, a morale-booster, a get-things-done person, as always receptive and positive, or as a source of knowledge and insight. You cannot develop all of these, but you can put your efforts into some of them and work hard to create a reputation that fits your personality and attracts and retains the right people.

The four stages of building alliances

Process 4. Build Alliances

Building long-term professional alliances is a four-stage process. As you progress from one stage to the next, you convert me first into an ally, then into a core ally, then to your collaborator, and finally to your partner.

1. Identify and Analyse the Interested Parties

First, list everyone who has any interest in your compelling cause and its outcome. These may be people affected by what you are doing or people who can in some way affect your outcome or your choices along the way. These are your stakeholders. Now analyse them, using a simple table similar to the following.

Stakeholder analysis table

This approach will help you to prioritize your actions. The two obviously important groups are your anchor supporters, who are high on levels of support, potential impact and concern, and your potential saboteurs, who also have high levels of concern and impact, but are opposed to what you are doing. A third important group are your fence-sitters: people with moderate to high levels of concern and potential impact, but who have not yet made up their mind whether to support or oppose you.

2. Plan and Manage Your Campaign

The actions to take column in the previous template is where you can record your first thoughts about strategy for each stakeholder. Now put together a communication plan like the one in the following table.

Remember:

Communication is not just about information: you need to win over hearts as well as minds.

Design messages that appeal to the three factors we looked at in the section The Poetry of Persuasion in Chapter 2: trust, reason and emotion. Think carefully about the tone you wish to adopt for each stakeholder: do you want to be conciliatory or assertive, do you want to raise questions or dictate answers, or do you want to request help or demand support? Also decide which medium will appeal best to each stakeholder, balancing the speed and ease of some media, like email, with the greater power of others, like face-to-face meetings.

And don't forget the importance of getting feedback, so you can re-evaluate your strategy and plans if they are not producing the results you want.

Stakeholder communication plan

Put Your Network to Work

If you are successful in engaging your network of stakeholders, you will have a powerful resource to call upon for guidance, support and help.

Giving people a say in your plans and strategy will give them a sense of control. We tend to rebel when we feel we don't have control, so giving some, where it suits you, will reduce the likelihood of resistance in other areas.