Comments on: How to Influence the Influencers

By: Paris

Paris — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:47:56 +0000

This article is right on target. I’ve been transitioning my team to think this way. There are a few useful methods that have enabled me to do so with continuing success. One is the use of a Scorecard. The scorecard allows me to focus on what kind of of behaviors I am trying to influence and put them in terms of measureable targets. The scorecard will cascade from company strategic goals, therefore draws a line from the top to whichever level you want to take it.
Metrics. Defining the right metrics for your team efforts and to reflect back to other colleagues about the progress of their fulfillment. Kirkpatrick 4 levels works from results to behaviors. This method is designed for learning departments so it also dives into learning goals and participant reaction to training.
Last thing is take an extra step like Daren Hardy said, “Don’t just think it, Ink it!” put agreements in writing. document communication decisions. This was a lesson I learned while working through the CMMi Level 5 process. Technology makes it easy to document now. it can be email agreement, microblogging, virtual approval workflow, or a paper signature.
Good Stuff.

By: Steve Fitch

Steve Fitch — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 18:20:19 +0000

I think Joseph’s comments are right on and have an additional idea you may want to consider. We had a similar situation here where management rolled their eyes when the quality guys came around and sighed, “ok, lets get this over with so we can get back to work”. They are now so enthusiastically engaged that we recently won a “Streght” due to the strong Executive Management involvement during our latest ISO recertification audit. The 180 degree shift was achieved by linking the Executives hard efforts to achieve business success to being one and the same with ISO efforts. I got permission from the Corporate Quality Management System ISO leaders to change the name from QMS to Business Management Systems and then proceded to help the execs make their existing BMS tools more efficient. The biggest change however came from importing a techcnique called “Wisdom Councils” (Google it) and adapting the technique to our organization. Using this “facilitated” technique, the executives themselves zeroed in on the biggest issues facing the organization and so ended up choosing their own Quality Audit topics. Our ISO certification auditors are also enthusiastic about the Wisdom Council approach to audits because it is such an effective method to get to the heart of what really matters to the success of the organization. The fact that the Executives love it also is icing on the cake. Another bit of icing was the approval to change the old Quality terminology into business terminology so we are now allowed to call Audit findings, “Top Priority”, “High Priority” and “Opportunities for Improvement” vs. the old “Major Nonconformance”, “Minor Nonconformance”, and “Observations”

Because the Executive staff cares very much about organizational success, they are absollute champions of “BMS” (QMS in drag) and can’t get enough of it.

By: Joseph Grenny

Joseph Grenny — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:12:39 +0000

I think that’s worth considering, Tyler. Unfortunately in many organizations “fire-fighting managers” and HR departments have interests that aren’t perfectly aligned with the overall enterprise. So you can present data showing what the “right thing” is to do for the enterprise, and get a yawn. People will be intellectually interested – kind of like we are in solving world hunger — but they have more immediate concerns that you have to encompass in your data to be persuasive with them. Listen well and try to empathize with them – try to understand what they fall asleep worrying about – then you can see if there is a way of including their more local issues in the larger case you’re trying to make. Good luck!

By: Tyler

Tyler — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:27:37 +0000

I work on a process improvement team in a manufacturing company and we have the same problem. Gathering the data to present to fire-fighting managers is the hard part. It’s also a challenge to get down to the fundamental interests that drive their work. I recently presented some ideas to our HR department that I thought were very well aligned but they still didn’t seem ready because of how busy they are. Does this mean that I haven’t really figured out what they want?

By: Debbie Nwolisa-Nnameka

Debbie Nwolisa-Nnameka — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:50:25 +0000

This IS the right article provided at the right time. I have a meeting later today in which I need to discuss these same issues and I was struggling with how to present my concerns and solutions to a person of influence. Thank you for the suggestions.

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