Persuasion And Influence In The Workplace "The Execution"--Luciano The Key Santini

Hello everyone and how has the past week been for you? I have been busy busy and well busy. I have been looking and doing so much research on Emotional Intelligence that I believe my brain hurts ouch!!

OK let us start with some words of wisdom on persuasion from one of my mentors:

When you have talked yourself into what you want, stop talking and begin saying it with your actions.

Persuading yourself that you can do something is a strong beginning. Next develop a sound plan and get into action. The longer you delay, the harder it will be to begin. Seldom is a plan perfect. If you have a clear vision of your goal and a plan that is flexible enough to allow you to deal with unexpected obstacles or take advantage of unforeseen opportunities, don’t delay another minute. Just getting into action — even if you do have to make adjustments later — will help focus your mind and channel your energies in the direction of your objective.

Now let me just say a bit on persuasion of which I have used a few times in organizations to help both stakeholders and employees for better relationships and partnerships. We all know what persuasion is but do you know how to implement it and use it correctly that my friends is the trick. You ever find yourself dealing with an employee that does nothing but resist your every task and fights you tooth and nail until they get what they want. 

Have you then seen another person ask the same task and have that once resistance annoying person eating out  of their hand. What is the difference.? OK let me tell you ! It is simply how you execute and If you use your influence to persuade and use persuasive techniques without the use of power or control. We need to understand the changing workforce in organizations in today's world is so much different then 60 years ago. 

For one take a look at the technology! Then look at the new type of workers we are hiring. The days to control and tell people what to do are gone. I like to use the team approach and allow employees to think on their own and allow to make decisions that work for them. To have effective communication is probably the most important piece to bring employees and managers to think as one. leaders have to understand Emotional Intelligence and how to use it as well as learning the art of influence and persuasion to be able to accomplish any goals for their organization with so much less resistance and frustrations.

The Best Bosses Aren't Bossy

Good management motivates you to be productive—because you want to.

Post published by Victor Lipman on Apr 10, 2015 in Mind of the Manager

 

I was reading with interest recently about Sheryl Sandberg’s campaign to ban the word “bossy” (link is external)—because of the negative implications it can have for young girls’ feelings about future leadership.  While I’m very sympathetic to Sandberg’s message, there’s another aspect of the word “bossy” that interests me even more.  Even though the word “boss” has long been synonymous with “manager,” the simple fact is, the best bosses aren’t bossy.

The best bosses motivate you to be productive for them.  Not because you have to, but because you want to.

Over managing is one of the least discussed but most prevalent problems of management.   Too much management, or, more specifically, ineffective management—too often aka bossiness—is the enemy of productivity.

Human nature being what it is, the trouble with bossiness is it alienates people.   It doesn’t put them in the mindset to do their best for you.  If long-term employee productivity is your goal as a manager (and why wouldn’t it be?), there are numerous reasons why, over the long run, too much of the wrong kind of management will only work against you.

Let’s look quickly at a couple of management manifestations bossiness frequently takes.

Pesky micromanagement produces frustration more than productivity—Nobody likes to be micromanaged.  It’s natural to default to this style of management when you feel out of control and therefore want to exert control, but over time too much of this yields turnover not positive results.  The best managers invariably want to expand employees’ horizons, not confine them.

“Gotcha” management gets defensive behavior more than positive results—I’d been hearing so many complaints about this style of management recently, I made it the star of a recent post.  By “gotcha” management, I mean an approach that focuses management energy on catching employees doing something wrong.  “Gotcha with that one.”  “Gotcha there!”  Suffice to say, if employee engagement and productivity are your goals, “gotcha” management rarely gets you where you want to go.

Indeed, one of the keenest and most helpful insights I ever got about managing came from a former employee who’d grown tired of my bossiness.  One day she took me aside and said to me simply:

Tell talented people what you want done, not how to do it—She was entirely right.   Give talented people clear strategic direction and most often they’ll find their way to a far better solution than if you dictated one.  Sure, of course you as the manager need to be available to answer questions and instruct and coach and hold employees accountable as needed… but mostly what talented people need is space, not confinement.  The best managers create an environment where employees are confident to step out and take chances, not work in fear of mistakes.