Getting Others to Go Along — The Soft Skills of Influence and Building Alignment
Few would doubt that “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” But why do we so often cite and repeat this dubiously attributed aphorism? It points to a deeper truth that we find compelling: No matter how good a strategy may be, if we can’t get the organization behind it, we can’t execute on it. This cultural constraint becomes more acute as the nature of work changes; more fluid processes require greater exercise of judgment, applied in context. Increasingly, leaders find they can’t rely on merely telling people what to do; instead, they must help their people to see things in the light that leadership does, and to understand why they should make choices consistent with the strategy.
How many deals look good on paper but — because no one buys in — they fail utterly in implementation? Even when we have the power to require something of others (because of our role in the organization, a contract they signed, or any other means of control) we get better results if they buy in. When people are called upon to exercise expertise, good judgment, or good will, their mindset matters. If we want real problem-solving and value creation from our people, then our leaders must effectively influence how they think and feel.
Why the focus on influencing others and building alignment? Leaders are not leading if no one is following, so what should leaders do to accomplish that? “’Leadership’ is wanting to do something new and better, and getting others to go along,” said Edgar Schein, co-author (with Peter Schein) of Humble Leadership: The Power of Relationships, Openness, and Trust. We typically frame one’s leadership style as choosing between an authoritarian one and a more consensus-based approach. But that’s not the real choice. When leaders face situations where alignment is lacking, the true question is whether to rely on the power and authority of their role to get others to follow even when they don’t agree — or to endeavor to change others’ views in some way.
When command and control prove insufficient, those who cannot influence and build alignment are tempted to simply move ahead without it. They isolate or exclude those who are not bought in. But that way ruin lies. Organizational structures are changing (and getting much flatter), as I noted in my previous article in our “Soft Skills, Adaptive Leaders” series. People are having to work across boundaries (where command and control are less effective). The “gig economy” also means many workers who are more mobile and who may choose something other than just following the mandate from above. Even in the most classic command-and-control structures, leaders have learned that to get the most out of people, they need to rely on more than hierarchical power. Gen. David Petraeus has noted that “leaders need to work hard to understand what leadership style will enable each of the individuals who report to them to be all that they can be — and to do the same with respect to the organization overall.”
People’s beliefs and assumptions drive their interpretation of facts and situations and, consequently, their behavior. Influence is about changing how others think; alignment is about bringing individuals together around some shared perspective or plan. If we are to “do better,” the real challenge of leadership is how to build that alignment around something other than the “lowest common denominator.”
As always, mindset is a key piece in the leadership development puzzle. In the context of improving their skills for influence and alignment, leaders should be guided to question their assumptions about:
- How clearly they see whole picture (and thus how they might direct the actions of others)
- How much they genuinely value hearing different perspectives
- How effectively they can articulate and direct behavior without first being able to shift how people think and feel
An effective learning journey around influence and alignment gives learners the opportunity to experience the limits of directing without influencing, and of seeking to coordinate action without alignment. But to develop leaders’ capabilities in this area, there are also strong and important skills elements.
Listening skills are critical building blocks of influence and building alignment. I have found that letting participants experience how hard it can be to just listen and not argue is revelatory. Giving leaders the opportunity to practice listening with real curiosity expands their repertoire in a powerful way.
Alignment is about helping a group of stakeholders with differing views come together sufficiently to move forward. How can we appreciate underlying differences? How can leaders reframe or reshape a problem to find a solution that brings people together? The techniques for doing so can be taught. One useful place to start is understanding the landscape of stakeholders and how they affect one another. From there, leaders can develop an empathetic understanding of why those who are often seen as obstacles see themselves as “doing the right thing.” (You can join me and colleagues on July 7, when we will offer a hands-on demonstration of “Stakeholder Mapping: Navigating the Terrain of Relationships and Influence,” a live virtual workshop for Learning and Development.)
Specific tools ranging from internal diplomacy to effective program management round out the content and equip leaders at all levels in the organization to be more effective themselves, as well as to recognize what it takes to enable others as well.
Leadership development depends as much or more on “doing” as it does on formal learning. With capabilities such as influence and alignment — which many leaders would say they do all the time — an effective learning journey must be multi-faceted and engage the learner in different ways.
- Action learning. Leaders and high potential individuals do indeed engage in influencing regularly. What they rarely do is take the opportunity to reflect on how they influence, what’s working, and why — which is critical to learning. A development program that structures deliberate, planned influence and alignment objectives, with some safe modes of reflection, is more likely to allow leaders to take change on board.
- Spaced learning. The suite of influence, communication, and alignment tools is fairly broad; it is unlikely that, in the course of a single training “event,” participants will have the opportunity to try out many tools, recognize which tools to use when, and practice sufficiently to add the new tools to their repertoire. Spacing out delivery of content delivery creates opportunities for reinforcing — or rediscovering — those tools that didn’t quite click during initial training. This how leaders actually integrate new skills and tools into their practice.
- Direct instruction. There are very specific behavioral changes that make a big difference in an individual’s ability to influence others and to bring a group of stakeholders together. Having the opportunity, in a safe environment, to try, perhaps fail, and try again helps individuals build the capabilities and the muscle memory they will need when they must draw upon these skills.
This overview of the skills of influence and alignment is the fourth of five “Soft Skills, Adaptive Leaders” articles appearing on Medium. My previous articles provided an overview of the soft skills topic and explored other critical, interrelated leadership capabilities, including collaborating and solving problems jointly with others and creating value. My final piece, in July, will discuss how to develop leaders’ skills for enabling (and accelerating) change. What else do you find important in cultivating the leadership skills of influence and alignment? Leave me a comment, and visit our soft skills learning journey overview page to take our survey.
