Increasing Your Influence at Work All-in-one for Dummies

by Schlachter, Christina Tangora

• ISBN13: 9781119489061
• ISBN10: 1119489067
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2018-07-11
• Publisher: For Dummies

Summary

Get ahead in the workplace by influencing others 

Influence is a timeless topic for business leaders and others in positions of power, but the world has evolved to the point where everyone needs these skills. No matter your job, role, rank, or function, if you want to get things done you need to know how to influence up, down, across, and outside the organization.

Increasing Your Influence at Work All-in-One For Dummies shows you how to contribute more fully to important decisions, resolve conflicts more easily, lead and manage more effectively, and much more. Plus, you'll discover how to develop the most important attributes necessary for influence—trustworthiness, reliability, and assertiveness—and find out how to move beyond.

• Includes easy-to-apply information for influencing managers, peers, and subordinates
• Shows you how to build trust with your co-workers and cultivate reliability through consistency and being personal
• Illustrates how influencing others in the office helps you enjoy a greater measure of control over your work life 
• Helps you advance your career more rapidly than others

No matter who you are, where you work, or what your professional goals are, achieving more influence in the workplace is critical for success. 

Author Biography

Dr. Christina Tangora Schlachter, PhD, is the founder and Chief Leader of She Leads and creator of the Leading Change Guide, which helps leaders reinvent themselves and their companies with a 12-week turnaround process.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 2

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 3

Book 1: Body Talk: Influencing Through Communication and Body Language 5

Chapter 1: Building Effective Verbal Communication Techniques 7

Great Communicators Are Made, Not Born 8

Verbal Communication: When Words Matter Most 9

Cooperative Language: Verbal Communication at Its Finest 12

Chapter 2: Grasping Nonverbal Cues 21

Noting Nonverbal Techniques that Speak Volumes 21

Becoming an Expert in Active Listening 30

Chapter 3: Defining Body Language 35

Discovering How Body Language Conveys Messages 36

Examining Key Types of Gestures 41

Getting the Most Out of Body Language 47

Appreciating Cultural Differences 51

Chapter 4: Working with Different Communication Styles 53

Taking On Direct and Passive Communication Styles 54

Saying Yes to Assertiveness 58

Knowing Your Communication Style 60

Sharpening Your Communication Style 62

Chapter 5: Influencing through Communication 67

Understanding the Importance of Effective Communication 67

Communicating Quicker than the Speed of Conscious Thought 69

Understanding Why People Say Yes 70

If You Have the Need to Influence, You Get to Do All the Work 72

Navigating the Political Landscape 73

Ethically Influencing and Persuading for Results 76

It Takes Two to Influence 77

If You Aren’t Getting the Desired Results, Change Your Communication 89

Chapter 6: Influencing through Body Language 93

Creating a Positive Environment 94

Pointing Your Body in the Right Direction 99

Negotiating Styles 104

Book 2: Exerting Influence Through Important Conversations 109

Chapter 1: Conversations in Good and Bad Times 111

Using Critical Conversation Tools to Develop Superstars 112

Coaching with Critical Conversations 114

Making Everyday Conversations Count 118

Opening Your Culture to Conversation 120

Preparing for a Performance Conversation 122

Having Conversations When Performance Is Suffering 122

Turning Poor Performers into Productive Performers 130

Keeping It Close to the Chest: Confidentiality Is Critical 131

Chapter 2: Hot Topics in Team Conversations 133

Creating a Productive Team 133

Improving Team Behavior 140

Chapter 3: Staff Disputes 143

Getting Results When Employees Aren’t Getting Along 143

Considering Expert Tactics for Handling Staff Disputes 147

Resolving the Five Biggest Staff Disputes 153

Chapter 4: Workplace Complaints 159

Addressing Workplace Complaints 160

Using Critical Conversations When an Issue Is Raised 164

Digging into Workplace Complaints 165

Bringing in a Mediator 168

Moving Forward after Tough Workplace Conversations 171

Chapter 5: Difficult Behaviors 173

Defining Difficult Behaviors 174

Keying in on Difficult Behaviors 175

Using a Critical Conversation to Turn Around Difficult Behaviors 178

Building a Toolbox: Action Plans for Difficult Behaviors 180

Finding the Words for Special Circumstances 184

Stepping in When Bad Behavior Becomes a Pattern 188

Chapter 6: Customer Conversations 191

Helping Customer Relationships 191

Providing Exceptional Customer Service 193

Handling a Customer Who Crosses the Line 197

Delivering Bad News to Clients 199

Keeping Your Customers 201

Book 3: Peace Talks: Having Influence When You’re the One Involved in Conflict 203

Chapter 1: Identifying What Both Sides Want 205

Asking Yourself What You Really Want 206

Thinking about What the Other Person Wants 211

Taking a Look at Both Sides 214

Chapter 2: Asking for a Meeting to Talk about the Conflict 219

Considering the Best Way to Approach the Other Person 219

Preparing for Resistance 222

Setting a Time and a Place for a Productive Discussion 228

Chapter 3: Sitting Down to Talk through the Issues 231

Preparing to Mediate Your Own Conflict 232

Getting the One-on-One Started 233

Sharing Perspectives 236

Creating an Agenda 244

Looking for Win-Win Solutions 247

Concluding the Discussion 250

Chapter 4: Tailoring Your Approach to the Organizational Chart 253

Resolving Issues with Someone You Supervise 254

Addressing Conflict with a Peer 262

Having One-on-One Conversations with Your Boss 264

Book 4: Go, Team! Building Influence Across Teams and Functions 269

Chapter 1: Driving Engagement through Team Development 271

Yay, Team: Identifying Characteristics of an Engaged Team 272

Stormin’ and Normin’: Exploring Tuckman’s Stages 274

From a Distance: Leading Teams from Afar 282

Hit Me with Your Best Shot: Conducting a High-Impact Team Workshop 283

Chapter 2: Improving Organizational Communication 285

Mind the Gap: The Great Organizational Communication Fissure 286

Establishing Two-Way Communication 287

Building a Communication Protocol 290

Maximizing the Various Communication Tools 293

Communicating Change 301

Communicating Your Engagement Efforts 304

Looking at a Few Communication Don’ts 305

Chapter 3: Strengthening Team Performance with Mindfulness 307

Identifying and Harnessing Team Dynamics 307

Improving Team Performance by Staying Focused on the Important Stuff 312

Enhancing Internal and External Business Relationships 318

Boosting Team Morale and Effort 323

Chapter 4: Using Mindfulness to Assist Different Business Functions 329

Mindfulness for Human Resources 330

Mindfulness for Occupational Health 336

Mindfulness for Learning and Organizational Development 338

Mindfulness for Customer Service 341

Mindfulness for Marketing and PR 344

Book 5: Boomers and Beyond: Influencing Across Generations 347

Chapter 1: Driving Engagement across Generations 349

Boom Baby: Working with Baby Boomers 350

X Marks the Spot: Working with Generation X 354

Working with Millennials 358

Putting It All Together 363

Chapter 2: Encouraging and Facilitating Collaboration among Generations 367

Shifting Your Perspective on Collaboration 368

Reconciling Differences: Independent Xers versus

Collaborative Millennials 370

Onboarding Millennials 376

Training Millennials 378

Mentoring Millennials and Vice Versa 379

Building a Collaborative Infrastructure 382

Chapter 3: Supercharging Your Feedback Loop 389

Giving Feedback in the Instantaneous Age 390

Rethinking the Review Session 392

Realizing that Feedback Is a Two-Way Street 403

Acting More Like a Coach Than a Boss 406

Troubleshooting Common Feedback Issues 406

Chapter 4: Motivating Millennials — Generation “Why?” 411

Managing for Meaning 412

Compensating the Noncompensation Generation 417

Rewarding Millennials 421

Chapter 5: Dropping Workplace Formalities 429

Distinguishing Between Formality at Work and Work Ethic 430

Drawing the Fine Line between Manager and Friend 442

Channeling Your Inner Emily Post: Communication

Etiquette 445

Book 6: Who’s The Boss? Becoming an Influential Company Leader 451

Chapter 1: People Who Lead People: Engaging Employees through Leadership 453

Distinguishing Management versus Leadership 454

Surveying Leadership-Based Engagement Drivers 455

Understanding That Leadership Starts at the Top 456

Identifying the Behaviors and Traits of Engaged Leaders 458

Here Comes the Train Again: Training Managers to Become Engaged Leaders 462

Put Me In, Coach! Coaching for Engagement 464

Do This, Not That: Looking at Leadership Best Practices 468

Chapter 2: Establishing Trust 471

Surveying Ideas for Building Trust in Business 471

Defining Trust and Needs in the Workplace 473

Getting Others to Trust in Your Leadership 477

Setting Standards for Others by Example 479

Harnessing People Power 482

Chapter 3: Motivating the Masses 487

Peeking into the Human Motivation Theory 488

Helping People Find Their Meaning and Purpose Again 496

Practicing and Reinforcing Motivation 499

Chapter 4: Thriving on the Challenges of Leadership 505

Thriving Rather Than Surviving 506

Being a More Mindful Leader 509

Practicing Mindful Leadership 512

Coping with Stress and Pressure by Building Resilience 517

Chapter 5: Leading People, Change, and Strategy 521

Leading Mindfully When Change Is the Norm 521

Creating Strategies That Allow the Organization to Flourish 525

Creating a More Mindful Organization 533

Index 539