Influencing Up

by Cohen, Allan R.; Bradford, David L.

• ISBN13: 9781118038451
• ISBN10: 1118038452
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-06-26
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

A remarkable proportion of people who work have complaints about their boss. The problem of getting any attention or guidance from the boss is increasingly frequent under current lean organizational conditions. On the other hand, bosses are often too overbearing, too restrictive, vague about expectations but judgmental about performance, self protective, self promoting, afraid or unwilling to do necessary aspects of their jobs, uninterested in what matters to the subordinate, or occasionally not technically competent to do the job. Fearful of retaliation or a career limiting move, or just unclear as to how to go about trying to change the boss's behavior, people get paralyzed into inaction. Yet for many people, their boss is the organization, and their commitment and satisfaction depends on this critical relationship. In their classic book, Influence Without Authority, Allan Cohen and David Bradford provided a universal model of how to influence someone you don't control. This new book will build on those ideas but provide many examples of problematic bosses and how to approach building a satisfying partnership with them, along with examples of what a great partnership with your boss can do for your career - and your mental health! It offers a new model of manager – subordinate relationships, and a lot of practical advice about how to bring the relationship into more of a partnership in which both parties benefit.

Author Biography

ALLAN R. COHEN is the Edward A. Madden

Distinguished Professor of Global Leadership at Babson College. He has consulted on organizational change and leadership at a wide variety of organizations, including GE, Polaroid, IBM, and Fidelity, and holds MBA and DBA degrees from Harvard Business School.

DAVID L. BRADFORD is the Eugene O'Kelly Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Emeritus and Director of the Executive Program in Leadership at Stanford Graduate School of Business. He has consulted for a wide array of companies, including Frito-Lay, Levi Strauss & Co., Raychem, Genentech, and AutoDesk, as well as the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Fundamentals	p. 1
The World Has Changed: To Be Successful You Need to Influence Up	p. 3
How Power Differentials Blind Smart People	p. 19
How Power Differentials Give Smart People Laryngitis	p. 33
Overview of the Steps Required to Access and Influence Powerful People	p. 45
The Influence Model at Work: Moving a Tough Boss	p. 65
Building a Powerful Partnership with Your Boss	p. 79
Partnership: The Critical Mind-Set to Overcome Power Gaps	p. 81
Building a Partnership Relationship with Your Boss	p. 97
The Art-and Responsibility-of Helping Your Boss Succeed	p. 113
Recovering from Failed Talks with Your Boss	p. 125
Influencing Powerful People	p. 145
Framing Your Change Strategy: Fitting Your Approach to the Players	p. 147
What Do the Powerful Care About?	p. 165
Action Steps for Gaining Access to Powerful People	p. 177
Clinching the Deal: "Exchanging" to Build Trust with the Powerful	p. 195
The Contours of Change: Dr. Pomahac and the Challenge of Influencing Multiple Senior Managers and Surgeons to Allow the First Facial Transplant in the United States	p. 211
Influence across Multiple Organizations	p. 219
Additional Resources	p. 231
Notes	p. 235
Index	p. 239
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