Influencing: Power, Politics,

Networking and Negotiation

• Influencing:
• The process of affecting others’ attitudes and behavior to achieve an
objective is known as influencing.
• Influencing has a direct effect on organizational performance.
• Power, Politics, Networking and Negotiation are all ways to influence.
• Power: The leaders’ potential influence over followers
• As a leader you don’t need to use power to influence. Often it is the
perception of power rather than the actual power that influences
others.
• Power, when acquired, is meant to be used to achieve some
purpose(s). Appropriate use of power leads to the achievement of
desired goals and objectives. Ineffective use of power or failure to use
power when the need arises has been described as the major cause
of defective functioning of a system.
• The sources of leaders powers can be formal or personal
Types of Leaders’ Power:
• Legitimate Power:
• Power that is given to a person based on their position or role is known as legitimate
power (or positional power). It’s determined by the hierarchy of the organization.
• Legitimate power gives the leader/manager power over their direct reports. All
managers have some degree of positional power.
• While using legitimate powers leaders must know that:
• People are influenced by the position and not by you
• Your ability to influence through legitimate power is restricted to those situations in
which people believe you have the right to influence their actions or behaviors
• Because this power remains with the position and not within the person, there is no
guarantee that a person put in a position of authority will make a good leader.
• It doesn’t in any way encourage employee loyalty.
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him
power. (Abraham Lincoln)
• The use of legitimate power is appropriate when asking people to do
something within the scope of their job.
• When using legitimate power it is helpful to use consultation influencing
tactic. You seek others input in achieving objectives and are open to
developing plan together. This process is also known as participative
management.
• Leaders who use this tactic often were more likely to be rated very
effective.
• Leaders may also use Rational Persuasion tactic. Rational
persuasion includes using facts, data, and logical arguments to try to
convince others that your point of view is the best alternative. This is the
most commonly applied influence tactic.
• How to increase legitimate power as a leader:
• Work at gaining followers perception that you have a power. Try to assume
more responsibilities
• Exercise your power regularly. Follow up that policies, procedures and rules
are implemented.
• Backup your authority with rewards and punishment.
Types of Leaders’ Power:
• Reward Power:
• Power of a manager to give some type of reward to an employee as a means to
influence the employee to act.
• Rewards can be tangible or intangible. Salary increase, bonuses or praise and
appreciation.
• Rewards could also consist of verbal promises to gain financially by establishing a
relationship.
• Having the potential to administer reward is a powerful force. One mistake that
leaders often make is to assume that the reward is worth the effort in the eyes of
their followers. Another possibility is that it could create or reinforce an
entitlement culture where explicit rewards are the only motivation, and the
revocation of the rewards creates the opposite outcome.
• It is also possible that followers who do not receive rewards can foster
resentment creating further problems within the organization.
Types of Leaders’ Power:
• Coercive Power :
• Opposite of Reward Power.
• Coercion is a potential to influence others by sanctions or other negative action.
A few examples of coercive power in an organization are termination, demotion,
revoking privileges, or suspension.
• Coercive power gives a leader control over what is happening in their
organization. It maintains employee discipline, enforces organization policies, and
maintains a harassment free environment. At times, punishment, or even the
threat of punishment is necessary to establish a successful, incident free
organization.
• Increase your Coercive Power:
• Gain authority to use punishment and withhold rewards.
• Don’t make rash threats.
• Use it Consistently. Threatening and punishing one person but not another for the same
behavior will quickly produce a sense of injustice and preferential treatment on your team.
Types of Leaders’ Power:
• Referent Power:
• Referent power is power is based on a high level of identification with,
admiration of, or respect for the leader. Celebrities, mass leaders and
widely respected people are examples of referent power in effect.
• Referent power is gained by a leader who has strong interpersonal
relationship skills. It is also called personal influencing tactic based on
loyalty and friendship.
• There are two parts to referent power:
• Charisma. A strong referent leader has lots of social capital. He excels in
making others feel comfortable in his presence, he is likable, and he has
good people skills
• Character. The leader must be trustworthy and worthy of the respect of
others. People are confident he will walk the talk, act for the good of
others, lead by example, and keep his word.
Types of Leaders’ Power:
• Expert Power:
• It is based on the leaders skills and knowledge.
• Here, power comes from the subordinate’s belief that their manager or
leader possesses expert skills or knowledge that they do not themselves
possess.
• The fewer the people possess the expertise the more will be the expert
power.
• Expert use rational persuasion appeal as people believe that they know
what they are saying and is correct.
• To increase you expert power leader should:
• Take education, training, certifications
• Read professional journals and magazines
• Keep up with the latest advancement in the field.
• Project a positive self-concept and let other know about your expertise.
Types of Leaders’ Power:
• Information Power:
• Informational Power is the power of having information that another does
not have, or, the distribution of information as a means of affecting change.
• This power is related to your ability to get access to information, and
doesn’t require expertise. It could be knowing when the next meeting is,
or knowing about what is going to happen with pays in next year , or what
is market data.
• Sometimes leaders distort these information to influence others to achieve
the desired change in behavior.
• To build your informational power:
• Have information flow through you (to the extent it is possible)
• Know what is going on in the organization.
• Develop network of information sources and gather information from them.
Types of Leaders’ Power:
• Connection Power:
• Based on the leaders relationship with other influential people.
• It is also a form of politics.
• The right connections can give you power or at least perception that you
have a power.
• Sometimes it is difficult to influence others all alone. You use Coalition
influencing tactic to use other influential people to persuade others to
meet the objectives.
• To increase connection power expand your network of contacts with
important and influencing people inside and outside the organization.
• Join right associations and clubs
Organizational Politics
• Politics is the process of gaining and using power. Organizational politics refers to
a variety of activities associated with the use of influence tactics to improve
personal or organizational interests.
• It is the reality of the organizational life. Whether you participate in them or not,
politics have a big influence on what happens to you, your projects, and your
team, so it’s hard to be indifferent to them.
• A survey revealed that executives spend 20 percent of their time on
organizational politics.
• The amount and importance of organizational politics varies from organization to
organization. The larger organization tend to be more political; the higher the
level of management , the important politics becomes.
• politics often has a negative connotation due to people who abuse political
power to achieve personal agendas and in self-interest.
• Leaders in organizations use political behaviors to achieve their objectives.
• Studies show that individuals with political skills tend to do better in
gaining more personal power as well as managing stress and job demands,
than their politically naive counterparts. They also have a greater impact
on organizational outcomes.
• Both individuals and groups may engage in organizational politics. However
Self-serving political actions can negatively influence our social groupings,
cooperation, information sharing, and many other organizational functions.
• Unsurprisingly, research shows that when employees perceive their
workplace as more political, they are less engaged, less productive, and
more likely to quit. And yet, a more effective way of dealing with office
politics is to engage in them — playing the game, instead of complaining
about it. Fortunately, not all politics are bad, and there’s a way to play the
game without selling your soul.
• The types of political behaviors in may organizations:
• Using information as a political tool
• Creating a favorable image (impression management)
• Developing a base of support
• Praising others (ingratiation)
• Forming power coalitions with allies
• Creating obligations (reciprocity)
• Wrangling & Backstabbing
• Rumor mongering
• Attacking or Blaming others
• Research by Gerald Ferris and colleagues indicates that political skills
can be broken down into four dimensions and a high standing on
these dimensions enhances job performance, influence, leadership,
and advancement.
• Social astuteness: the ability to read other people and the self-
awareness to understand how they see you. Most people think of
self-awareness as introspection, but its essence is actually other-
awareness; that is, knowing how other people see you and how your
behavior impacts them.
• Interpersonal influence: a convincing ability to affect how and what
other people think. This involves, first, understanding them and their
preferences and agendas, and then personalizing your message to
appeal to their cause.
• Apparent sincerity: seeming to be honest, open, and forthright. It is
not enough to just be honest; sincerity is in the eye of the beholder.
How honest you think you are is far less important than how honest
other people think you are.
• Networking ability: the capacity to form mutually beneficial
relationships with a wide range of diverse people. Cynics might say
that there is only a one-letter difference between networking and
not-working, but having a significant influence often requires a
coalition of support. And as the old saying goes, “contacts mean
contracts.”
• Developing Political Skills:
• Learn the organizational culture and power players.
• Learn organizational beliefs, norms and values. Learn how business and politics
operate in your organization.
• Remember many organizational decisions are not purely rational; they are based on
power and politics.
• Learn to read between the lines. Know who are the powerful players in your
organization and understand them. You may need to tailor the presentation of your
ideas and style according to them.
• Developing good relationships , especially with your managers.
• Use good human relations using personal appeal.
• Develop and maintain good relations with your superiors.
• Be a loyal, honest team players.
• Work on your team skills
• Earn respect, confidence and trust of the team members through ethical conduct.
• Gain recognition
• Recognition and knowing the power players goes hand in hand.
• Let higher people know what you are and what you can do.
• Networking:
• Networking is the process of developing relationships for the purpose
of socializing and politicking.
• It is creating a fabric of personal contacts to provide support,
feedback, insight, and resources—
• Most people acknowledge that networking is an essential activity for
an ambitious leader. Indeed, it's a requirement even for those
focused simply on doing their current jobs well.
• Leaders involve in three types of networking. The first helped them
manage current internal responsibilities, the second boost heir personal
development, and the third open their eyes to new business directions and
the stakeholders they would need to enlist.
• Operational Networking: The purpose of this type of networking is to
ensure coordination and cooperation among people who have to know
and trust one another in order to accomplish their immediate tasks.
• Personal Networking: Personal networking engages individual's efforts to
learn and find opportunities to develop professionally.
• Personal networks are largely external, made up of discretionary links to
people with whom we have something in common
• Strategic networking creating the contacts that help uncover and
capitalize on new opportunities for the company. The ability to move
to this level of networking turns out to be a key test of leadership.
• This allows managers to share ideas about best practices in
management, learn new approaches and keep close tabs on
developments in business and technology. It helps managers to see
the bigger picture and create their own visionary approach.
• Networking is not a talent; nor does it require a extra ordinary extrovert
personality. It is a skill, one that takes practice.
• Who should be in your network?
• Visionaries
• Decision makers
• Experts
• Informants
• Connectors
• Cheerleaders
• How to manage your network:
• Show reciprocity
• Become a resource and Initiate help
• Show authenticity
• Stay in touch
• Respect people’s feelings
• Seek to learn
Respect people’s boundaries
• Try to become a connector
• Negotiation:
• Negotiation is a process where two or more parties discuss, propose and reach an
agreement for mutual benefit. It may also be defined as a process in which two or
more parties are in conflict and attempt to come to an agreement.
• Common Examples of negotiation:
• Conducting union-management collective bargaining
• In cutting deals with customers, suppliers and partners
• Persuading staff for new appraisal system
• Conveying BOD for a new acquisition.
• In today’s world, negotiation has become a fact of life and we do it every day, many
times, without realizing it.
• Leadership frequently does require negotiation, and good leaders are invariably
effective negotiators. After all, authority has its limits. Some of the people you lead
are smarter, more talented, and in some situations, more powerful than you are. In
addition, often you’re called to lead people over whom you have no authority, such
as members of commissions, boards, and other departments in your organization.
• To persuade people to follow your lead, you need to appeal to their interests,
communicate with them effectively, and sell your vision—all of which are part of
effective negotiation.
• Negotiation is about getting what you want but at the same time it is
about developing on going relationships with the other party.
• A good negotiator attempt to create a Win-Win situation. All parties
to negotiation should feel they have got good deals. If unions
employees believe that they lost and management won, employees
may experience job dissatisfaction.
• Planning:
• Step 1. Research the other parties – Their wants, key Players, what they can
give up, their leaders’ negotiation style, use your own or others experience
with them to understand them.
• Step 2. Set objectives: Target objectives, Opening and lower limits,
• Step 3. Anticipate questions and objections and prepare for answers.
• Step 4. Develop options and determine what tradeoffs you can expect from
other party.
• Negotiating:
• Develop rapport and focus on obstacles not the person.
• Start with smile and greetings, don’t put others down with negative statements like “
you have been unfair to ask for such a price cut”.
• Let other party make the first offer:
• Other party may give you an offer more than you target objective.
• If other party emphasize you to give the first offer Ask, What do you expect to pay?
• Listen and ask other party’s objectives and reservations.
• Don’t be too quick to give and ask something in return. When a negotiation
concludes too quickly, participants tend to feel dissatisfied. Avoid giving
unilateral concessions.
• Postponement:
• When there does not seem to be any progress, it may be wise to postpones the
negotiation.
• If other party is postponing, you may create urgency. Don’t lie or exaggerate.
Increase the relevance of your offer to other party’s, improve or add value
proposition, reduce anxiety of the other party or hurdles and help them see what
they will miss out on.
• Agreement: Once agreement has been made, restate it or put it in writing. Follow
up with a letter of thanks restating the agreement to ensure that other party
haven't changed mind.
• No Agreement: If you fail to reach an agreement, try to know where went you
wrong. If appropriate, you may ask other party to give feedback so that you may
improve.
Emotion and the Art of Negotiation
Excerpts from HBR
• Over the past decade, however, researchers have begun examining
how specific emotions—anger, sadness, disappointment, anxiety,
envy, excitement, and regret—can affect the behavior of negotiators.
• In negotiations that are less transactional and involve parties in long-
term relationships, understanding the role of emotions is even more
important than it is in transactional deal making.
• Anxiety is most likely to crop up before the process begins or during
its early stages. We’re prone to experience anger in the heat of the
discussions. And we’re most likely to feel disappointment and regret ,
and happiness and excitement the aftermath.
• Anxiety is a state of distress in reaction to threatening stimuli, particularly
novel situations that have the potential for undesirable outcomes. It may
makes people to exit the scene.
• Anxious negotiators develop low aspirations and expectations, which could
lead them to make timid first offers—a behavior that directly predicts poor
negotiating outcomes. Excellent negotiators often make their counterparts
feel anxious on purpose.
• Try your utmost to avoid feeling anxious while negotiating. Train, practice,
rehearse. Anxiety is often a response to novel stimuli, so the more familiar
the stimuli, the more comfortable and the less anxious you will feel. (That’s
why clinicians who treat anxiety disorders often rely on exposure therapy.
• Another useful strategy for reducing anxiety is to bring in an outside expert
to handle the bargaining.
• Anger: is a negative emotion, but instead of being self-focused, it’s usually
directed toward someone.
• This research shows that anger often harms the process by escalating
conflict, biasing perceptions, and making impasses more likely. It also
reduces joint gains, decreases cooperation, intensifies competitive
behavior, and increases the rate at which offers are rejected.
• Showing anger in a negotiation damages the long-term relationship
between the parties. It reduces liking and trust and may cause a backfire.
• Building rapport before, during, and after a negotiation can reduce the
odds that the other party will become angry.
• Perhaps the most effective way to deal with anger in negotiations is to
recognize that many negotiations don’t unfold all at once but take place
over multiple meetings. So if tensions are flaring, ask for a break, cool off,
and regroup.
• Disappointment and Regret
• There’s a relationship between anger and disappointment—both typically arise when an
individual feels wronged.
• Although expressing anger may create defensiveness or increase the odds of a standoff,
expressing disappointment can serve a more tactical purpose by encouraging the other
party to look critically at her own actions and consider whether she wants to change her
position to reduce the negative feelings she’s caused you.
• Research shows that one cause of disappointment in a negotiation is the speed of the
process. When a negotiation unfolds or concludes too quickly, participants tend to feel
dissatisfied.
• Regret is slightly different from disappointment. While the latter tends to involve sadness
about an outcome, someone feeling regret is looking a little more upstream, at the
course of actions that led to this unhappy outcome, and thinking about the missteps or
mistakes that created the disappointment.
• Research shows that people are most likely to regret actions they didn’t take—the
missed opportunities and errors of omission.
• Skilled negotiators use another technique to minimize the odds of regret: the “post-
settlement settlement.”
• So instead of shaking hands and ending the deal making, one party might say, “We’re
good. We have terms we can all live with. But now that we know we’ve reached an
agreement, let’s spend a few more minutes chatting to see if we can find anything that
sweetens it for both sides.”
• Happiness and Excitement
• Although it’s unpleasant to feel disappointed after a negotiation, it can be even worse to
make your counterparts feel that way. And in certain situations, showing happiness or
excitement triggers disappointment in others.
• In deals that involve a significant degree of future collaboration—say, when two
companies agree to merge, or when an actor signs a contract with a producer to star in
an upcoming movie—it can be appropriate to show excitement, but it’s important to
focus on the opportunities ahead rather than the favorable terms one party just gained.
• Do not let your excitement lead to overconfidence or an escalation of commitment with
insufficient data.