Building Positive Influence: Managing the People
Not a day goes by when most professionals and leaders do not need to influence others to achieve their goals. Whether in project teams working with people who are not their direct reports, negotiating internally over shared resources, or solving challenging problems involving cross-functional groups, influencing is a critical part of today’s workplace. Yet, influencing others is challenging and requires a process that focuses on reaching a positive outcome for both parties.
Building Positive Influence: Managing the People (BPI-MTP) examines a key strategy to ensuring relationships are maintained during the process. Participants learn how to separate the people from the problem by understanding how to manage themselves during the process, manage the situation and stakeholders, conduct conversations, and deal with tough people challenges. This module will equip them with tools, processes, and strengths to manage the people side of the process.
Building Positive Influence: Managing the Tasks (BPI-MTT) demonstrates the difference between bargaining and true problem solving; this module equips participants with the tools to successfully manage real-life influence situations. Participants explore the interests behind the positions that people take, as well as how to gain agreement through inclusion of more explored interests. They also learn how to create options for win-win solutions, leverage independent standards that add credibility, create best alternatives to a negotiated agreement, and positively handle resistance. This module will equip them with tools, processes, and strengths to manage the task side of the process.
Program Outcomes
These two live interactive modules, each delivered over a three-hour virtual webcast session, are based on the work of Dr. William Ury of the Harvard Negotiation Project. These workshops build participants’ skills in questioning, listening, building trust, problem solving, persuading, and strategizing, helping participants become more effective.
BPI-MTP helps individuals and leaders understand that influence is a series of negotiations. Learning how to handle these negotiations in a way that is win-win and enhances relationships is essential to success over the long run. The Managing the People module provides processes and tools to have positive influence with others. The Managing the Tasks module provides processes and tools to achieve win-win outcomes.
Learning Approach
Both Managing the People (BPI-MTP) and Managing the Tasks(BPI-MTT) are three-hour instructor-led virtual modules facilitated by a Wilson Learning-certified instructor.
This enables:
- Live virtual interaction among the participants and the facilitator
- True-to-life skills practice
- Opportunities to use the Strategizer planner to outline insights for applying the new tools in real work situations
- Opportunities to record and share key learnings to gain commitment for applying the new tools in their teams
The modules can be used together or individually; the order in which the modules are facilitated can be decided by your organization.
The Influence Strategizer Tool
This tool is used for a workshop application exercise and is accessible after the workshop to assist participants in planning for an upcoming negotiation, or to use for a post-negotiation review. The Strategizer assists participants as they work to align people, explore issues, and reach agreements. It also provides a means to reflect on these influencing skills for completed agreements; this reflection will help individuals apply their learning to their next negotiation experience.
Enabling Improved Performance
BPI-MTP and BPI-MTT feature the Strategizer planning guide so participants can capture real situations in which they will need to influence others, as well as journaling activities that enable them to summarize key insights, application ideas, and tips for use at a later time. Involving management and training them to coach is key for successful implementation.
Measurement
Organizations that implement BPI-MTP and BPI-MTT have access to a broad range of tools to measure initial behavioral changes and business results. One approach may be a web-based survey of participants’ direct reports to identify the degree of change and differences that this change makes. Other research options are also available.
Evaluation
Wilson Learning will partner with your organization to measure the initial behavioral changes and business results. We will work with you to set up evaluation systems that help improve outcomes and sustain the momentum of your implementation.
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