Influencing without Authority Seminar with Arcadia Consulting in London

On the 28th of September Elliott Scott HR held the third seminar in our 2017 partnership series with Arcadia Consulting. Arcadia is a professional services consultancy specialising in sustainable, behavioural and cultural change.

Damian Callanan, Director at Arcadia, delivered an interactive presentation on Influencing without Authority to our network of mid to senior level HR professionals. Through interactive role plays and dialogue he shared the qualities of an effective influencer, and how you can gain buy-in and commitment from multiple stakeholders.

Key to this success is the following:

Empathy and understanding

People are motivated by both rational and emotional drivers, yet it is the emotional drivers which often compel an individual to act. Understanding your stakeholder’s emotional drivers is key.

Flexibility

Recognise and adapt your communication style depending on who you’re working with. Damian shared that there are four core personality styles: expressive, driver, amiable and analytical and there are different ways to communicate with each group. For instance, if you come across someone who is highly outcome focussed and decisive (a driver); providing short, directive answers in a confident manner will be a more effective way of communicating.

Persuasion

To create a persuasive message, consider the statement you need to make, then highlight the benefit of your recommendation to the person, provide evidence to back it up as well as context to make it relevant. This is effective in both face to face and online communications.

The key takeaway from the seminar was that success in influencing without authority is in building relationships. You need to have established a good relationship in order to influence people or they won’t see you as a priority. If you focus on building your relationships, your ability to influence will increase.

We concluded the evening with drinks and canapés overlooking the Thames. It offered the chance for the HR attendees to chat with the Elliott Scott team about the HR market.

The final event in our 2017 HR Seminar series with Arcadia Consulting will be in December 2017.

If you are interested in attending then be sure to follow us on LinkedIn where we post regular updates or get in touch at km@elliottscotthr.com to find out more.