Exercising Influence (3^rd Ed.) A Guide for Making Things Happen at Work, at Home, and in Your Community

Exercising Influence is your guide to accomplishing more with less effort. Demystifying the process of influencing others, this book shows you how to develop effective influence behaviors, plan an influence approach, set goals, resolve problems, and build better relationships. Revised and expanded to provide more actionable advice across industries and sectors, this third edition has updated examples and resources and features all-new chapters on influencing through social media, influencing your team, and applying research findings of neuroscience, and behavioral economics.. You'll create work, family, and community relationships that are more mutually rewarding as you apply a practical, real-world model for developing this seldom-taught skill.

Influence is a skillset that everyone needs, yet the necessary techniques and fundamentals are rarely made explicit and shared. This book is a vital resource for anyone who wants to achieve better outcomes at work, at home, or in the world at large, helping you make important  things happen and create relationships that matter.

• Develop a strategic and tactical approach to influence that gets results.
• Resolve problems and conflicts, and build more balanced relationships.
• Do more with less, increase your impact on others, and take greater charge of your life.
• Take advantage of new methodologies that build your skills as an influencer.

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. With improved skills, you can steer opinions, impact decisions, and sway the undecided. If you're ready to see what you're capable of, Exercising Influence will show you how to take charge of your professional and personal life in a powerful, ethical, and productive way.

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About This Book xi

Acknowledgments xiii

PART I Exercising Influence 1

CHAPTER 1 What We’ve Got Here Is a Failure to Influence: Dealing with Life 101 3

CHAPTER 2 What Is Influence, and Why Do We Want to Have It? The Upside and the Downside 7

CHAPTER 3 A Model for Exercising Influence: Building Relationships and Getting Results 17

CHAPTER 4 Expressive Influence: Sending Ideas and Generating Energy 25

CHAPTER 5 Receptive Influence: Inviting Ideas and Stimulating Action 33

CHAPTER 6 Influencing in Action: A World of Possibilities 43

PART II Planning for Influence 47

CHAPTER 7 Developing an Influence Plan: Design Thinking for Influence Opportunities 49

CHAPTER 8 Establishing Influence Objectives: What Will Success Look Like? 53

CHAPTER 9 Focus on the Relationship: Influence Works Both Ways 59

CHAPTER 10 Focus on the Context: The Individual 63

CHAPTER 11 Focus on the Context: System, Organization, Culture, and Timing 69

CHAPTER 12 Focus on the Context: Yourself 73

CHAPTER 13 Focus on the Issues: What’s at Stake? 77

CHAPTER 14 Choosing and Using Influence Behaviors to Achieve Your Objective: How to Create Your Approach 81

CHAPTER 15 Putting Your Plan to Work: Treating the Unexpected as an Opportunity 87

PART III Special Issues in Influence 93

CHAPTER 16 The Ethics of Influence: Doing Well by Doing Good 95

CHAPTER 17 Influencing Electronically: The Wonders and Terrors of Instant Communication 99

CHAPTER 18 Influencing through Social Media: Expanding Your Sphere of Influence 107

CHAPTER 19 Applied Influence: Making Things Happen 111

CHAPTER 20 Influencing Indirectly: Influencing beyond Your Boundaries 117

CHAPTER 21 Influencing Your Team: From One to Many 121

CHAPTER 22 Your Brain on Influence: What Neuroscience and Behavioral Economics Can Teach Us 125

Afterword: The Paradox of Failure 135

APPENDIX A Coaching Partnerships 137

APPENDIX B Influence Plan 141

APPENDIX C Meeting Processes That Support Effective Influencing 145

APPENDIX D Sentence Starters 149

APPENDIX E Influence Scenarios 151

APPENDIX F Self-Assessment 161

Resources 163

Barnes & Conti Associates, Inc. 167

Index 169

B. Kim Barnes is the CEO of Barnes & Conti Associates, an independent learning and organization development firm. She has had over 30 years of experience in the fields of management, leadership, and organization development.