Using influence to be more effective changemakers.
I am the person in your meeting who likes to sit back, take it all in, and find a moment to drop a truth bomb that hopefully creates positive momentum towards our goals. I know that about myself because in my head it is pretty calculated. I read the room in the meeting, understand how much influence I think I can have based on many factors (position of leadership, tenure, expertise), and then calculate when will be the best moment to use my influence. BOOM!
I know it sounds cynical to think of important meetings as a game. That’s why I never really say it out loud. However, when a client of ours asked us to design a workshop that could help people in coalitions understand how to have the most influence on the direction of their work, the game was the first thing that came to mind.
We think the game metaphor is helpful because like a game, increasing our influence requires understanding the purpose, rules and best strategies for the setting.
For the sake of this blog, we will look at the game as a single meeting of a coalition, board or team.
We will discuss three factors of influence in the meeting:
Roles of Influence
Tools of Influence
Budget of Influence
Roles of Influence
Roles are the part you play in the meeting: The Leader, The Ideas Person, The Microscope, or The Brakes, to name a few. Roles might be chosen or they might be placed upon you. They may be formal or informal. You might decide to play a certain role, even if it is out of your comfort zone, because no one else is playing it.
Understanding your role, and the expectations of that role in a meeting or coalition, helps you to understand how to best use your influence.
One role that we heard in the workshop was “The Energy.” Not always seen as the most influential role, but the benefit of being “The Energy” is that you get invited to the table. People want that role around to keep the meeting engaging. Some people who have been given “The Energy” role feel that it is a role they want to break free from because they don’t believe they are being asked to be at the table for their ideas but because their presence is energizing. However, we have to remember that having a seat at the table is sometimes the biggest battle to win. If “The Energy” uses the right tools, and budgets their influence well, it could work to elevate their ideas and change perceptions of the value of the work in the future.
A note on equity and inclusion: Sometimes, BIPOC leaders are implicitly or explicitly assigned roles based on their race or ethnicity rather than the value that they bring to the meeting. Yes, it is important to have BIPOC voices around the table, but and it is also important that the value brought to the table is the skills, experience and background of the person. The value is not simply saying a BIPOC voice was there, heard or not. A “BIPOC person” should not be the role they are given just as “white person” isn’t the role everyone else is given.
Tools of Influence
Tools are actions or tactics you can implement to:
Maximize the influence you have in a meeting
Create opportunities to gain influence
Change roles
Give your influence to others
A few tools you can use are:
Questioning: Sometimes we use too much influence confronting something we think will not work. The confrontation can feel divisive or disrespectful to the person with the idea, and may reduce our overall influence on the work. Instead of directly disagreeing with an idea you may ask a question like, “That is an interesting idea, can you help me understand how it will get us to our goal?”
Naming: If you are placed in a role consistently that you are uncomfortable with or simply need support in carrying out, you might name the role you often play and ask someone else to play it in a particular meeting. For example, someone who is always asking people to slow down and reflect might say, “I know that I often play ‘The Brakes’ in this group, but today I would like it if someone else would step into that role.”
Amplifying/Alliances: Often, certain voices do not have as much influence as others. It might be because of race/ethnicity, gender, age, role in the organization, or many other factors. People who have more influence can amplify those voice of people with less influence in many ways including:
Repeating/Quoting statements said by others
Ensuring you don’t take credit for another person’s idea later in the meeting
Naming and giving your role of influence to another person in the meeting
These are a few of many tools that can be used in any setting.
Budget of Influence
As we have previously noted, your budget depends on many factors. Some within your control and some that are not in your control. Understanding your budget when you enter a meeting helps you strategically think about how you will use your budget to have the most impact.
In the workshop, we asked people to imagine they were in a meeting and had 100 influence points. We then shared a series of moments where participants could use their influence to have an impact. Moments included:
An agenda comes out before the meeting and an item you wanted to discuss was not included
Someone makes a false statement about a topic where you are seen as the expert
A break is on the agenda, everyone wants to push through but you want the break
In each moment participants were asked to decide how many influence points they would use to get their desired outcome. It built up to the final round...
The Final Round: In the final moments of the meeting you have the opportunity to make a statement that could have a big impact on the room.
You need at least 50 influence points to make the statement and know that it will have a big impact. Do you have the points left? Do you make the statement anyway?
Most people were out of points, but many still made the statement with the understanding it could have a negative impact on their budget of influence in future meetings. On the other hand, it could be just the right moment to grow their influence in future meetings by being seen as inspirational or visionary.
The people we work with are eager for change. They are passionate about being authentic.
Sometimes that means they need to create a smart game plan for identifying and using their influence.
By pausing to think about:
The roles we play, or have assigned to us
The tools we can use to maximize our influence, or give it to others
The way we manage our budget of influence
We can be more effective changemakers.
If this workshop sounds like a good fit for your team or cohort we would love to work with you. You can connect with us on scheduling a workshop by clicking the link below.
-Author: Jordan Vernoy