Influence and Impact

CHAPTER 8Work Your Growth Plan, Build Your Influence: Putting Your Plan into Action

 

“We choose to do this not because it is easy, but because it is hard, because the challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”

—John F. Kennedy

Growth Plans Are All About the Details

Having an outsized impact often appears to come from big bold moves that happen from time to time. Once you have nailed a game-winning objective, people look to you to do it again. You have earned a reputation as a breakthrough player. Like most breakthroughs, however, they are invariably built on the small actions you took multiple times a day for weeks or months that added up to the person you are and what you stand for.

Similarly, enhancing your ability to influence and impact others in your workplace involves setting stretch objectives followed by a series of small steps, executed on a regular basis over time. We identified the large objectives in Chapter 7. In this chapter, we address the detailed planning, consistent execution, and adaptation to external circumstances needed to have the influence and impact you are striving for.

A well-crafted plan is an essential start, and requires persistence and commitment. In turn, persistence is invaluable until the situation changes or you encounter unplanned obstacles. At that point, you need ...