Influence Without Authority, 3rd Edition

Influence Without Authority, 3rd Edition

by Allan R. Cohen, David L. Bradford
Released October 2017
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781119347712

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Book description

Get what you need to achieve your objectives and produce results

Influence Without Authority is the classic guide to getting what you need from people you don't control. Getting things done requires collaboration, and convincing others to contribute requires political skill; this book introduces the Exchange Model, in which you get what you need by offering something of value in return. The key lies in knowing what the other person values—that's their "currency," and it's your immediate tool for coaxing their cooperation. This model has been proven over decades, as organizations around the world have turned away from frustration and resignation toward collaboration and results. This book shows you how to implement the Exchange Model at the personal, team, and organizational level to raise the bar for performance and leadership.

This new third edition has been updated reflect the changing face of the workplace, and includes new examples and information on geographically dispersed virtual teams. Supplementary materials facilitate classroom and training use with discussions, role-play, videos, and other ancillaries that deepen understanding and promote practical application.

  • Get what you need from the people who have it through mutual exchange
  • Think in terms of interest, and pinpoint the "currencies" other people trade in
  • Apply the Exchange Model across entire organizations to lead major change
  • Learn practical real-world strategies for influencing those you do not control

The ability to influence those not under your authority is becoming ever more valuable. Organizations are flattening, and outside contractors are taking on larger roles than ever before—getting results now means lateral cooperation, often across borders, time zones, organizations, and more. Influence Without Authority provides a proven model for success in this new environment, with expert guidance for real-world application.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Foreword
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Part I: Introduction
    1. Chapter 1: Why Influence: What You Will Get from This Book
      1. Sachin Bhat Is Asked to Step In
      2. Why an Influence Model?
      3. Barriers to Influence
      4. Overcome the Barriers: Use an Influence Model to Guide You
      5. Plan, But Do Not Come Across as Self-Seeking
      6. Get “Two for the Price of One”
      7. The Book's Organization
      8. Notes
  8. Part II: The Influence Model
    1. Chapter 2: The Influence Model: Trading What They Want for What You've Got (Using Reciprocity and Exchange)
      1. Ignore the Law of Reciprocity at Your Peril
      2. Exchange: The Art of Give and Take That Permeates All Influence Tactics
      3. The Cohen-Bradford Influence without Authority Model
      4. Self-Created Barriers to Influencing
      5. Notes
    2. Chapter 3: Goods and Services: The Currencies of Exchange
      1. Coin of the Realm: The Concept of Currencies
      2. Frequently Valued Currencies
      3. Some Cautions
      4. Using Currencies: Complexities and Restrictions
      5. Expanding Your “Currency Pool”
      6. Self-Traps in Using Currencies
      7. Pay in the Currency Others Value, Not Just What You Would Value
      8. Resenting Having to Go Out of the Way
      9. A Word of Warning: Beware False Advertising
      10. Last Word: Some Currencies Really Are Not Convertible
      11. Notes
    3. Chapter 4: How to Know What They Want: Understanding Their Worlds (and the Forces Acting on Them)
      1. Two Forces That Can Explain All Behavior
      2. How to Know What Might Be Important to the Other Person
      3. The Potential Ally's Environment
      4. Where Are They Headed? Career Aspirations and Personal Background
      5. The Potential Ally's Worries
      6. Gathering Real-Time Data about the World of Others
      7. Just Because It Waddles and Quacks Like a Duck Doesn't Mean It's a Duck: The Dangers of Stereotyping
      8. Barriers to Acting on Knowledge of the Worlds of Important Stakeholders
      9. The “Selective Confirmation” Bias
      10. Further Decreases in Interaction
      11. Alternatives to Creating Distance and Limiting Influence
      12. I Thought You'd Never Ask: Using Direct Inquiry as an Alternative
      13. Conclusion: Barriers to Understanding the World of Others
      14. Notes
    4. Chapter 5: You Have More to Offer Than You Think If You Know Your Goals, Priorities, and Resources
      1. Power Sources: You Are Plugged In
      2. What Do You Want Anyway? Gaining Clarity on Your Objectives
      3. What Are Your Primary Goals and What Are Secondary?
      4. Personal Factors That Get in the Way
      5. Reframing a Personal Need into a Possible Benefit to the Boss; (Jim and Wes)
      6. Note
    5. Chapter 6: Building Effective Relationships: The Art of Finding and Developing Your Allies
      1. Relationships Matter
      2. Dealing With the Situation When the Relationship Is Bad
      3. When to Proceed with a Task or Initiate a Direct Discussion to Improve a Relationship
      4. Conclusion
    6. Chapter 7: Strategies for Making Mutually Profitable Trades
      1. Planning Your Strategies for Exchange
      2. Free-Market Trades: Clear Mutual Gain
      3. Showing How Cooperation Helps the Potential Ally Achieve Goals
      4. Uncovering—and Trading For—Hidden Value
      5. Compensated Costs
      6. Strategies That Use the Time Value of Currency
      7. Building Credit: Saving for a Rainy Day
      8. Sleaze Alert
      9. Calling in Past Debts
      10. Borrowing on Credit: Deferred Payment/Collateral
      11. Other Strategic Considerations: Who and Where?
      12. Five Dilemmas to Be Managed during Exchanges
      13. Starting and Stopping the Exchange Process
      14. After the Exchange: Checking Out the Process
      15. Making Satisfactory Exchanges and Avoiding Self-Traps
      16. Note
  9. Part III: Practical Applications of Influence
    1. Chapter 8: Gender and Influence: Beyond Stereotypes (Coauthor, Nan Langowitz)
      1. Introduction
      2. Conclusions
      3. Notes
    2. Chapter 9: Influencing Your Boss
      1. The Approach
      2. True Grit: Being a Worthy Partner
      3. Notes
    3. Chapter 10: Working Cross-Functionally: Leading and Influencing a Team, Task Force, or Committee
      1. The Challenge of Gaining Commitment
      2. Increasing the Attractiveness of the Project
      3. Using Vision, a Valuable Common Currency
      4. Deciding How the Team Will Operate
      5. Selling Solutions before Formally Presenting Them
    4. Chapter 11: Influencing Organizational Groups, Departments, and Divisions
      1. How to Go about Gaining Influence: Applying the Model
      2. Preferences in How to Be Approached
      3. Ways People Self-Limit Their Influence
      4. Note
    5. Chapter 12: Can You Hear Me: Influencing at a Distance
      1. Why Influence at a Distance Has Become So Important
      2. Use of Technology
      3. When Influence Becomes Very Personal (Sarah Does a Layoff at a Distance)
      4. Impacts of Distance on Key Steps of the IWA Model
      5. The Gradual Building of Trust
      6. Notes
    6. Chapter 13: Influencing Difficult Colleagues
      1. Friendly Competitors: “Co-Opetition”
      2. Overcoming Mistrust
      3. Dealing with Hard Bargainers
      4. Treat Everybody as a Long-Term Customer
      5. Dealing with Colleague Behavior That Is Annoying or Worse
      6. The Problem of the Colleague's Maddening Behavior
      7. Notes
    7. Chapter 14: Initiating or Leading Major Change
      1. No Money and No Authority
      2. The Importance of Vision
      3. Manage Tension
      4. Identify Key Stakeholders Who Must Be Influenced
      5. How to Influence Distant Stakeholders
      6. Is Your Elevator Pitch Ready?
      7. Influence the Influencers They Listen To
      8. What Do You Have to Offer?
      9. Diagnose and Enhance the Relationship
      10. Develop Your Exchange Strategy
      11. Change Roles: Moving among Different-Size Groups
      12. Planning versus Calculation
      13. Further Ideas about Change
      14. Notes
    8. Chapter 15: Understanding and Overcoming Organizational Politics
      1. The Nature of Organizations
      2. Culture Determines the Way Politics Are Played
      3. Get the Lay of the Land
      4. Collecting Political Information
      5. Diagnose Stakeholders
      6. The Importance of Knowing Yourself
      7. Lessons from Fran Grigsby's Political Experiences at Commuco
    9. Chapter 16: Hardball: Escalating to Tougher Strategies When You Can No Longer Catch Flies with Honey
      1. Raising Your Ally's Costs—Gradually
      2. When Your Boss Is the Difficult Colleague
      3. Who Has the Power?—Recognizing Your Power, Increasing It, and Using It Appropriately
      4. The Ultimate Escalation: Betting Your Job
      5. Into Every Life Some Rain Must Fall: Rotten Apples and Hardball
      6. The Calculated Confrontation
      7. Be Careful of Assuming Malevolence
      8. Conclusions
  10. Appendix A: Extended Case Examples and Supplementary Material Available on the Web
  11. Appendix B: Additional Resources
  12. Index
  13. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Influence Without Authority, 3rd Edition
  • Author(s): Allan R. Cohen, David L. Bradford
  • Release date: October 2017
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119347712