Influence Without Authority in Action: Case Study—Financial Institution IT Department
/Background
One participant’s role is to help ensure the availability of critical business systems while changes and enhancements are planned and implemented to these systems. After attending Influence and Persuasion he immediately put some of the new skills to work by changing the way he communicates.
QUALITATIVE RESULT
He has succeeded in converting internal colleagues who have been “change curmudgeons” into “Change Champions.”
QUANTITATIVE RESULTS
While they have not yet been formally calculated, he expects to see the following impact over the next year:
Reduced number of Change Request (CRQ) resets
Reduced number of negative change related incidents
Reduced number of process violations
What changed?
Our client enhanced his level of influence by changing the way he communicates with partners about complying with the change management process.
In addition to educating partners about how the process works, he now more clearly articulates the VALUE of the process on several levels: the value to the partner personally, professionally, and to the bank.
While this change management process is “mandatory,” he has no authority over the people with whom he deals and whom he hopes to influence. He crafted “what if” scenarios to help educate partners on the consequences and potential issues behind each risk assessment question. These are shared via training sessions, lunch and learns, and one-on-one encounters with partners when educating them on the process.
What was the take-away from the seminar?
From the Influence Without Authority class, our client applied the ZEHREN♦FRIEDMAN Persuasion Equation model, as well as utilizing the influence tools of Networking, Contrast, Commitment & Consistency, Social Proof and Authority. Personally, professionally, and to the bank.
