Synthesizing Powerful Influence at Work and with Friends

Finding and Using that sweet spot on how to effectively influence people!

Gloria Moses

• Publisher: JNR Publishing
• ISBN:
  9781310187599
• Topic: Crescita personale
• Subtopic: Trattative

Within the last few years several of those in the field of behavioral science have come to the fact based conclusion that we have the power to change anything in our lives we desire. By turning to those who have affected major change using their influence, we too can educate ourselves as to the steps that need to be taken to do the same. Years of practice and research have resulted in the development of principles as they apply to the depth of our influence, as well as strategies that can be learned and applied to affect the change you are looking for. You, too, can make changes take place in your life. Table of Contents
Topic Overview
Learn Skills of Influence
You Have Influence
What the Scholars have to Say
Dr. M. Silbert
Dr. Hopkins
The Benefits of This New Understanding & Awareness
Identify the Behaviors of Focus
What do the Best Influencers Do?
Make "Positive Deviance" a Research Focus
Begin by strategically placing yourself right in the heart of the company or organization you want to change.
Look for, and concentrate on learning about, inconsistencies.
Take a close look at the success stories.
Do Your Results Add Up?
Begin to Influence Effectively
The Vicarious Experience
…more believable for people in general than factual writings or statements.
…easier to comprehend than lectures and books.
…more apt to help us grasp a specific thing as a reality that is based on a thing or circumstance.
Change needs to be an Unavoidable Fact
Influence has Six Sources
Practicing & Perfecting the Elements of the Six Sources
Source: Ability as it Relates to Structure
Source: Awareness of Personal Motivation
Source: Using the Reward System to Motivate
Source: Your Own Personal Ability
Source: Motivating Socially
Use Your Social Abilities
Don't Worry if it's Not What They Want; It Can Be.
Experiences Must be Fresh, Therefore they must be Created
Stimulate the Employees to Implement Changes in Personal Motives
Go Past Your Comfort Zone and Get Rid of those Limits
Put a Harness on the Peer Pressure
Two or More are Better than One
Accountability is a Must, and a Rewards Incentive Program Should be Implemented.

Topic Overview

The challenges we face as a part of everyday life can definitely confuse and confound us. You want high quality to be a part of every area of your life; at work you want productivity that is high quality at the same time. It seems, however, that no matter how much effort you invest in the implementation of change in that area, everything remains in the same spot. You may have the same situation in any aspect of your life, personal or professional; nothing is as frustrating as seeing no change when you dedicate your efforts to it.

It doesn’t matter who you are or what position you are in. You can be a company supervisor at work or a stay-at-home mom. Maybe you are a bus driver. You can be anyone or anything and effectively bring about the change you want to see in your life, regardless of the area it is focused in.

Exercising influence is hard. Most of us get frustrated when we see no results or changes in the area we want to see change. That is the point at which we usually throw in the towel. We may feel like we don’t have what it takes to make the change happen, or we have come to believe that the change we seek is simply impossible. Rather than find out what will work, we begin to learn to deal with things the way they are, which is far harder than changing it up. By turning to some of the individuals with the most influence on the planet and learning from them, we can discover the tools that are available to us in this arena. The problems that you are facing today do not have to be adapted to; they can be solved!

Within the last few years several of those in the field of behavioral science have come to the fact based conclusion that we have the power to change anything in our lives we desire. By turning to those who have affected major change using their influence, we too can educate ourselves as to the steps that need to be taken to do the same. Years of practice and research have resulted in the development of principles as they apply to the depth of our influence, as well as strategies that can be learned and applied to affect the change you are looking for. You, too, can make changes take place in your life.

Learn Skills of Influence

During this course, you will learn about, and have plenty of opportunity to exercise the following skills:

Positive Deviance: Study in this area can assist you in learning the behaviors you need to know and how to put them into action.

High Impact Behaviors: These behaviors will affect change quickly and efficiently.

How to reward needed behaviors instead of simply the results they produce.

The application of strategy in thought and deed.

Steps to take to become a leader of opinion.

Six Sources of Influence: How to use them to make change become an unavoidable, normal part of your life.

You Have Influence

On particular social scientist put together an accumulation of information which resulted in behavior changes which had stumped other theories for years. This doctor was able to show the way our behavior is formed by watching others; in essence, the power other’s behavior had over our own. At the time of this demonstration those in the field of psychology operated strictly under the theory that behavior was dictated on a “reward and punish” basis. The doctor taught diligence rather than wasting time; to learn about landmark childhood moments and deal with them properly did not require a therapist’s sofa. Learning can begin immediately, so you can begin to affect change immediately as well.

What the Scholars have to Say

Books filled with knowledge on the topic, as well as stories of how effective the methods within the books can be, are available in abundance. The information in them will provide you with various effective ways to stimulate change in the area you are focused on. The following influential individuals have shown the remarkable changes that you can make happen when you have the skills of influence necessary to affect that change, even if the behavior being focus on is deeply rooted and obstinate

Dr. M. Silbert

This doctor, based in San Francisco, California, founded a foundation there which a variety of local companies and business are members of. Dr. Silbert herself is head of the businesses, and the foundation itself focuses on residential therapy and corporate assortment and variation. What makes her institute stand out from the rest is the variety of backgrounds the employees stem from. Robbers, prostitutes, and others with criminal histories, most with around 4 felony convictions on their record, make up the workforce. Most have been addicted, and some are homeless. Once they join the doctor’s foundation, however, they are soon employed in one of several trades, or even one of the other companies she heads. These individuals make up her entire membership, with exception to the doctor herself. She keeps no special staff or therapy staff on her payroll, focusing only on the employees. The implementation of this strategy has helped more than 14,000 individuals to overcome the obstacles of their past and become productive, self-sufficient members of society, and she has done this over a 30 year period. She has been able to show that over 90% of those participating in her program do not return to their past lives of drugs and crime.

Dr. Hopkins

Here we have a physician who heads a crew at Atlanta’s Carter Center. Their complete focus is on the annihilation of an ailment called Guinea Worm Disease. To quickly brief you, the Guinea Worm is a parasite which takes up residence in human hosts. It is one of the largest human parasites on earth, and is the main cause of the sickness and painful agony of literally millions of people on earth.

What Dr. Hopkins knew to be a fact was that some changes in lifestyle and hygiene would ultimately be the end of this horrible parasite; it was that simple. To affect this change would require behavior changes that were lasting and consistent for a period of one year. With the victims being scattered of approximately 23,000 villages, it seemed an impossible undertaking to educate and train these villagers regarding what needed to be done on their part. It did not matter in the least that the odds were stacked against Hopkins. With the help of his team, Dr. Hopkins has overcome insurmountable obstacles, and while currently still in process, this parasite will be wiped out as an end result. Keep in mind that this group of people is affect a change with nothing more than drive and their sharpened abilities to influence others. To put it simply, this power changes the world all the time.

The Benefits of This New Understanding & Awareness

The exciting thing about all of this is the fact that being highly influential with others is a learned behavior; while you may have a talent or knack for it, there are skills you must learn, skills you did not possess at birth. These same skills with improve and grow as you implement them in your day to day life, both at work and in your home. The key to becoming productively influential lies in both a perpetual learning process, which you must participate in, as well as implantation of the skills you learn. You can indeed be an individual with powerful influence. We will be able to influence without engaging in boundary crossing with others. If you want to improve the way you see yourself, begin to visualize the influential person you are aiming to become. You will find when wearing this hat that these skills are not only necessary to run your company, they are needed in every single aspect of your life. Please keep in mind that while there is no single most effective way to resolve stubborn difficulties, you will find that a personal program for being influential will do wonders on the trouble you are facing, stubborn or not.

If you have a need and desire to change the behavior of those in your life, ultimately changing your own, you must start by influencing their thoughts.

Identify the Behaviors of Focus

One cannot begin to change anything without knowing what it is which needs to be changed. Those who use their influence productively look primarily at behavior. By focusing on two or three primary behaviors on can be extremely influential. Now, it is important to understand that the behavior and the end result are not the same thing. The means and the end are two separate things entirely, and exercising influence has been proven to fail time and again when one becomes confused about the two. Failure occurs when you lose sight of what needs to take place in the here and now, rather than at what you want to be seeing in the end. In a nutshell, nothing gets done at all. There must be attention on behavior due to the fact that human nature does not often opt to choose right behavior. Accountability is the key here.

What do the Best Influencers Do?

Have you ever wondered how they actually study something like behavior as it relates to achieving success? It is a science, and it focuses on behaviors that lead to specific outcomes, be it failure or success in any life realm. The research is conducted by studying the very best. Regardless of what these individuals were the “best” at, researchers proceeded to compare them to the others in that area in order to discover thought processes and behaviors that were unlike the rest. These things have been found to be consistent characteristics possessed by the “best”.

Subjects used on an experimental basis, being “taught” specific behaviors to achieve a desired outcome, actually showed a higher level of improvement than the subjects from the group discussed prior. This form of group research teaches us two vital lessons:

In many of the things we want to influence, the studies are complete. The results state that the thoughts and behaviors affect the change. Conduct a careful search study of the vital behaviors topic. These things directly influence the outcome of the challenges we face.

There is a discovery process regarding what influential people really do to see results. The behaviors found to be the vital behaviors must be learned by you, practiced by use, taught them to others, and subsequently proved the changes that were made. If we find that this is not occurring in cycle, chances are we do not need to follow the guidance of these individuals.

Make “Positive Deviance” a Research Focus

“Positive deviance” consists of seeking out other individuals who do not seem to be subjected to the same types of dilemmas. You will then determine the differences between the thoughts and behaviors of the individuals you are studying. Look for the “vital behaviors”. These are going to be the tools that will help you attack the problem at hand effectively.

Begin by strategically placing yourself right in the heart of the company or organization you want to change.

The object of your focus can be a large conglomeration or a single individual. Now you are not going to change the person or thing, rather, you are going to influence them to desire and pursue change. This can only be done by becoming a part of their life or day to day operations.

Look for, and concentrate on learning about, inconsistencies

You need to use your skills of observation as a tool to help you pinpoint areas in the company or situation that should show signs of the same problem, but for some reason do not. Take these into consideration, comparing them to the areas of success and the differences between them.

Take a close look at the success stories.

Once again we are using comparison. What does the team or individual who is experiencing success as an influencer do? What do they avoid? How do they speak to and approach others with their body language? You will find the answers are very different between the successes and the problematic groups.

Take, for example, Dr. Hopkins and the Guinea worm disease problem. The individuals involved in doing research into the problem decided to take things a step further by scrutinizing the behavior of the people affected by the parasite. They put the villages that were not suffering from the disease under the microscope, looking specifically for the differences in behavior. Of particular focus were villages that were in close proximity to the affected villages, but were free of the parasite’s onslaught.

In virtually no time at all behavior differences were discovered between the two peoples. Because of the differences in water handling between the two, the observed the relating habits of the parasite-free clan, which enabled them to educate those with the disease how to handle and transport their water in a safe, clean manner.

Do Your Results Add Up?

Taking a look at your completed research, you may believe you have found some of the “vital behaviors” we have been discussing. These are the behaviors of the influencers, and they seem to be a common denominator in being an effective influencer. Now take a close look at the ideas you have. Put the behaviors you believe to be vital and begin to implement them in your own life and circumstances. Do not try to see how much of the behavior you already live out; focus only on living them out now.

When you step back and take a look at the results you have gotten when you put the vital behaviors you found to use, what do you see? Is the outcome what you wanted it to be when you began to implement the behavior of influence?

If you would like even more practice implementing vital behaviors, do so in short-order. Pay close attention to everything aro...