For most of the organisations I work with, the person who brings me in and works closely with me, is a strategic influencer. Whether they are the CFO, CPO, CIO, or CRO They’re master influencers of strategic decision makers.
Why am I focusing on influence? Because in many organisations the other strategic leaders on the executive team don’t regard your function as strategic. Yes, your function gets some air in the strategic plan, but the real action is in sales, operations, supply chain and the like. Or in the public sector, in policy setting, key program delivery and managing the minister!
Therefore, to do your job, you need to be able to persuade and become a trusted adviser of the wider executive team. But this isn’t easy as there are barriers and bias to overcome, some expressed openly like “We are so busy chasing our targets we simply don’t have time for this right now” or unspoken such as ‘This is all about red tape, it’s not a value add to the business.’ And when they do need you, they come to you at the last minute, which is incredibly frustrating!
If you are c-suite, you are part of the executive team, have a seat at the executive table, and the opportunity to earn trust and respect. What about your team? Your business partners who focus on serving the business units. They are not part of the business unit’s team: They are outsiders operating from outside the tent. Even when embedded in the business, unless they are also good at persuasion and influence to earn trust, they will be seen as outsiders who have been planted inside ‘the tent’.
I once wrote a blog about mollisvitaephobia. It’s a word I made up by translating soft skills into Latin. It means the fear of soft skills learning. Do you or your organisation have a very common bias towards technical training at the expense of soft skills, like persuasion and influence? If so, your advice will continue to lack the respect it deserves.
Ping me at info@bryanwhitefield.com and let’s chat. My own past experiences presenting to exec teams and boards motivates me to help others become more persuasive via mentoring, tailored workshops for small groups or 1 or 2-day sessions for whole teams.