Increase Your Influence at Work

CHAPTER 4

APPLYING INFLUENCE DOWN AND SIDEWAYS

T

he previous two chapters described the foundation attributes

of influential people and practical tactics you can apply in

building influence where you work. By developing those per-

sonal attributes and engaging those tactics, you can—over time—

have greater influence over the thinking and behavior of others.

The next logical step is to apply your influence in productive ways

to three groups of people with whom you routinely interact at

work: your subordinates, your peers, and your boss (see Figure

4-1). The first two groups are discussed in this chapter; how to

influence the boss is so special that we treat it separately in Chapter

5. Customers are another important constituency, and much of

what is covered here can be applied to them.

INFLUENCING YOUR SUBORDINATES

The working world has changed a lot over the past twenty years. In

the old days, managers were more direct in dealing with subordi-

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Applying Influ ence Down and S ideways 53

FIGURE 4-1. INFLUENCING IN MANY DIRECTIONS.

Influencer

CustomersPeers

Subordinates

Your Boss

and Senior Managers

nates: Managers would tell; subordinates would do. In other

words, managers relied more on formal power or authority and

less on influence to get the results they wanted.

The workplace in those days was more sharply stratified by

rank, with scores of worker bees at the bottom, a stack of lower

and middle managers above them, and the Big Bosses at the tip-

top. Communication followed a command-and-control model in

which information about customers and operations flowed upward

through the chain of command. Decisions were made in the execu-

tive suite, and orders were then sent downward through the same

chain of command: ‘‘Do this; then do that.’’

Many companies have abandoned command-and-control man-

agement in favor of employee empowerment, a management model

that gives subordinates greater discretion in how they accomplish

their objectives. Managers tell their subordinates what needs to be

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54 Increase Your Influence at Work

accomplished but give them greater discretion in how the work

should be done. Empowered employees are also given greater au-

thority over company resources. For example, an employee who

deals directly with customers may be authorized to give rebates,

discounts, refunds, or other services in order to resolve problems

or correct errors on the spot. Research indicates that empower-

ment contributes to greater initiative, motivation, and workplace

satisfaction among employees. In addition, it has been shown that

empowerment makes organizations faster in responding to cus-

tomer needs and market conditions, reduces the number of middle

managers needed, and puts decision makers in closer contact with

the front lines of the business.

Employee empowermen t ha s also grea tly altered the manager-

subordin ate rela tionship. Power i n the wo rkplace isn’t what it

used to be. Su bord ina tes expect to partici pate in w ork planning.

The old lever of forma l power has lost much o f its effectivenes s.

Yo ung er e mpl oyee s—s o-c all ed G en X and Gen Y—are notoriously

unmoved by command-a nd- con tro l ma nag eme nt. Power can be

used i n a p inch, but manag ers who resort to i t oft en find th em-

selves surrounde d by a bunch of surl y and un motivat ed people

who ex ert the least effort possible . To succeed in today’s enviro n-

ment, managers ha ve t o put away the leve r of command and apply

influence.

Recollect our definition of influence: Like power, it is some-

thing we use to get what we want from others. For a manager,

‘‘what we want’’ is the achievement of goals for which he or she is

held accountable. The manager who cannot influence subordinates

to achieve those goals has recourse to only one lever in getting

results: the power to command. But that lever, as we’ve explained,

isn’t very effective in today’s workplace. Managers and supervisors

must determine when and when not to use it.

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