Infleuncing Styles

What's your Influencing style?

Rationalising

• Do you use logic, facts, and reasoning to present your ideas?
• Do you leverage your facts, logic, expertise, and experience to persuade others?

Bridging

• Do you attempt to influence outcomes by uniting or connecting with others?
• Do you rely on reciprocity, engaging superior support, consultation, building coalitions, and using personal relationships to get people to agree with your position?

Inspiring

• Do you encourage others toward your position by communicating a sense of shared mission and exciting possibility?
• Do you use inspirational appeals, stories, and metaphors to encourage a shared sense of purpose?

Asserting

• Do you rely on your personal confidence, rules, law, and authority to influence others?
• Do you insist that your ideas are heard and considered, even when others disagree?
• Do you challenge the ideas of others when they don’t agree with yours?
• Do you debate with or pressure others to get them to see your point of view?

Negotiating

• Do you look for compromises and make concessions in order to reach an outcome that satisfies your greater interest?
• Do you make tradeoffs and exchanges in order to meet your larger interests?
• If necessary, will you delay the discussion until a more opportune time?

Goman, C.K. (2012) ‘What’s your influencing style?’, Harvard Business Review, 11 January