There are nine common influence tactics you can use to affect and change others’ behaviors. Research suggests that some tactics are more effective than others. This activity is important because as a manager not only should you should understand and be able to use a range of influence tactics, but you should also understand which tactics are most likely to work in a given situation. The options for each number are: Rely on the core, Be authentic, Consult rather than legitimate, "Glad-handling" is not a good long-term strategy, Be subtle, Learn to influence
1. Lorenzo wants his boss to give him a good performance review, so every single time he sees her, he pays her a compliment about her clothing, appearance, or something else superficial.
2. Nami agrees with every single thing her boss says in every single meeting.
3. Ryan knows that he can get the raise he wants if he puts pressure on his supervisors. But this doesn’t feel natural to Ryan, so he decides to take an approach that is truer to who he is.
4. Tia knows that introducing a new software platform at her company is going to be a source of stress for her employees who are accustomed to doing things in the old platform. Therefore, Tia elicits feedback from each employee on what they would like to see in a new platform that the current platform doesn’t offer.
5. Veronica wants her employees to volunteer at the company’s annual charity fundraiser, so she shows them some corporate footage of the people who have been helped by the fundraiser in the past.
6. Danielle feels strongly that the best way to get her boss to notice her hard work is to keep producing and doing a great job, rather than to be a kiss-up.
7. Marques wants to be a great manager and knows this involves learning to influence people effectively. He signs up for a course on power and social influence in business to hone his skills.
8. Abir is never comfortable getting coworkers to agree with him by reminding them of how good of a friend he’s been to them. But he decides to use this tactic anyway because he knows it’s more effective than some of the other tactics
9. Eric is skilled at getting people on his side by making understated comments indicating that he shares their opinions on work-related matters.
10. Wasim wants to get everyone in his team on board with his suggestion, so he starts making promises to each team member about how he’ll help them out the next time they have an idea they want the group to embrace.
11. Chloe doesn’t try new tactics for influencing her peers or supervisors because she knows that if she isn’t good at a tactic now, there’s no way to get better at it.
12. Shin’s subordinates don’t like participating in team meetings. Shin reminds them that he is their boss, and if they don’t show up, he has the authority to punish them.