Increasing your influence

Why do some of our plans that involve relationships fail?

Most of the difficulties we face are because we 'fell down' in our approach somewhere, or we didn't consider something that in hindsight was quite obvious... you may even be a little embarrassed in retrospect!

Here is something I have been musing over and could be used as a coaching tool, and as a means of adding to our influence, creating better chances of success and mutually agreeable outcomes.

This is inspired from Stephen Covey:

↑ Influence – ethos, pathos, and logos[1]:

“[There is the] Greek philosophy of influence called Ethos, Pathos, Logos. Ethos is credibility; the faith people have in your integrity and competence. It’s the trust you inspire. Pathos is empathy. It means that you are emotionally tuned in to the other person’s needs and what they are trying to communicate. Logos is logic, reasoning. It’s your objective, proposal and presentation … pay attention to the sequence—ethos, pathos, logos—first character, then relationships, and finally, the logic of your presentation.

To have real influence, you must have credibility. You have to be productive, honest and transparent. If you’re always late, over-promising and under-delivering, you won’t be taken seriously.

If you have an honest motive, your display of empathy will be recognized as genuinely caring and wanting to understand your boss rather than manipulate him. Use [their] position as a point of departure. Try to solve [their] problems. Take heed of the social and cultural and political realities of your organization.

Finally, you must have patience and an awareness of the process. Nothing will change overnight. And this means you’ve got to work on yourself as well. Once you’ve got the ethos and pathos, you will have the wisdom, sense of timing, and courage to be effective with your ideas.”

- Stephen Covey.

Now, the challenge…
· Identify an issue at work or at home that deeply concerns you. Choose one that you believed was outside of your ability to change.

· Identify the key people you will need to influence in order to accomplish the change.

· Analyze where you stand in your ethos with them. Develop a plan to increase your ethos, if necessary, and

· Then to pay the price of pathos before you present your well thought-through logos.

· Remember to be patient and open to influence in the process.

Most textual highlights (incl. bullets) have been added.

[1] Adapted from Stephen Covey, Increase Your Influence , Inside-Out e-newsletter, August 2007. Available online at: http://www.franklincovey.com.au/store/insideout/2007/08/Increase-Your-Influence-Ethos-Pathos-Logos.asp