INFLUCING DECISIONS FEATURE
HOW TO
INFLUENCE DECISION MAKERS
BY : DR . MARSHALL GOLDSMITH
T
The great majority of people tend to focus downward . They are occupied with efforts rather than results . They worry over what the organization and their superiors ‘ owe ’ them and should do for them . And they are conscious above all of the authority they ‘ should have ’. As a result , they render themselves ineffectual .” – Peter Drucker
Peter Drucker has written extensively about the impact of the ‘ knowledge worker ’ in modern organizations . Knowledge workers can be defined as people who know more about what they are doing than their managers do . Many knowledge workers have years of education and experience in training for their positions , yet they have almost no training in how to effectively influence decision makers .
The 11 guidelines listed below are intended to help you do a better job of influencing decision makers . In some cases , these decision makers may be immediate or upper managers – in other cases they may be peers or cross-organizational colleagues . I hope that you find these suggestions to be useful in helping you convert your good ideas into meaningful action .
EVERY DECISION THAT IMPACTS OUR LIVES WILL BE MADE BY THE PERSON WHO HAS THE POWER TO MAKE THAT DECISION – NOT THE ‘ RIGHT ’ PERSON , OR THE ‘ SMARTEST ’ PERSON , OR THE ‘ BEST ’ PERSON . MAKE PEACE WITH THIS FACT .
As simple and obvious as this statement may seem , I am amazed at how few ( otherwise intelligent ) people ever ‘ get ’ this point . When your child comes home from school and complains , “ It ’ s not fair ! The teacher gave me a ‘ C ’ and I really deserved an ‘ A ’!”, we , as parents , should say , “ Welcome to the real world , kid ! In life , you have to accept the fact that decision-makers make decisions – and that you are not always the decision maker .” Once we make peace with the fact that the people who have the power to make the decisions always make the decisions , we become more effective in influencing others .
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