Workshop: Leading without Authority

“How to influence your internal stakeholders in a

political skilfull way?”

HUMANE Seminar

Prof. Daan Sorgeloos

Objective

Develop leadership skills to increase your personal impact in the

process of leading without authority.

We work towards this goal through:

• Linking leadership to your current organizational challenges
• (Developing a personal leadership claim within these organizational
challenges)
• Learning to get this claim granted in a political skilled way
Exercise:

What are current (adaptive) challenges that require

leadership that brings internal change?
• Which challenges have created elephants in your organization?
• Which elephants do you see?
=> What are we keep on doing stubbornly, while we feel that this no longer works to
address current challenges? Where do we keep on standing in circles?

Think 1’
Pair (4 à 5) 10’
Share 4’
Stay attentive for the leadership trap
Stay attentive for the leadership trap
How do you eat an elephant?

LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT CLAIMING

“AND” GETTING YOUR CLAIM
GRANTED
Shaping & Reshaping your Claim
How?
Intervision guidelines

1. Claimholder brings in claim 4’

2. Coach askes depth questions 4’

Don’t answer!!
3. Claimholder defines warm questions 2’

4. Coach gives concrete advise regarding warm questions 4’

Don’t discuss!!
5. Thanks + feedback 1’

15’ .
Political will & skill:
theoretical framework
Political style grid
Politics viewed as...
Negative Neutral Positive
Machiavellian Responsible Leader
Initiates • manipulator, •Obligation (no desire) to • Play maker
sometimes created by protect the good • Impact player
context • comes with the scope •Win/win
Action orientation

• looks at the number 1 •Often reaction against •Creativity

•Win/lose Machiavellian •Low key
Protector Speculator Advisor
Predicts • Filer builder (emails, • Observe • Counselor in politics
files, …) •Grapeviner (especially •Often senior who help
• defensive towards with reorganizations) juniors
new ideas, bureaucratic •Predicts who is going to •Look for win/win
get what, which project is
going to be launched
Cynic Fatalist Spectator
Responds • “I told you so...” • Que sera sera • fan, soap opera
• Gossip •Do your job and hope for • encourager, supports
•Have lost many tomes the best players (goes for a
(lose/win) •A lot of technical drink after win or los)
•Don’t take risks managers

DeLuca (1999)
Machiavellian vs Political leader (De Luca, 1999)
Machiavellian Political leader
Manipulates Influences
Create losers Creates winners
Lone wolf Team player
Use power for self-interest Uses power to get things done
Boot licking & brownnosing Respect, chooses moments
Promotion is a goal Promotion is an outcome
Hidden agenda’s Open agenda’s
His/her word is an aid His/her word as a contact
Calculated Strategic
Gossip Repeats
Takes credit Spreads credit
Individual Reflection - Development

What are my main insights?

What are my strengths?

What are my challenges?

What do I need in order to grow?

What will I try out in the near future?

 How to enforce your personal (leadership) claim?

Stake-
holder

Personal Target
(leadership) Stake-
holder
claim • Affectieve
reactions
• vision • Cognitieve
• strategic reactions
direction • Attitude
• extra • Behavior
resources Stake-
• new holder
structure/
process
•…
Stake-
holder

Ammeter et al. (2002)

Middle leader stakeholders

= groups whose support is necessary to enforce a personal (leadership)

claim

Clients N+1

Interest groups
(union employees
representatives)
Middle leader

Opinion
makers Colleagues
(advisors, …)

HR, finance, … Board members

 Power/influence tactics

Neutral tactics Awareness

Soft tactics Commitment

Hard tactics Compliance +

Resistance
 Power/influence tactics
Tactics Characteristics Direction
Rational persuasion Presenting logical arguments and factual evidence to
demonstrate a request is reasonable
Inspirational appeals Expressing an inspirational vision and stressing its value

Consultation Asking for advice and suggestion to improve things

Ingratiation Flattery, praise, stressing the qualities and suitability of the

other, friendly behavior
Exchange Offering help in an explicit manner in the domain of the other in
exchange for support
Personal appeals Asking for compliance based on friendship or loyalty

Coalitions Create an informal group of like minded people around 1 theme.

Collaborating Offering the other help (resources, assistance…) with what one
wants that the other does
Kipnis
Stress consistency with existing rules, politics, et al. (1980),or
appointments Higgins et al. (2003)
Legitimacy
habits.
Recommending Stressing the benefits for the other

Pressure Using warnings, repeated demands, and threats

Kipnis et al. (1980), Ammeter et al. (2002), Yukle , et al. (2008)
Individual Reflection - Development

What are my main insights?

What are my strengths?

What are my challenges?

What do I need in order to grow?

What will I try out in the near future?

Exercises
 Exercise

• What is your personal (leadership) claim?

• Who are your internal stakeholders?
• How do you want to influence your internal
stakeholders in order to get your personal
claim being granted?
 “Social astuteness”- exercise
• Exercise:
1. Case preperation (15min):
1. Think of a challenging personal “leadership” claim, which you would like to
enforce the coming days, weeks or months
2. Map the most inportant stakehoders (who has power to influence? Who has a
significant interest in whether or not to enforce the claime?)
3. Make a stakeholder analysis (personality, needs, benefits of the claim,
disadvantages of the claim)
4. Position the stakeholders on the 2 axes (interest vs power)
5. Differentiate the “good guys” from the “bad guys”
6. Make a stakeholder influence network (arrows to indicate the direction of the
influence, full lines for formal power, dotted line for informal power)
2. Case introduction: Claim/influence tactics/stakeholder analyse (7min)
3. Exploration: each group member poses 1 or 2 questions to get a better
understanding of the case (4min)
4. Formulate advize (start – stop – more – less): each group member formulates 1 or
2 concrete advises (4min)
5. Result: case holder gives feedback on his/her learnings
 Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholders Individual Needs Pro’s Con’s
characteristics
 Power – Interest grid

+++
--- You
No
Groups!
INTEREST

Forgot
Someone?
0

POWER
Ackerman & Eden (2011)
 Power – Interest grid

SUBJECTS PLAYERS
Encourage coalitions to Significant stakeholders
increase power of who deserve sustained
proponents and /or (influence) attention
neutralize opponents
INTEREST

CROWD CONTEXT SETTERS

Potential rather than actual Can influence future
stakeholders. Not overall context. Raise
interesting (time/effort vs. awareness and interest.
effect) to increase interest
or power.

POWER
Ackerman & Eden (2011)