Accountants are
becoming more and more involved in broader business decisions with a wider
range of personnel. How well you communicate on other people's wavelengths
will determine your level of influence and success, writes Charles A
Holme
There has been a noticeable
shift in the way specialist staff are asked to work in organisations. Accountants
are no longer able to give advice on a ,take it or leave it' basis and so
it has become important to think about how we influence and choose how to
do it carefully.
The following factors help
explain why this change has come about:
We have moved from the sidelines
to centre stage with fewer managers in businesses, accountancy staff increasingly
find themselves leaders of multi-functional project teams.
The trend towards Customer
orientation. Those who give advice inside an Organisation are now dealing
with internal customers. Specialists who accompany sales people are not just
passive observers of the sale but an integral part of it As larger organisations
are decentralised, some specialist departments are being set up as separate
units. They have become businesses in their own right. No longer is it compulsory
for line management to use our Services. We have to influence to
survive
These changing demands on
accountancy staff mean that our preferred style may not always be the right
one to use. The style we have learned and were successful with previously
may not be the right one now or in the future. But how do you find out your
preferred style? The questionnaire is designed to give you an indication.
In completing it, you may like to think broadly about your work. It is based
on a model of influencing.
Model of
influencing
whenever we influence, we
need access to the right people - the decision-maker certainly, but also
those who recognise the problems and know the practical details of implementing
a solution in their company or department. The days when we could give advice
without considering our client's circumstances are long gone.
First, look at the ,problem'
from your client's point of view and then decide which influencing style
to use. The five styles, tell, persuade, negotiate, joint-problem -solving,
facilitate described in Figure 1 are on a scale of increasing involvement
of the other party, working from left to right.
In choosing a style to use
we should consider the expectations of the person we want to influence. It
is true that some will simply want to be told what to do and will seek a
step-by-step guide from us on the action they should take. Would that be
appropriate in the following example?
The person you want to influence
is a manager in a unionised organisation who also has buying
responsibility:-
They normally sort out their annual budget
discussion with their senior colleagues by putting in for more than they
want. This person's natural, or preferred, way of influencing others is by
negotiation. They are doing it all the time at work. If we try to tell them
what to do, they refuse and appear ,difficult', that's because we have not
chosen the right influencing style. We interpret their signals about wanting
to negotiate as ,being difficult'.
We have to get on their wavelength first
before we can send a message. If we negotiate with them, they will recognise
how we are communicating - we will be more successful if we negotiate with
a negotiator than if we choose any other style.
Choosing the right
style
As we meet a range of people, we need a range
of styles to match theirs. For each style there are signals that we should
be able to give and recognise in others, there are ways of communicating
that we follow to fit the style we choose. For example, when we persuade
we think through a good idea to solve the other person's problem and we put
it over with enthusiasm. If we were to adopt the approach in a joint
problem-solving meeting, we would negate the whole process of working jointly
with others to solve a problem, this would lead to hostility in the
group.
Similarly, if we approach persuasion in a
joint problem-solving frame of mind, we would not be convincing. Different
styles need different skills. Sometimes those skills are significantly
different.
Once we have got onto the right wave length
of the person we want to influence, we then have a choice. We
can continue with the same style
or we can signal that we want to change to another style. We do not have
to stick with one style and we cannot hope to influence our style of working
with others, unless we can be flexible.
Its a bit like wearing different clothes.
Recognising signals that you need a joint problem-solving relationship, you
put on your , joint problem-solving pullover' then use the appropriate range
of skills and techniques available. If persuasion is required, take off your
joint problem-solving clothes and choose the "business bit" of persuasion
skills - that is, providing that your culture values different
approaches.
Consider some other examples:
I have come across some accountancy staff
who think persuasion is "telling in a louder voice". The idea of relating
their service to the business needs of the clients and putting over a view
cogently and convincingly did not sit easily. This is surprising when we
realise that an annual audit is a grudge purchase by company directors and
the results that accountants have to communicate are likely to be criticisms.
However, other, services from professional accountants are very different,
such as tax advice, forensic services, business buy-outs and the like, and
lend themselves to a persuasive approach.
Those with a numerical basis to their further
education and early work find it sometimes very difficult to negotiate.
Give five pairs of surveyors a negotiation
exercise to do based on buying a second-hand car. All failed to reach an
agreement. In effect, the seller wanted £5,000 for the car, the buyer
said he would pay only £4,000. A few repetitions of these positions
resulted in a stalemate. The rituals of negotiation do not feel comfortable
to those who are used to dealing in absolute or exact
measurents.
For example, a tax consultant was very keen
on his subject. He had lots of experience and was widely read. However, when
facilitating his subordinates he was not successful. His biggest handicap
was his enthusiasm for providing solutions. He was successful in his own
work because of his speaking skills, but facilitating needs silence and the
ability to help others to find solutions, not providing answers for
them.
Reactions to our ideas
Very often we influence one person in a
department with the intention that they should pass on the message to others.
That's why their reaction to our ideas is so important.
How might they react? We can think of a five
point scale, starting with commitment - where they pick up the ball and run
with it faster than we expect. Next is agreement, this is where they follow
through plans fully and on time. Compliance is next. We know when they react
in this way because we hear phrases like: "Well, if thats what you want,
that's what we'll have to do". Then there is disagreement, again recognised
by phrases like: "I think it's possible but..." and then a hundred reasons
why our idea will not work. Finally, sabotage. We finish our presentation
and break for coffee. The audience get out before us. When we arrive a group
is clustering round someone who is organising against us with a phrase like:
"What a load of rubbish that was. We cannot possibly do that."
If we are to get our client to carry forward
the message, we need their agreement, or better still, commitment.Compliance
will not be enough. Which brings us back to the five influencing
styles.
If we negotiate, we hope to reach an agreement
that sticks. If we tell people what to do, disagreement is as likely as
compliance. Generally, maximising the involvement of the other party is more
likely to result in their agreement or commitment, that is what we need from
the people to whom we give advice.
Choose your influencing style with care.
If you are a partner or a manager and your responsibilities include how others
work together, influencing styles could mean influencing the preferred style
of communication used by others in your organisation when they interact with
colleagues and clients.
Culture is important.
In some organisations, the culture rewards
individual achievement, individuals compete with each other and promotion
and pay reflects this culture. Working in groups or, teams to solve problems
is regarded as a non-issue to the real business. In such an organisation,
joint problem-solving will not be a successful tactic unless senior Management
change the culture.
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