Influence: How to Build Effective Relationships and Allies

Program Highlights

• How to influence where you have no authority (e.g., bosses, peers).
• When influence backfires: doing too much without asking for payback in return.
• How to turn "negative exchanges" into positive, productive ones.

As work increasingly cuts across boundaries, it's necessary for you to influence people at all levels of your organization in order to get your job done. You often need resources and information beyond your own unit, pay grade or department. Whether it's your boss (or your boss's boss!), peers or direct reports, Carole Robin describes how to use the law of reciprocity and the theory of exchange to surface the currencies that matter to potential allies—and create win/win solutions.

Dr. Robin explains how the effective use of influence helps you deliver on your promises and produce excellent results, making you one of the "go-to" people in your organization. And this in turn makes your circle of influence grow ever larger.

Carole Robin teaches at the Graduate School of Business and Stanford Law School. Prior to her role as a partner and principal at Destra Consulting Group LLC, Dr. Robin was a national account manager for Honeywell's Industrial Controls Division, and the 13-state Western Regional Manager for the Modicon Division of Gould, Inc. She has a PhD in human and organization systems and a master's degree in organization development.