Increasing Your Influence at Work All-in-One For Dummies

Get ahead in the workplace by influencing others  Influence is a timeless topic for business leaders and others in positions of power, but the world has evolved to the point where everyone needs these skills. No matter your job, role, rank, or function, if you want to get things done you need to know how to influence up, down, across, and outside the organization. Increasing Your Influence at Work All-in-One For Dummies shows you how to contribute more fully to important decisions, resolve conflicts more easily, lead and manage more effectively, and much more. Plus, you'll discover how to develop the most important attributes necessary for influence—trustworthiness, reliability, and assertiveness—and find out how to move beyond. Includes easy-to-apply information for influencing managers, peers, and subordinates Shows you how to build trust with your co-workers and cultivate reliability through consistency and being personal Illustrates how influencing others in the office helps you enjoy a greater measure of control over your work life  Helps you advance your career more rapidly than others No matter who you are, where you work, or what your professional goals are, achieving more influence in the workplace is critical for success. 

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 2 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 3 Book 1: Body Talk: Influencing Through Communication and Body Language 5 Chapter 1: Building Effective Verbal Communication Techniques 7 Great Communicators Are Made, Not Born 8 Verbal Communication: When Words Matter Most 9 Cooperative Language: Verbal Communication at Its Finest 12 Chapter 2: Grasping Nonverbal Cues 21 Noting Nonverbal Techniques that Speak Volumes 21 Becoming an Expert in Active Listening 30 Chapter 3: Defining Body Language 35 Discovering How Body Language Conveys Messages 36 Examining Key Types of Gestures 41 Getting the Most Out of Body Language 47 Appreciating Cultural Differences 51 Chapter 4: Working with Different Communication Styles 53 Taking On Direct and Passive Communication Styles 54 Saying Yes to Assertiveness 58 Knowing Your Communication Style 60 Sharpening Your Communication Style 62 Chapter 5: Influencing through Communication 67 Understanding the Importance of Effective Communication 67 Communicating Quicker than the Speed of Conscious Thought 69 Understanding Why People Say Yes 70 If You Have the Need to Influence, You Get to Do All the Work 72 Navigating the Political Landscape 73 Ethically Influencing and Persuading for Results 76 It Takes Two to Influence 77 If You Aren’t Getting the Desired Results, Change Your Communication 89 Chapter 6: Influencing through Body Language 93 Creating a Positive Environment 94 Pointing Your Body in the Right Direction 99 Negotiating Styles 104 Book 2: Exerting Influence Through Important Conversations 109 Chapter 1: Conversations in Good and Bad Times 111 Using Critical Conversation Tools to Develop Superstars 112 Coaching with Critical Conversations 114 Making Everyday Conversations Count 118 Opening Your Culture to Conversation 120 Preparing for a Performance Conversation 122 Having Conversations When Performance Is Suffering 122 Turning Poor Performers into Productive Performers 130 Keeping It Close to the Chest: Confidentiality Is Critical 131 Chapter 2: Hot Topics in Team Conversations 133 Creating a Productive Team 133 Improving Team Behavior 140 Chapter 3: Staff Disputes 143 Getting Results When Employees Aren’t Getting Along 143 Considering Expert Tactics for Handling Staff Disputes 147 Resolving the Five Biggest Staff Disputes 153 Chapter 4: Workplace Complaints 159 Addressing Workplace Complaints 160 Using Critical Conversations When an Issue Is Raised 164 Digging into Workplace Complaints 165 Bringing in a Mediator 168 Moving Forward after Tough Workplace Conversations 171 Chapter 5: Difficult Behaviors 173 Defining Difficult Behaviors 174 Keying in on Difficult Behaviors 175 Using a Critical Conversation to Turn Around Difficult Behaviors 178 Building a Toolbox: Action Plans for Difficult Behaviors 180 Finding the Words for Special Circumstances 184 Stepping in When Bad Behavior Becomes a Pattern 188 Chapter 6: Customer Conversations 191 Helping Customer Relationships 191 Providing Exceptional Customer Service 193 Handling a Customer Who Crosses the Line 197 Delivering Bad News to Clients 199 Keeping Your Customers 201 Book 3: Peace Talks: Having Influence When You’re the One Involved in Conflict 203 Chapter 1: Identifying What Both Sides Want 205 Asking Yourself What You Really Want 206 Thinking about What the Other Person Wants 211 Taking a Look at Both Sides 214 Chapter 2: Asking for a Meeting to Talk about the Conflict 219 Considering the Best Way to Approach the Other Person 219 Preparing for Resistance 222 Setting a Time and a Place for a Productive Discussion 228 Chapter 3: Sitting Down to Talk through the Issues 231 Preparing to Mediate Your Own Conflict 232 Getting the One-on-One Started 233 Sharing Perspectives 236 Creating an Agenda 244 Looking for Win-Win Solutions 247 Concluding the Discussion 250 Chapter 4: Tailoring Your Approach to the Organizational Chart 253 Resolving Issues with Someone You Supervise 254 Addressing Conflict with a Peer 262 Having One-on-One Conversations with Your Boss 264 Book 4: Go, Team! Building Influence Across Teams and Functions 269 Chapter 1: Driving Engagement through Team Development 271 Yay, Team: Identifying Characteristics of an Engaged Team 272 Stormin’ and Normin’: Exploring Tuckman’s Stages 274 From a Distance: Leading Teams from Afar 282 Hit Me with Your Best Shot: Conducting a High-Impact Team Workshop 283 Chapter 2: Improving Organizational Communication 285 Mind the Gap: The Great Organizational Communication Fissure 286 Establishing Two-Way Communication 287 Building a Communication Protocol 290 Maximizing the Various Communication Tools 293 Communicating Change 301 Communicating Your Engagement Efforts 304 Looking at a Few Communication Don’ts 305 Chapter 3: Strengthening Team Performance with Mindfulness 307 Identifying and Harnessing Team Dynamics 307 Improving Team Performance by Staying Focused on the Important Stuff 312 Enhancing Internal and External Business Relationships 318 Boosting Team Morale and Effort 323 Chapter 4: Using Mindfulness to Assist Different Business Functions 329 Mindfulness for Human Resources 330 Mindfulness for Occupational Health 336 Mindfulness for Learning and Organizational Development 338 Mindfulness for Customer Service 341 Mindfulness for Marketing and PR 344 Book 5: Boomers and Beyond: Influencing Across Generations 347 Chapter 1: Driving Engagement across Generations 349 Boom Baby: Working with Baby Boomers 350 X Marks the Spot: Working with Generation X 354 Working with Millennials 358 Putting It All Together 363 Chapter 2: Encouraging and Facilitating Collaboration among Generations 367 Shifting Your Perspective on Collaboration 368 Reconciling Differences: Independent Xers versus Collaborative Millennials 370 Onboarding Millennials 376 Training Millennials 378 Mentoring Millennials and Vice Versa 379 Building a Collaborative Infrastructure 382 Chapter 3: Supercharging Your Feedback Loop 389 Giving Feedback in the Instantaneous Age 390 Rethinking the Review Session 392 Realizing that Feedback Is a Two-Way Street 403 Acting More Like a Coach Than a Boss 406 Troubleshooting Common Feedback Issues 406 Chapter 4: Motivating Millennials — Generation “Why?” 411 Managing for Meaning 412 Compensating the Noncompensation Generation 417 Rewarding Millennials 421 Chapter 5: Dropping Workplace Formalities 429 Distinguishing Between Formality at Work and Work Ethic 430 Drawing the Fine Line between Manager and Friend 442 Channeling Your Inner Emily Post: Communication Etiquette 445 Book 6: Who’s The Boss? Becoming an Influential Company Leader 451 Chapter 1: People Who Lead People: Engaging Employees through Leadership 453 Distinguishing Management versus Leadership 454 Surveying Leadership-Based Engagement Drivers 455 Understanding That Leadership Starts at the Top 456 Identifying the Behaviors and Traits of Engaged Leaders 458 Here Comes the Train Again: Training Managers to Become Engaged Leaders 462 Put Me In, Coach! Coaching for Engagement 464 Do This, Not That: Looking at Leadership Best Practices 468 Chapter 2: Establishing Trust 471 Surveying Ideas for Building Trust in Business 471 Defining Trust and Needs in the Workplace 473 Getting Others to Trust in Your Leadership 477 Setting Standards for Others by Example 479 Harnessing People Power 482 Chapter 3: Motivating the Masses 487 Peeking into the Human Motivation Theory 488 Helping People Find Their Meaning and Purpose Again 496 Practicing and Reinforcing Motivation 499 Chapter 4: Thriving on the Challenges of Leadership 505 Thriving Rather Than Surviving 506 Being a More Mindful Leader 509 Practicing Mindful Leadership 512 Coping with Stress and Pressure by Building Resilience 517 Chapter 5: Leading People, Change, and Strategy 521 Leading Mindfully When Change Is the Norm 521 Creating Strategies That Allow the Organization to Flourish 525 Creating a More Mindful Organization 533 Index 539

About the Author :
Dr. Christina Tangora Schlachter, PhD, is the founder and Chief Leader of She Leads and creator of the Leading Change Guide, which helps leaders reinvent themselves and their companies with a 12-week turnaround process.