Getting a new business initiative approved can feel like pulling teeth. HR practitioners often hit a wall in the form of budget restraints, unrelenting leadership or a workplace culture averse to change.

In the current economic environment, this can turn into a Catch-22. In times of skills shortages, technological disruption and shifting regulatory landscapes, large-scale people initiatives are often necessary for survival, but these same issues are driving many executives to tighten their purse strings.

As a result, HR practitioners without the necessary influencing skills risk letting their best strategies remain forever as ideas on a page.

To avoid this, HR practitioners can develop the skills to speak executives’ language, cultivate advocates and develop a deep understanding of a business’s needs and pain points.

A research-backed approach to executive buy-in

When pitching for executive buy-in, an approach that combines human skills with business acumen is key. 

In an article for Harvard Business Review, professors Susan J. Ashford and James R. Detert provide a detailed breakdown of how to gain executive buy-in based on their research. 

In their research, Ashford and Detert identified the tactics of a successful “issue seller” (their name for a person seeking buy-in).

“Issue sellers who accomplish their goals, we found, look for the best ways, venues, and times to voice their ideas and concerns – using rhetorical skill, political sensitivity, and interpersonal connections to move the right leaders to action,” they write.

They break this down into seven key tactics:

1. Tailoring your pitch – this was the key success factor. They say it’s critical to become familiar with your executive’s “unique blend of goals, values and knowledge” and use these insights to customise your pitch according to who you’re speaking with.

2. Strategically frame the issue – this is the stage most HR professionals would be familiar with: building a business case. Not surprisingly, the researchers found this was more effective than moral framing (e.g. trying to convince people to ‘do the right thing’).

3. Manage your emotions – passion, they said, was proven to help in achieving buy-in, but passion can easily spill into anger and this inevitably works against issue sellers. Emotional regulation is key.

4. Choose your timing wisely – pitch ideas when there’s a groundswell from employees, when a business’ priorities are shifting (we’re in such a time right now) or when a new leader is at the helm.

5. Don’t do it alone – the researchers found having a group of people involved in seeking buy-in made it happen a lot faster, as each individual brought their own experience, relationships and social pull.

6. Tailor your approach– understand how various executives like to receive information. Do they prefer formal presentations to a casual coffee catch-up, for example? Or, does anecdotal data sourced from employees have more impact than referring to external statistics?

7. Have a solution – it seems obvious, but don’t suggest changing a process without providing what the researchers call “thoughtful fixes”. Come prepared with a well-researched solution, but be willing to make changes and seek feedback from others to ensure diversity of thought.

Read the full HBR article for further explanation, advice and examples backing up the tactics.

HR influence in action

Gaining executive buy-in requires HR to strike the right balance between human skills such as emotional intelligence with technical skills such as business acumen, says Shirley Vella CPHR, Executive Director of HR at SPV Consulting.

Based on her experiences getting HR strategies over the line, Vella offers three key tips for HR practitioners hoping to boost their influence among the executive team.

1. Speak executives’ language

For HR practitioners, the engagement, wellbeing and/or capabilities of the workforce tend to be the number-one goals of any new initiative. So, when pitching to executives, it’s often HR’s first instinct to lead with workforce benefits. 

However, it’s important for HR to put themselves in executives’ shoes and demonstrate that costs and business context have been prioritised in the strategy, says Vella.

“In my experience, executives really want to do good things for the employees, but, at the end of the day, the business needs to be sustained,” she says. 

“You need to understand your audience. If they’re looking at the bottom line, then you talk about the bottom line. Look at the ROI and what’s in it for the business.”

To get this right, it’s essential for HR to upskill themselves in the fundamentals of finance, she says, such as the right way to do a cost-benefit analysis or return on investment forecast.

“HR is fundamentally about people, but it also requires a strong focus on the profitability of the business. So you need to have that business acumen.”

“In my experience, executives really want to do good things for the staff, but, at the end of the day, the business needs to be sustained.” – Shirley Vella, Executive Director of Human Resources, SPV Consulting

Vella recalls an instance where she put these skills into practice to get executives at a previous organisation on board with a new HR information system (HRIS). 

“The company had never done it before. And they [looked at] the subscription fees and implementation fees first and asked, ‘What’s good about it?’

“The first thing I did was [demonstrate] the ROI of having the system – for example, [pointing out that] leave management and performance management could all be done through the system, so it’s saving a lot of HR time [to be reinvested into more high-value work]. Also, regulatory compliance is all set up in the system, so, for example, if an employee had an expired or invalid license, the system comes up with an alert, which reduces the risk to them. So we’re using those points and converting them into dollar signs.”

2. Divide and conquer

When cultivating the ability to influence executives, it’s important for HR to remember that each executive will have their own unique language and priorities.

“When you’re trying to get executive buy-in, use a divide and conquer [model],” says Vella. “Try to map your stakeholders first.”

For example, when she pitched the HRIS mentioned above to her company’s executive team, she first made a list of the leadership team members and determined who was the most computer-savvy and systems-focused, and approached them first to demonstrate the benefits.

“If you get their buy-in first, then they will become your advocates, and they will spread the word.”

Once initial advocates are onboard, leverage their support to influence other executives, she says. Many executives will be more convinced of an initiative’s benefits if they hear about them from more than one source, and this can create a positive knock-on effect that lends momentum to your proposal.

3. Start small

As well as building advocates within the executive team, Vella says that the greatest advocates for launching or sustaining HR initiatives are often the employees participating in them. 

Similarly to executives, employees are often more swayed by word of mouth than by formal presentations from the HR team.

For this reason, Vella suggests launching every important initiative through a pilot program in an area of the organisation where it’s likely to have the most impact.

“Whoever you pilot with will become your advocates too,” she says.

She offers the example of a lunch and learn initiative she recently launched in her current role.

“Everyone was fairly sceptical at first,” she says. “First of all, I [convinced] the executives to buy in, but they couldn’t force staff to go. So the next step was [convincing] the frontline managers, who are always busy. I personally went to them and said, ‘Come for five minutes, and if you don’t like it, you can leave.’

“Some of them who never wanted to join [in the first place] just came in to have a look, and  ended up  staying for the entire hour. The positive feedback was enormous and, slowly, they started to talk about [rolling] this out to other teams as well.”

By using these strategies to cultivate advocates among both the executive team and the broader workforce, HR can ensure their ideas translate into meaningful change.

A version of this article was originally published in June 2020, and has been updated with fresh insights from Shirley Vella CPHR.

Want to learn more about effective leadership and management? Sign up for AHRI’s short course to understand your leadership style and learn how to create key performance indicators.

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Have you ever presented information to your peers and colleagues with confidence and then presented that exact same information to a group of senior stakeholders and felt completely out of your depth?

If so, you’re not alone. Feelings of Impostor syndrome or a sudden onset of self-doubt are incredibly common when engaging with executive and board-level leaders for the first time. Often, it’s the absence of executive presence that makes it more challenging.

“The more self-aware, comfortable and confident you are within yourself – when you’ve done some personal or professional development work and when you have a good [understanding of] how you add value – you’re more likely to have that grounded sense of confidence,” says Fiona Pearman, facilitator, coach, author and c0-founder of Quantum Impact Group, alongside Kate Boorer.

Executive presence means you’re less likely to get “hijacked by your nerves” when you find yourself in a situation where you need to demonstrate leadership and influence, she says.

Acquiring these skills takes time, but there are small things you can start doing today that will help you build these critical leadership behaviours over time. Pearman shares five key tips below.

1. Ask really good questions

People often underestimate the value in asking a really good question, says Pearman.

While she warns against over-preparing, Pearman suggests taking the time to understand the environment you’re entering – who’s in the room? How do they communicate? What are their end goals? – and then thinking about some of the questions you might ask to help move the group towards their end goal. 

This can be a great way to cement your presence as a considered, strategic and big-picture thinker. For example, if you’re with a team that is problem-solving, you might ask questions such as:

• What might we be missing here?
• Have we gathered sentiment from anyone who’s not in this room?
• If we asked someone to identify a flaw in our plan, what might they say?
• Are we able to clearly articulate the problem we’re trying to solve?

“The more we can resource ourselves to understand what the parameters are, the less likely we are to [experience] the derailers of executive presence, which are things like self-doubt, the nervous system going into fight, flight or freeze, or being worried that people are going to judge us if we say the wrong thing,” says Pearman.

2. Consider your communication style

As you’re working on developing your own communication style, Pearman suggests taking the time to notice how other executives hold themselves.

“Notice what they’re doing, but also what they’re not doing,” she says.

For example, they might avoid being the first to speak in a meeting, or perhaps they’re restrained when it comes to offering a solution to a problem and instead ask the right questions to help people get there on their own.

The way you communicate matters too, says Pearman.

“If you notice people with executive presence, one of the things you often hear is less is more.

“They don’t pad and they don’t fill. They’re actually pretty comfortable with silence. They’re not trying to people-please, and the absence of that gives them that gravitas and executive presence.”

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do the preparation work that you’re naturally inclined to do, you just don’t need to explain everything, she says. Let your confidence speak for itself and be prepared and available to go deeper should the situation call for it.

Read HRM’s article on how to make your communication more impactful.

3. Don’t feel you need to be the subject matter expert

Many people have an internal bias telling them they’ll look weak or incompetent if they have to ask questions or admit to not knowing something, says Pearman.

“What happens in our early career and leadership journey is that we often rely on our subject matter expertise. We rely on working really hard and knowing our stuff. Particularly for women, we keep thinking that another course or another degree will be the fastest track to executive presence, and yet it never is.”

This isn’t on the individuals, she adds. It’s the result of systemic, social pressures that often hold people back, especially women.

“We keep thinking that another course or another degree will be the fastest track to executive presence, and yet it never is.” – Fiona Pearman

But these challenges occur for all genders, she adds. Pearman has done a lot of coaching work with MBA students through Macquarie Business School and says it’s “phenomenal” how far-reaching these confidence issues are.

“These are all talented, high-potential leaders, and they were hoping their degree would be the ticket to the next stage, yet there was this whole piece around the way they were showing up with their executive presence that, for many of them, was undermining their ability to communicate, engage and inspire people.”

When Pearman works with clients, she has to do a lot of “course correction” to overcome this expertise-versus-presence challenge.

“It’s about getting people back in touch with that inquisitive, curious part of themselves. Being able to ask for help from a place of personal power is very different from tentatively asking questions nervously.”

A great example of this in action is seen in an article HRM published last week. Clare Murphy FCPHR, Executive Director Organisational Enablement at EACH, wrote about how she recently took on responsibility for the finance, IT infrastructure, quality and risk units in her organisation, as well as maintaining her former HR responsibilities.

Murphy noted that she wasn’t a subject matter expert, especially with IT, but she was able to utilise her well-honed HR leadership skills to her advantage.

“Not having an IT background can have its benefits, as I had to ask a lot of questions to understand what was needed, and that enabled a roadmap and communications strategy that has been translated into language everyone can understand and relate to,” she said.

“The most critical skills are the ability to listen, bring together different people and perspectives to work collaboratively together. My general approach is to put out what is proposed and ask people to tell me what’s wrong with it or what’s missing. If you listen to their responses, you can make better decisions.”

4. Have a meeting before the meeting

Executive presence can flow from appropriate consideration prior to an important meeting.

Say you’re presenting to the board and know they’re interested in seeing progress around your employee retention strategies, for example, but perhaps you’ve seen an increase in turnover or what you proposed last time isn’t quite working.

This might feel like a challenging thing to present back to the board, but, as AHRI’s National President and Chair Michael Rosmarin FCPHR said in a previous HRM article, the board is there to help you.

“It’s often a good idea to seek out the Chair and speak to them before the meeting and say, ‘I’ve got something challenging that I’d like us to discuss in the meeting.’ These meetings aren’t about just presenting your work for approval; they’re about getting input and feedback and often working through challenges together,” he said.

Pearman agrees that a “meeting before a meeting” can be a smart way to not only allay any personal nerves, but also get senior stakeholders on side, as you can learn about their priorities and communication styles and tailor your response to them.

“Learn who will be in the room and the dynamics that might be at play,” she says. “What sort of questions might you be asked?”

Read HRM’s guide to developing social capital in the workplace.

5. Develop commercial business acumen

There’s an expectation on leaders that they’ll be able to engage in a robust commercial discussion, says Pearman.

“If you have shied away from understanding a P&L or balance sheet, spreadsheets or financials, that is an area to expand your knowledge on, because even mid-level leadership roles are expected to have a good understanding of the financial implications of choices and decisions.”

This means even when you’re viewing a citation through a people lens, you’re talking about costs, she says.

“When we speak [executives’] language, when we speak into their budgets, into their constraints, into the challenges they have, then we’re solving a problem together. It’s not like HR are coming with their own view of the world. You’re coming into their world and figuring out how you can support them to be more effective in achieving their commercial goals.”

Want to learn more about effective leadership and management? Sign up for AHRI’s short course to understand your leadership style and learn how to create key performance indicators.

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Not all bad leaders are made equally. It’s more likely to be a spectrum; on one end you might be dealing with a leader who shows traits of narcissism, Machiavellianism or even psychopathology (also known as a dark triad leader). On the more benevolent end, you might encounter a leader who is simply insecure or inexperienced and is trying to assert their power by making extreme decisions. 

Wherever they sit on the leadership spectrum, you can be sure of one thing: demanding, inconsiderate or combative leaders will harm employee morale and productivity.  

Elon Musk’s leadership style 

There are plenty of opinions floating around about Elon Musk’s leadership style.  

Many of his actions have to do with his worldview, says Jennifer Overbeck, Associate Professor of Management at Melbourne Business School. 

“Some leaders have a dominating worldview that leaves no room to assess the situation and determine where their worldview fits in. Instead, they simply impose their worldview on others,” she says.  

For example, Musk has a very absolutist view of free speech, says Overbeck. After taking the reins at Twitter, there was an increase in racism and hate speech on the platform. 

“Musk’s theory of absolute free speech didn’t account for the economic consequences of alienating advertisers who don’t like particular kinds of speech juxtaposed with their ads,” says Overbeck. 

This has resulted in advertisers pulling out in droves, which has had a negative impact on revenue.    

Another example HR leaders may also see at work is confirmation bias, which might result in a leader ignoring expert advice. For example, employees cautioned against the implementation of Twitter Blue, whereby Twitter users could pay for verification. In previous situations, Musk may have ignored expert recommendations and succeeded despite them, leading him to have confirmation bias that he can ignore recommendations in this scenario too. 

Authority bias could also take hold in this situation. For example, an employee might want to disagree or raise a point, but do not feel psychologically safe to do so. 

“For leaders with this narcissistic orientation, they’re less likely to take advice. They feel they’re the only ones they can count on and other people will lead them astray,” says Overbeck. 

“Musk may feel like he can rely on his own judgement and ignore advice that might be good for him.” 

Overbeck explains that the reason some of these extreme actions go ahead, such as mass layoffs, demanding perfection or mandating 20-hour workdays, is because they often bring about short-term benefits. 

“There’s reasonable evidence that a more coercive, less humanistic leadership style might generate short-term economic results,” she says. But the long-term consequences far outweigh short-term results, she says.

“It comes at the cost of employees’ mental health, physical health, and damaged relationships.”

“For leaders with this narcissistic orientation, they’re less likely to take advice. They feel they’re the only ones they can count on and other people will lead them astray,” – Jennifer Overbeck, Associate Professor of Management at Melbourne Business School

How can HR step in? 

First off, you need to understand what kind of leader you’re dealing with, says Overbeck. 

“You might have a leader who’s making bad decisions or who’s treating people negatively, but it’s not rooted in a strong and deeply-held fundamental worldview. Often it’s driven by insecurity or questions about their own competence as a leader.

“They might display this behaviour because they haven’t had training in leadership, or have observed other leaders who succeed using these tactics.”  

Here’s how Overbeck suggests HR can improve the situation: 

Understand their aims

To understand their underlying goals, Overbeck suggests having a conversation with that leader to understand what they want to achieve and how HR can help them achieve those goals.  

For example, let’s say a leader is advocating for redundancies so the business can cut costs and boost revenue. 

An HR professional can analyse the cost savings that might result from the redundancies, contrasted with the ongoing costs associated with the redundancies.  

“In that scenario, you could work with somebody in finance to do some modelling to show the longer-term impacts of those redundancies and identify other opportunities to help them achieve their goal of cutting costs and increasing profitability,” says Overbeck. 

Help them gain confidence

If you’re dealing with a leader who’s acting out because they don’t feel competent, respected or like they’ve earned their position, HR can subtly help the leader identify any competence gaps and present opportunities for upskilling. 

For example, Overbeck points to research about leaders who were promoted over their peers. 

“[Leaders in this situation] tend to become more coercive in the way they treat others. They assign them more humiliating and demeaning tasks,” says Overbeck.  

“My research has found that when there’s somebody in a position of power who’s not very respected, we anticipate that person is going to obstruct our goals and treat us badly. And so we preemptively become insubordinate and resistant and non-compliant with them,” she says.  

“To help boost their confidence, HR could amplify the person’s successes or team them up with partners who can help them achieve more wins. Or, you can find ways to give them credit by engineering situations where that person’s status becomes more salient.” 

Look for opportunities for coaching or upskilling

You can’t simply walk up to a leader and say, “I’ve noticed you’re incompetent, here’s how to upskill.” Instead, you need to find a subtle and gentle approach to helping them identify areas they can develop. 

An example Overbeck has come across is when a non-expert joins a team of experts. For example, say a finance person is put in charge of a team of engineers. 

“In these situations, the leader might be suspicious of the experts, get defensive, or withdraw from the team and keep their distance.” 

An HR professional could step in to acknowledge the situation and provide a solution. They could say something like: 

“I know your background is in finance so it must be tough being in this highly technical team of engineers. We’ve had a few people in a similar position and they’ve said it can be confronting and challenging. How are you feeling about it?” 

Whether or not they tell you the truth, you could follow up with something like: 

“One of the things we’ve found in the past is to provide some training for that leader, so when the engineers start throwing the jargon around you know what it means. Would you like to do something like that?” 

The key to doing this well is to point out deficiencies in the situation, not the leader.

What if you’re dealing with a more resistant leader? 

We have good news and bad news. 

The bad news is that if you’re dealing with a narcissistic or Machiavellian type who sits on the extreme end of the bad leader spectrum, know that they won’t be very influenceable, says Overbeck. 

“These leaders probably won’t be swayed by arguments about wellbeing, sustainability or collaborative benefits,” says Overbeck. “They pride themselves on not being influenceable – it’s part of their identity.” 

The good news? There are some meaningful actions you could take to improve the situation, but they need to be done strategically.  

Frame your argument to align with what this leader values

Whatever you need to achieve, you need to frame it in a way that matches this leader’s goal. To do so, you could use more strategic and instrumental language, even if what you’re trying to accomplish is benevolent or constructive. 

For example, if you want to encourage a leader to give employees an extra day of paid leave, you could phrase it like this: 

“If you give employees a day off, we know from reciprocity theory they’ll feel an even greater obligation to give something back to the company, which will improve productivity in the long run.” 

“By framing it like this, you’re telling the leader that the action might look soft, but it’s a way to get more out of people later,” says Overbeck. 

However, she cautions they might think you’re making them look weak if you try to influence them too much, and they will limit how often they acquiesce, no matter how rational your suggestions are. 

Seed the environment with micro-influencers

Another successful approach Overbeck has tried in the past is to make the leader think something was their idea by encouraging people to drop ideas in different settings. 

Overbeck shares a scenario she came across whereby the CEO couldn’t focus for long periods or follow along with complicated presentations. He was also likely to change his mind after everybody in the organisation had put energy and resources behind an initiative. 

“We took a coalition approach, so each member of the team took a different piece of the message. So nobody’s ever giving a half-hour presentation that the guy can’t follow when talking about financial implications.” 

Different people would have conversations about the issue around this leader, so he could pick up the entire narrative that could inform his opinion. Critically, he walked away thinking it was his idea. 

“You might have a leader who’s making bad decisions or who’s treating people negatively, but it’s not rooted in a strong and deeply-held fundamental worldview. Often it’s driven by insecurity or questions about their own competence as a leader. – Jennifer Overbeck, Associate Professor of Management at Melbourne Business School 

Managing upwards 

At some point in your HR career, you’ve probably needed to manage upwards to support a leader to make better decisions. The important thing for HR professionals is to practise empathy and understand what might be driving a leader’s behaviour.  

Most leaders are not trying to wreak havoc, and aren’t aware of the impact their behaviour is having on the workforce. It’s more likely that the leader has been observing certain kinds of behaviour and emulating it. 

“Sometimes when a leader is acting corrosively or cynically or making bad decisions, chances are that’s just how they’ve learned how to handle things,” says Overbeck. 

How HR steps up will be key to supporting them to learn new behaviours, and ultimately, become better leaders. 

Want to learn more about effective leadership and management? Sign up for AHRI’s short course to understand your leadership style and learn how to create key performance indicators. 

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People don’t leave jobs, they leave bosses, or so the saying goes. But even if you like your boss or executive team, the relationship usually still requires some sort of management – especially if you want to develop influence. 

‘Managing up’ asks us to reframe how we think about the dynamic between us and our superiors, moving from a hierarchical top-down approach to a more malleable two-way relationship.

Putting it into practice can involve practical strategies, such as learning at which stage in a process you should loop a leader in, or how to deploy negotiating tactics to get your ideas over the line. When done well, it might help you overcome big hurdles, like getting a risk-averse leader to sign off on a new initiative, or learning how to respond to a challenging leader’s whims without compromising the employee experience.

“The traditional sense of a one-way managerial relationship that’s always just managing down is long gone. I want to be managed.”  – Leani Viljoen, HR consultant and executive

Carol Gill FCPHR, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Melbourne Business School, says the concept of seeking influence with superiors has always existed in some capacity. 

“You could say it goes all the way back to Machiavelli, or to Shakespeare’s Iago whispering into the ear of the powerful Othello,” she says. 

Establishing influence and credibility with your leaders starts with understanding and anticipating their needs, she says.

“In building that relationship, one really needs to understand what the other person’s interests are, what they want and what they need. Then think about how you can help them achieve those outcomes.”

Today, many leaders appreciate managing up, says Leani Viljoen, an experienced HR consultant and executive.

“The traditional sense of a one-way managerial relationship that’s always just managing down is long gone. I want to be managed,” she says. “I often find with CEOs, and as an executive myself, we can be a bit forgetful because we’ve got so many things on our plates.”

Shumaila Ali, People and Culture Lead at NBRS Architecture, says managing up should be embraced as it benefits the organisation.

“For me, managing up starts with understanding the strategic view of the business and where the business is going, and translating that into how you can add value.”

Over the last two years, organisations have increasingly looked to HR to help shape new ways of working and guide their people through the pandemic. But it’s not always smooth sailing – sometimes leaders stand in the way of change. So how can you build the clout needed to get your superiors on side? 

Learn how to match leaders’ style

Establishing credibility and a strong footing for the relationship starts with very practical details, such as examining your communication patterns, says Ali.

“You have to have that regular loop of communication to make sure the people above you really know what’s happening.”     

Understanding how someone likes to communicate is also critical. Adapting your communication style accordingly can go a long way.  

“You might be someone who really likes to send emails, but your manager might be someone who likes to work things out face-to-face,” says Ali.

“For me, managing up starts with understanding the strategic view of the business and where the business is going, and translating that into how you can add value.” – Shumaila Ali, People and Culture Lead at NBRS Architecture

Reiterating information can help to stop important details from slipping through the cracks, says Viljoen.

“Particularly when I’ve got a CEO or a manager who is really busy, I often reframe and revisit a conversation, or summarise it in an email,” she says.

But proceed with caution, because it’s possible to go too far, says Ali.

“Don’t overcommunicate – that shows a lack of critical thinking,” she says. “Especially if you’re working in a small-to-medium-sized business where you might be reporting to the business owner, or if you’re reporting to someone who is really tight for time, understanding how, and how often, they like to communicate is very important.”

Develop influence tactics  

When dealing with a change-resistant leader, it may be tricky to get buy-in for your ideas. But Gill says there are certain ‘influence tactics’ you can try. 

To do this effectively, it helps to understand your leader’s values and how they tend to make decisions. 

For example, if you have a leader who values metrics and data, you might deploy ‘rational persuasion’, a strategy that relies on logical justification. Gill says this could mean foregrounding HR analytics and benchmarking data to measure and demonstrate the impact of your proposal. 

“Unless you can draw a clear line of sight, you’re not going to be very successful – it’s going to be perceived as a cost, not an investment,” she says.  

You should also explain the risk of not acting. For example, the organisation could lose talent. 

Another influence tactic, she says, is ‘inspirational appeals’. This strategy draws on the values of the organisation and leader in a more emotional way. This is used less frequently, but it’s very impactful. 

“Influence comes from understanding what they care about,” says Gill. “Ask yourself: ‘What are their values? How are you aligning to that?’”

Make sure you effectively tell the story about how your proposal aligns with the overall vision, says Gill, as this could elicit a more enthusiastic response. 

For example, if a leader’s top priority for 2022 is growth – which Gartner shows is the top priority for nearly 60 per cent of CEOs – you might weave in messaging into your pitch about how your proposed new onboarding platform will streamline the company’s ability to get the right talent that’s prepared to add value faster, or that your D&I strategy will bring in more diverse voices that could open the company up to new lucrative markets.     

Learn how to inspire, delegate and coach, plus other essential leadership skills, with this short course from AHRI.
Sign up for the next course on 19 April.

Present leaders with multiple options 

When presenting new ideas or entering uncharted territory for the company, framing ideas through a variety of options can be a handy tactic, says Viljoen.

“I mentored someone who had a pretty [risk-averse] boss. When she wanted to do an initiative around diversity and inclusion, she struggled to figure out a way to suggest it to him, because she’d suggested a particular event the year before and he knocked it down,” she says.

“She was a bit nervous to go back to him and ask the question again, but she wanted to, and employees were pushing her to do something.”

Viljoen’s advice was to reframe the suggestion as a question and present choices. 

“She went back to him and said, ‘Look, I know last year we didn’t do anything for, let’s say, Wear it Purple Day. But we’ve had some suggestions from the floor. Here are two or three things we could do. What do you think? 

“If you throw something in that’s not too out there, then the person can comfortably make a decision on a spectrum of choices, rather than being forced into a corner.” 

In this case, it worked and the leader agreed to one of the options presented.

“She gave him a choice that was on a scale and a spectrum that was safe for him, but it was still a step in the right direction for the company,” says Viljoen.

Learn when to speak up 

It’s important to communicate your own needs to a leader, to ensure you have the resources needed to do your job and to establish realistic mutual expectations. 

This conversation could be framed as telling a leader how best to utilise your strengths. For example, you might say, “I feel I do my best work when I’m left to ideate alone but can then finesse my ideas with others.” 

While some people might fear this could make them look demanding, it could ultimately gain you more respect.

Gill says it’s crucial to remain authentic and push back if something’s not working.

“Authentic HR managers speak their minds when something doesn’t align.”   

Ali agrees: “Managing up is not about sucking up. It’s not about saying ‘yes’ to everything or just agreeing to everything. It’s really about putting your professional expertise and experience into a situation and context to find solutions.” 

If you have a leader who is tied to the top-down approach, it could take some time to build influence. But not trying to do this could mean your organisation trails behind those who were brave enough to try something new. 

If there’s one thing we’ve all learned from the last two years, it’s that, in many respects, the old way of doing things no longer cuts the mustard. 

A longer version of this article first appeared in the February 2020 edition of HRM Magazine.

The post Want to influence your leadership team? Learn this critical skill appeared first on HRM online.

Type “My boss is…” into Google and the suggested searches are… interesting. 

My boss is bullying me. My boss is gaslighting me. My boss is causing me anxiety. My boss is toxic. Perhaps this isn’t surprising – you’d be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t had a less-than-ideal manager. 

Take Jessica*, a high level executive at a multinational software company. She’s respected, successful and at the top of her game. But while outwardly it looks like she’s killing it career wise, she spends her days at work feeling anxious and on edge. Why? 

Her Google search might look something like this: “My boss is a narcissist”.

According to the Mayo Clinic, people with narcissistic personality disorder often have “an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for excessive attention and admiration, troubled relationships, and a lack of empathy for others”. 

That’s not exactly the recipe for a great boss. And if you believe the headlines, narcissism is on the rise. In fact, Charmi Patel FCIPD, Associate Professor in International Human Resource Management at Henley Business School in the UK, who has been coaching Jessica, says many consider it an epidemic.

“Often people at high levels suffer from [narcissistic personality disorder] … You can have grandiose narcissism, or covert narcissism, and both are equally dangerous, is what I’m learning through my coaching,” she says.

“When you have a person who is your superior, or even your subordinate or a co-worker, and they have these behavioural issues, your mental health suffers massively. [Jessica] feels she has to watch her every move, because her boss might call her incompetent. She’s always watching out for manipulation and isn’t sure how to respond to his emails or how to communicate with him in a group setting.” 

Even if your boss leaves a lot to be desired, it’s usually in your best interests to make the relationship work. So whether your boss is a raging narcissist like Jessica’s, a ditherer or has an oversized ego, learning to ‘manage up’ could be the solution. 

Not got time to read the whole article? Here are some quick tips from our experts on managing up.

• Implement 360-degree feedback – and use it.
• Have transparent policies that set out the ‘dos and don’ts’ of good behaviour in your workplace.
• Get to know your boss’s personality type and act accordingly. Are you dealing with a risk-averse leader? Make an effort to put them at ease. Have a boss with a big ego? A bit of flattery might actually be a good thing.
• Be empathetic. Having a leader who’s lacking can be annoying, even infuriating. But try to put yourself in their shoes and approach the situation with compassion, rather than anger.

Learn how to manage up

“‘Managing up’ is a polite way of saying we all have to deal with or manage people who have extreme personalities,” says Patel.

“It could include managing bad behaviours, or it could be motivation-related, such as managing someone who is risk averse or who isn’t taking the right steps that are needed for your organisation.”

In all these scenarios, understanding your boss’s behaviour, and their underlying motivations, is key, says Patel. Upskilling in psychology, and being well-versed in different personality types, is a good place to start, she says. Short courses such as AHRI’s Applied emotional intelligence and Having difficult conversations can also help develop your skills in communicating with difficult bosses.

“Managing people is an art, as much as it is a skill, and you need to develop both … At least if you understand why people behave the way they do, you’re able to work through those things with them,” she says.

“It’s all about work and organisational psychology – if you try to understand the behaviours, and the reasons behind those behaviours, then you’re able to tell why your boss is doing what he or she is doing.”

“‘Managing up’ is a polite way of saying we all have to deal with or manage people who have extreme personalities.” – Charmi Patel FCIPD, Associate Professor in International HR Management, Henley Business School

For example, in her research into narcissistic personality disorder at work, Patel found that both covert and grandiose narcissism “stems from deep-rooted insecurity”.

“It might be very difficult to change their behaviour completely, but knowing the psychology helps, because you’re able to work with them and help make them more self-aware.”

The impact of incompetence 

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Chair of Business Psychology at University College London, knows better than most the impact “difficult” leaders can have on a business. 

In fact, he wrote the book on the topic, releasing Why do so many incompetent men become leaders? (And how to fix it) in 2019. 

He says the main dangers of having an incompetent boss are organisational: wasted resources, bad decisions and risky or threatening actions that can cost companies. 

For a boss’s direct reports, the impact is much more personal – their career.

“Incompetent bosses are not very good at gauging talent, developing others’ potential, or turning a group of people into a high-performing team,” he says.

This incompetence can be separated into two types: ethical and unethical. While ethical leaders tend to be well-meaning, they might lack the ability or expertise to make a positive impact. Unethical leaders, on the other hand, might be smart, technically qualified and socially adept – yet morally corrupt.

“Many bosses are narcissistic, psychopathic, passive aggressive, or just emotionally volatile – but we shouldn’t forget that some are just clueless or incapable of doing their job, even if they are decent human beings,” he says. 

He agrees with Patel that one of the best pieces of advice HR practitioners can follow in these situations is to “learn to know, and even understand, your boss”. 

Be strategic with feedback

Having “transparent, blanket policies for no-nonsense behaviour” is one way to keep leaders in check, says Patel. This means making it clear how colleagues should be treated, and setting out the ‘dos and don’ts’ of good behaviour.

“For example, in a sales organisation, you might say, ‘We value those people who bring in a high volume of sales, but at the same time we value people who share the secrets of getting the sales – those who share the knowledge and create a good work environment’.

“Highlight the softer issues, the behaviour and attitudes that are important, rather than just the performance angle.”

Implementing 360-degree feedback, which is taken into account during performance appraisals, also allows other employees to report on a boss’s behaviour – without it getting back to them.

By tapping into this feedback, HR practitioners can help leaders become more self-aware, and hopefully address some of their negative behaviours.

“If within your 360-degree feedback you have behavioural scales, those issues can be picked up during a performance appraisal by HR managers – particularly those who are trained in psychology or who have a psychology background – and used to help make them better managers,” says Patel.

Not all leaders

Managing up isn’t only required when ego is involved. It can also be necessary if you work with a particularly risk averse leader, or someone who is only a few weeks into the job. You need to get things done, but they’re dragging their heels. How do you manage it?

Again, it’s about understanding the causes of their behaviour, says Patel.

“That person might be risk averse because they think the company doesn’t have the right infrastructure in place, or the right resources in terms of people and their skills, to make that decision. 

“So it’s important to find out why …  That is something one does with line managers, operations managers and HR practitioners. It’s just like with personality disorders – discover the underlying reasons.”

* Name has been changed.

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Sign up to the next course on 13 October 2021

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It had been 20 years since St Kilda beat Collingwood at Victoria Park, so the former team’s triumph at Collingwood’s home ground on 17 April 1993 should have called for raucous celebration or bitter commiseration, depending on which side you backed.

But expressions of both were few and far between that day, and instead replaced by a deluge of racist slurs hurled at two Indigenous St Kilda players, Nicky Winmar and Gilbert McAdam. The star players, who were jointly named ‘best on ground’ that day, had faced an onslaught of abuse well before that point.

Throughout the match, Winmar and McAdam were continuously spat on, and dodged drink cans pelted their way.

McAdam’s father, who flew down from Alice Springs especially for the occasion, was so appalled by the racism levelled towards his son, he left the stadium in tears. By the time the final whistle sounded, Winmar had copped more than enough. He lifted his shirt, pointed to his torso and announced to the crowd: “I’m black, and I’m proud to be black.”

His defiant pose, snapped by photographers and splashed across newspapers the following day, has since been viewed as a defining moment in Australian sporting history. 

More than two decades after the momentous match took place, Winmar’s stance against racism was immortalised in bronze outside Perth’s Optus Stadium. 

Although developing the statue was a collaborative effort, there was one person who was instrumental in seeing it come to fruition: Tanya Hosch. 

“This statue stands for more than just football,” says Hosch, SA recipient of the 2021 Australian of the year award.

It is one of her proudest achievements to date as the executive general manager, inclusion and social policy at the Australian Football League.

“It talks so cleanly to the impact of racism and how unacceptable it is. Nicky’s gesture of being black and proud is really wonderful, but it shows that even though the [racist behaviours against him] happened nearly 30 years ago, sadly, it is still extremely relevant today.”

Time for reform

Adam Goodes might be the most publicised example of racism in the sports industry, but he’s hardly alone in his plight. Héritier Lumumba, Nic Naitanui and Joel Wilkinson are just a small crop of AFL players to have also been the targets of racial abuse in recent years.

The sheer scale of on-field and online vitriol fuelled Hosch’s motivation to update the league’s anti-vilification rule earlier this year. Under the reviewed policy, the deadline for players to report racist and sexist abuse after an incident has been extended from two days to two weeks, with discretion to investigate complaints beyond this timeframe.

“We all have to take responsibility for creating safe workplaces and inclusive environments, and that is never just going to be up to me or people who have roles like mine.” – Tanya Hosch, executive GM inclusion & social policy, AFL.

In addition, witnesses such as umpires, office bearers, coaches and other players are able to report abuse, whereas previously the power to report often lay solely on victims’ shoulders.

Although the rule changes are active, Hosch says there’s still a “massive suite of recommendations that needs to be implemented to address the whole football ecosystem, from community football all the way up to elite”.

Effective implementation will require education and training to deal with the vilification of players, she says, as well as discussions with broadcasters and social media platforms to enforce stronger protections.

“Ultimately, we want to see racism eradicated from society, and sport is a really powerful platform to bring those conversations to life,” says Hosch, whose portfolio as an AFL executive also includes advocating for progress in the areas of gender equality, sexuality and gender diversity.

Against the backdrop of conversations about racism in Australia and the broader Black Lives Matter movement (BLM), Hosch will be speaking on the topic Are we ready? True transformation or simply progress? at the AHRI Convention TRANSFORM 2021 next month, now a fully virtual event.

Although pleased to see greater recognition of the prevalence and extent of racism, Hosch fears the BLM movement will culminate in being “just a moment in time” instead of “the great opportunity it has the potential to be”.

“We are seeing greater awareness of the existence of racism, and there have been people working towards that for decades. 

“I would love to say we can see a transformation happening, but I don’t think we have made a lot of progress in relation to addressing it,” she says.

An impactful mentor

Growing up in South Australia, Hosch and her father would bond over scouring away racist graffiti daubed on the walls of her primary school. With a sponge and a bucket of water in hand, they rid the corridors of offensive comments often targeted at Hosch.

“That’s where [my passion] stemmed from – knowing what racism felt like. There were a lot of people who suffered far more than me, and I knew how hard it was for me.”

The unwavering support of her family and friends helped her through, along with the opportunity to lean on mentors – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous role models who offered a nurturing place to debrief.

“Their objective perspectives, and them having so much more experience than me, but having gone through such similar things, was really valuable.”

Since paying the deed forward as a mentor to other professionals, Hosch says being privy to the challenges and vulnerabilities of her mentees has also widened her perspective.

“You can look at the most successful and confident person in the world and believe they are very self-assured, and you soon find out that’s not the case,” says Hosch. “We all have areas that we know we need to work on, and we can all be challenged.” 

Hosch’s reputation as a respected mentor and diversity advocate have placed her as a figure of authority on best practices for eliminating racism in the workplace. When she calls out racist behaviour, she’s often commended for her forthrightness.

“People will say to me on the way out of a meeting, ‘That’s great you said that,’ and I will say, ‘Well yes, but why didn’t you say it?’

“Often they’re a bit surprised, and it’s quickly followed by, ‘I don’t know,’ or ‘I need to think about that’. It often paralyses people. None of us like to look silly, and you can make yourself vulnerable by raising questions that you don’t have an answer to yourself.”

While Hosch empathises with their trepidation, she says, “We all have to take responsibility for creating safe workplaces and inclusive environments, and that is never just going to be up to me or people who have roles like mine.

“We need to share the burden of responsibility and increase accountability.”

One of the key considerations in doing this is to delineate between comments intended to hurt someone or bring them down, versus those borne from a place of ignorance.

“It is clear not all comments are designed to deliberately offend, and I pay attention to intent. But intent doesn’t mean that racism hasn’t had an impact and hurt someone, and this is what should be dealt with. An apology from, and education for, the person who has caused the offence is essential.”

Hosch also advises HR to develop a protocol on how to respond to unacceptable behaviour, so victims and bystanders can feel more confident when communicating their concerns.

As a starting point, the Australian Human Rights Commission suggests following the ‘Support, Record, Report’ method by offering support to the victim, recording the incident, and reporting it to a senior employee.

Learning for Justice also offers some techniques for responding to racist remarks in the workplace including the following:

• Interrupt early to nip racist remarks in the bud. 
• If a racist joke is told, interrupt the laughter by querying: “Why does everyone think that’s funny?” and explain the effect the joke has on you, or others.
• Create an alliance with like-minded colleagues to work towards building a more inclusive workplace.
• Escalate the issue to a senior leader, particularly if the racist remarks are occurring on an ongoing basis.

Visibility matters

Startling figures from the Diversity and Inclusion Council’s recent Gari Yala report give further weight to the pervasiveness of workplace racism. 

Forty-four per cent of Indigenous employees reported hearing racist slurs sometimes, often or all of the time, and 63 per cent said they experience high identity strain – defined as the stress Indigenous employees can feel when they themselves, or others, view their identity as not meeting the norms of the dominant culture.

It is hardly surprising, then, that many companies are struggling to retain their Indigenous employees. 

Hosch believes a lot of the issues around retention stem from recruitment, which she says is typically targeted at more junior candidates. 

Many organisations run recruitment drives with government funding support and are successful in their efforts to hire Indigenous employees, but subsequently find themselves “hugely surprised” that they don’t retain Indigenous people.

The underrepresentation of Indigenous people at the senior level is a major contributing factor, says Hosch.

“The tendency to try to fill roles at the lower level with traineeships or apprenticeships is great, but if you don’t have Indigenous presence and influence at the senior levels of an organisation, younger staff of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background don’t see a forward path for them up the ladder.

“It can be very daunting for a young and junior Indigenous employee to raise a complaint if there aren’t more experienced Indigenous people in their workplace who may have already improved the culture of the workplace through their presence and feedback.

“It’s time we saw many more Indigenous people on company boards. It signals to employees that this is a place where Indigenous people are welcome, are treated seriously, and it’s part of what this organisation seeks to be and do.”

A version of this article first appeared in the July 2021 edition of HRM magazine.

Want to hear more from Tanya Hosch? Register to attend AHRI’s TRANSFORM 2021, a full virtual conference packed with amazing speakers, content and networking opportunities. Discover more here.

The post Tanya Hosch on why influencing from the top matters appeared first on HRM online.

Influence, like its equally abstruse counterparts ‘respect’ and ‘trust’, can be a difficult quality to acquire and an incredibly easy one to lose.

It is less obvious than power – which can be bestowed upon someone whether or not they’re ready for it – but it’s more complex than simply having sway in a situation.

It’s an amalgam of the two – the sweet spot that allows you to manoeuvre a situation without commandeering it. It is about skilfully nudging someone towards a particular outcome while also encouraging autonomy.

While influential workplace leaders might evoke images of high-powered senior professionals and CEOs, COVID-19 has brought HR professionals into that same fold – some for the very first time.

AHRI’s October 2020 pulse survey revealed that HR professionals felt their influence on their respective executive teams had increased by almost 15 per cent over the COVID-19 period. 

While this is great news, it’s not surprising. Leaders and employees alike have looked to HR at every turn this year for cues about navigating a work environment that has been turned on its head.

HR has never had more weight. Your words and decisions have never had a greater impact. And your value, perhaps, has never been so clearly written in stone. So how can you use this new-found influence to become architects of the workplaces of the future? More importantly, how can you make sure it doesn’t slip through your fingers?

“If people are only coming to you when things are broken… then I don’t think you’ve got much influence. You want to be brought into the fold from the beginning to help shape the approach.” – Tracey McPherson CPHR, HR director, Kuehne+Nagel

Shifting focus

“If I had to explain the concept of influence to a layperson, I’d describe it as a catalyst for change,” says Charmi Patel FCIPD, associate professor in International Human Resource Management at Henley Business School in the UK. “Importantly, when we say we’re ‘influencing’ someone, that could be a good influence or a bad influence.”

The weight of the workplace challenges that HR has been speaking about and championing for years is finally hitting home for the wider organisation, says Patel.

“The pandemic has made us realise how important ‘soft’ issues are. Hard issues, like money, are very important, but the ‘softer’ aspects like wellbeing, compassion, emotional health, empathy, gratitude… these all became important aspects that were previously regarded as ‘back office, HR stuff’ that would happen once a year. It was like a tick-box sort of thing. Now, suddenly, we’re seeing it all on the forefront.”

It’s a shame it took a global pandemic for some organisations to wake up to this. What matters, however, is that these conversations are finally getting the attention and resources they have always deserved. 

Instead of having to work tirelessly to get executive buy-in for people-related workplace initiatives, such as a wellbeing program, many HR professionals are now finding they’re being proactively sought out for their advice.

Tracey McPherson CPHR, HR director at global transport and logistics company Kuehne+Nagel, says HR professionals know they’re influential when they are asked for their opinion from the get-go.

“If people are only coming to you when things are broken and need fixing or if there’s an issue with something, then I don’t think you’ve got much influence. You want to be brought into the fold from the beginning to help shape the approach,” says McPherson.

Hidden influence

Professor Vanessa Bohns, associate professor of organisational behaviour at the ILR School, Cornell University, wrote the book on influence, literally. Her upcoming book You Have More Influence Than You Think delves into the ways we can “see, feel and experience our influence on others”.

This comes off the back of a long-term interest in social influence studies. Notably, in 2013 she co-authored a paper with Francis Flynn which investigates the ways in which we underestimate our influence over others in the workplace.

“We describe influence as changing someone’s attitude or behaviour,” she says. “This doesn’t necessarily mean reversing or altering someone’s initial attitude or belief. It could also mean strengthening or validating their initial position.”

It can, however, be hard to understand the power of your own influence if you don’t know it exists in the first place.

“We tend to underestimate the role of self-conscious emotions, like guilt and embarrassment, in the workplace,” says Bohns. “As a result, we sometimes fail to recognise the influence we have over other people through those emotions.”

For example, other research she conducted shows we can underestimate how often people are likely to agree to our requests, even if they don’t want to, because it’s too uncomfortable or awkward to say “no”.

“This is true for prosocial favours we might ask too, as well as for unethical requests… all those things are harder to say “no” to than we realise when we are the ones doing the asking,” she adds.

“Research shows that people in positions of power tend to be particularly bad at taking the perspectives of people with less power than them. For this reason, they may be, perhaps ironically, particularly bad at recognising their influence over people below them.”

Our tendency to underestimate our influence can lead us to engage in all sorts of unhelpful or inhibiting behaviours.

Firstly, it can stagnate innovation. Leaders who aren’t aware of their influence might be less likely to spearhead new initiatives in the workplace, Bohns and Flynn suggest, or become “unwilling to admit their role in their subordinates’ performance failures”.

This, they posit, could lead to ineffective approaches to performance management. For example, leaders may become overly reliant on external incentives, such as rewards or punishment, instead of relying on their influencing skills as a way to encourage or motivate their people.

This lack of awareness can also cause leaders to become unnecessarily assertive.

“Those overly aggressive strategies, which are borne from our insecurities about the influence we think we’re lacking, can backfire. We can actually lose the influence we’ve been trying to gain. For those reasons, I think developing an awareness of the influence we have already can also help us to nurture and maintain [it], as well as ensuring we don’t abuse it,” says Bohns. How do you go about doing that? Bohns envisages a few ways in which you could train people to better see their own influence, including: 

1. Taking time to visualise interactions you have with other people as if you were a neutral observer or a fly on the wall; this helps you get out of your own head.
2. Listening to other peoples’ perspectives in order to understand how your actions have impacted, or are likely to impact, them. This helps you get into someone else’s head. 
3. Testing out your influence in small ways, while simultaneously doing (a) and (b).

“Most of us have a self-attribution error,” says Patel. “We think we’re not that good or that we don’t have that influence. To get that balance check, it’s really good to have mentors at work. They will tell you about your influence in the workplace.

“They’ll give you objective information without massaging your ego and without using flattery. They’ll tell you where you genuinely stand. So try to make the time for one or two coaching sessions each year, just so you can keep your self-esteem built up and really understand your strengths and weaknesses.”

 “We tend to underestimate the role of self-conscious emotions, like guilt and embarrassment, in the workplace. As a result, we sometimes fail to recognise the influence we have over other people.” – Professor Vanessa Bohns, associate professor of  organisational behaviour at the ILR School, Cornell University.

A new-found influence

McPherson works in an HR team of four within the Australian arm of Kuehne+Nagel. It employs around 800-900 people with an approximate 50/50 split between blue and white-collar workers – so employees’ needs and experiences are quite varied.

As the pandemic kicked off in Australia, McPherson and the HR team were quite stretched. While McPherson never felt she didn’t have influence over the executive team, she saw an increased level of trust, collaboration and agile decision-making during the thick of the crisis.

“We were having to make decisions pretty quickly because things with COVID-19 were unravelling really fast. HR needed to be across all things people. 

“Our response was very much led by our MD,” she says. “But we had to make joint decisions, especially when these decisions would be impacting people’s lives – our employees, customers and suppliers.” 

McPherson can point to a specific moment when she felt her influence within the organisation expanded. The company had just discovered that multinational companies like theirs wouldn’t qualify for JobKeeper. 

There were lots of quick decisions being made by various departments about COVID-safe regulations and business continuity strategies, but their main goal was to safeguard their employees. 

“Our MD said to everyone, ‘Before you make any decisions from a people perspective, you need to speak with HR’. I already had a really good relationship with the business directors, so that line of communication influence was there, but I did feel the trust and respect heightened,” she says.

While this increased influence made McPherson feel valued, that doesn’t mean it came without stress.

“I mean, obviously you feel very responsible. I had a line of sight of what was happening and unfolding within our organisation across each state. [COVID-19] wasn’t just impacting our peoples’ work lives, there were so many things happening in their personal lives, too. We’ve had a lot of employees who lost elderly parents and loved ones during COVID.

“There were so many balls we had to juggle from a leadership and people perspective.  Knowing I had the support and backing of my MD and the trust and respect of the senior leadership team… meant we became very agile in our decision making.”

Positional versus social influence 

Influence isn’t synonymous with positional power. Even a leader’s influence is fragile. 

In her research paper, Bohns makes an interesting point in saying “followers confer legitimacy on their leaders, and if a leader fails to meet [their] followers’ expectations, this legitimacy can be revoked along with the leader’s influence”. So while those sitting at the hierarchical peaks may perceive themselves as influential, that doesn’t mean others feel the same way about them.

Instead, social influence is what drives a lot of progression in workplaces and society at large. It’s this type of influence that HR professionals can be taking advantage of.

Bohns points to separate research which suggests peer-to-peer influence (social influence) can actually be more powerful than leadership-led influence, especially when faced with an ambiguous situation. 

After studying two employee groups in an advertising agency, the researchers found that our impression of our colleagues’ ethical behaviours was the strongest predictor of our own tendencies to engage in unethical acts at work, such as taking a sick day, concealing errors and padding expense accounts.

“In fact, employees’ beliefs about what their peers thought was a better predictor of their unethical behaviours than their beliefs about what their bosses and agencies thought of these transgressions,” Bohns and Flynn note.

There’s a flip side to that too. If we know our peers are engaging in ethical behaviours, such as caring for the environment, we’re more likely to follow suit.

McPherson says HR leaders need to think about those in their team who don’t have positional power or exposure to executives. How can you help them increase their level of influence?

“Less experienced HR professionals often sit in on business meetings and are asked to share HR insights or updates – they have a spot on the agenda but don’t necessarily influence decisions. However, if they’re given guidance and coaching, and develop trusting and respectful relationships [with executives], they can truly become HR business partners.”

Bohns says this kind of bottom-up influence is more prevalent than we think. 

“We also tend to forget that bosses and people in positions of power have the same concerns as other people: they want to be liked and respected, and they worry about letting the people who depend on them down. That gives subordinates a lot of influence, which they tend to overlook and underestimate.”

For those struggling to influence upwards, Patel suggests helping leaders to see the bigger picture and consider their place within it.

“When your influence is only seen through your actions, sometimes it’s a good idea to benchmark against other people, like your competitors, in order for the executives to hear what you’re saying. 

“You might not always have the power to do something, but you can talk about benchmarking and spotlight what other companies are doing. That gets powerful people to listen.”

Maintaining your influence

To maintain their influence, Patel says HR professionals need to be prepared with data-backed advice for the executive team.

“You can do monthly or fortnightly surveys of your people and just keep that data on you so you can help others [the executive team] understand how employees are coping in general. These things can be easily quantified, and they bring credibility to the HR profession,” she says.

“I always say one thing to the HR directors I work with: get evidence. You don’t have to pay millions to consultancies. You don’t have to go to McKinsey, you are your own McKinsey. Get your people together. Get valid scales and survey items. Do interviews with your people to know what they want and how they want it.”

Don’t present a bunch of data to the executive team without a strategy for using it, Patel adds. 

“You need to sit down and analyse why the data looks the way it does and what interventions might be necessary.”

Looking forward, McPherson says it’s important HR remains involved in these influential conversations.

Leadership teams will also be looking to HR to validate what the future of work will look like and what the parameters should be.

“While the data will inform some of our decision-making, we need to look at our leadership behaviours and challenge our ‘pre-COVID’ mindsets. I think while we are in COVID everyone has been trusted because there’s been no alternative. Once we go back to this new normal, however, where people may not want to commute two hours a day to work, for example, how are managers able to deal with that?”

There’s a lot of responsibility sitting on HR right now; businesses are asking for a lot. But remember that this is a watershed moment for the people management department. 

You have the chance to tear down archaic systems and redesign workplaces that centre the human experience. You can create new norms, implement cutting-edge processes technologies and shift executives’ priorities in the right direction.

So how will you grab this opportunity with both hands?

Think about the lessons gleaned from this crisis, design a clear, data-backed plan and then start putting your influencing power to the test.

This article first appeared in the December/January 2021 edition of HRM magazine.

With great power comes great responsibility. Refine your skills and get the most out of your new influence with AHRI’s short courses.

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This year the Australian HR Institute has kept its finger firmly on the pulse of HR professionals across the country by releasing a series of pulse surveys to identify what’s working well and what’s keeping them up at night.

Unsurprisingly, the first survey, conducted in April, revealed that HR was stressed about making employees redundant. In May, we saw they were overworked and burnt out as a result. After the dust started to settle, in July, AHRI asked industry professionals  to share how the pandemic forced them to change their business operations.

In this latest survey, which includes insights from over 280 Australian HR professionals from 21 August to 2 September, AHRI identified that many people don’t feel they currently possess the right skills to thrive in a post-pandemic workforce. At the same time, it also found that HR professionals feel their influence on the executive team has increased. 

So how can they use this new-found influence to better prepare themselves, and their workforces, for the future?

Reacting, resolving or recovering?

Some organisations are running business as (almost) usual while others are still struggling to get through each week. AHRI was able to capture this difference by asking respondents to place themselves into one of three categories: reacting (still responding to shifting conditions), resolving (implementing new operating models) or recovering (making strategic decisions about the future). 

Most respondents (36.6 per cent) were in the ‘reacting’ phase. This makes sense. While certain industries have been able to quickly adapt, many are still sorting through the details of operating within a new, or tweaked, environment.

Interestingly, larger organisations (those with over 1,000 employees) were the least likely to be in the recovery stages (23 per cent), compared to those with a smaller workforce.

You might think larger organisations are better positioned to fast-track their recovery, considering they usually have more  resources – they can call on larger HR teams for strategic advice, create  COVID-safe work environments, and can quickly transition to online working, for example. However, they perhaps don’t have the same level of agility as smaller organisations. 

“If you’ve got less than 100 employees, there’s a pretty good chance the CEO will know each individual,” says AHRI’s GM of people and culture, Rosemary Guyatt FCPHR.

“This means they can be tailored in their response because everyone’s wellbeing and capabilities around resilience will be different.”

When employees feel their individual needs are catered, they’re more likely to be in a position to help their business enter recovery mode faster.

“It’s harder and slower to turn around a big ship,” says Guyatt. It’s also harder when more stakeholders are involved. “If an organisation is publicly listed there might be greater conservatism around the direction that an organisation should take.

“Also, smaller organisations will have less of a financial buffer. So if they don’t change quickly, they’re out of business.”

In terms of industry breakdown, the financial and insurance services industry stood out by far as the farthest along in the recovery journey – with 52 per cent respondents in recovery mode. However, it was a different story in the healthcare/social assistance and manufacturing industries, with only 22 and 17 per cent, respectively, in recovery stages.

“Healthcare is in crisis. It’s pretty difficult right now for them to transform their organisations. Obviously that will vary from state to state, but Victorians made up a large proportion of our survey [38 per cent], so that would have had an impact.”

For more insights, such as HR professionals’ thoughts on salary bumps and recruitment outlooks for the next six months, download the full AHRI pulse report, ‘Skills for a post-pandemic future’.

Mike CPHR, an HR business analyst in the manufacturing industry, was fortunate that his business was able to continue operating throughout the pandemic.

“We put a lot of effort in at the beginning to ensure we could keep operating, such as ensuring people worked in shifts to keep groups of people socially isolated. We also have temperature testing for anyone who is coming on site.”

HR’s influence is on the rise

HR professionals say their influence on the executive team has increased by almost 15 per cent since the crisis began, and many expect this influence to continue rising post-pandemic.

“This crisis has absolutely engaged HR in a more strategic way,” says Guyatt.

One respondent said his HR team stopped the leadership team from making knee-jerk reactions. “We educated them on alternative pathways and methods of coping.”

Jason CPHR, a survey respondent and HR manager for a business process outsourcing and IT company, considered his organisation in the ‘reacting’ stage.

“Before COVID-19, HR had a fairly good presence with the senior team; I’m on the senior leadership team for the division I’m responsible for. So I sort of already had a seat at that table, so to speak. But during COVID, I did notice that influence increase. A lot of executives called on HR for support with things such as supporting staff from a wellbeing perspective.”

An example of that influence shift, he says, was in the organisation’s new approach to rostering.

“Previously it was decentralised… but HR has now come in and overseen and approved some of that. We’ve had a bit more of a hands-on approach with the roster, more of an operational focus. We weren’t previously that operational focused for this part of the business,” he adds.

What’s more important than gaining influence is knowing how to maintain it.

Guyatt says in order for this to happen HR professionals need to continue to innovate, be flexible and demonstrate strong change management skills, as well as place employee mental wellness at the forefront.

“They need to also take a lead on new ways of communicating while also managing the complexities of the changed Industrial Relations and Employee Relations landscape,” she says. “They need to continue bringing each of those priority areas to the table with either new solutions or leading the discussion on opportunities around these key need areas.”

“For me, adaptability and flexibility are key, underpinned by good communication. These are the skills that support building and managing resilience.” – Rosemary Guyatt FCPHR

Mike says in his organisation HR created a strong sense of influence through the way it communicated with the wider workforce.

Things were changing quickly, so there had to be clear, concise, consistent and regular communication of processes, he says. 

For HR professionals, it’s not only important to influence the approach executives take but they also need to take the time to get to know their employees better, says Mike. This will allow them  to quickly respond to individual needs while also ensuring optimal business operations. 

“That kind of judgment about how far you can go [when making business decisions] and balancing that between the needs of people in the business, that’s where HR has a lot to add,” says Mike.

Jason adds, “For any HR professional looking to grow their influence at any level make sure you’re considered a trusted advisor. That means any information that you’re given is accurate. If you provide incorrect advice to someone, that could be looked upon negatively by those who don’t see HR has a strategic partner.

“The guidance and advice that HR has provided to the supervisors and managers has been greatly appreciated and I would expect this to continue post-COVID-19.”

Preparing for the future

Respondents who believed their organisations were in the recovery phase were 33 per cent more likely to agree they’re prepared for 2021 than those in the reacting stage. However, only 8.8 per cent of total respondents strongly agree they’re prepared for next year.

On a more positive note, the majority of respondents (86 per cent) either agree or strongly agree that they’ll bounce back from the economic impacts of COVID-19 with those in the private sector being the most hopeful.

While economic recovery might be on the horizon, many people fear their workforce and HR teams don’t have the skills required to come out of the pandemic stronger.

Only 36 per cent felt their HR teams were well equipped to manage a post-COVID recovery and 51 per cent felt the same way about employees’ skills.

To bridge that gap in employee skills, Guyatt suggests employers nurture resilience in their employees.

“Resilience means different things to people. One is about being able to respond to and recover from a traumatic event or a major change. Others might say it’s about managing one’s own wellbeing. Others say it’s about having an environment of psychological safety that encourages people to speak up – that will make a difference.

“For me, adaptability and flexibility are key, underpinned by good communication. These are the skills that support building and managing resilience.”

Regarding gaps in HR skills, respondents identified five crucial skills needed for recovery (see below).

“These are all skills that should be being further developed right now,” says Guyatt. 

HR professionals might feel like they don’t have the opportunity to hone these skills while navigating the crisis, says Guyatt. 

Other barriers to upskilling were: lack of strategic planning, no access to affordable courses, lack of resources and competing priorities.

While many don’t have the time to upskill right now, Guyatt is seeing some who are.

“It might be people who’ve lost their jobs or things feel quiet at work, they’re the people investing in their professional development, for example, by enrolling in AHRI’s Practising Certification Certificate. We know that many HR professionals want to upgrade their capability as a result of the pandemic.”

Now is the time to take stock, says Guyatt.

“Press the pause button to understand what has been working. The majority of our learning comes from application,” she says.

“Note where you’ve had some successes. While the recovery stage is still hard work, there are some silver linings and things that you might want to keep doing. Most organisations have developed new habits. Identify what they are and which ones you want to maintain. That, I think, is going to be really important in the shift from reacting to recovering.”

Want to assess where you’re at? AHRI’s Training Needs Analysis tool is a free, 30-minute online tool that assesses your skills and capabilities and recommends a personalised education and training solution. You’ll be able to gain insights into your own HR capabilities, and configure a roadmap to reach a next stage in your journey and expertise.

The post HR’s influence is growing due to COVID-19, says new AHRI research appeared first on HRM online.

As an HR professional, the biggest challenge you can face when trying to influence senior leadership is misunderstanding. Quite simply, it may be you are speaking an entirely different language to them without realising it.

So how can this be remedied?

Here are seven tips to becoming influential, taken from the marketing world. The theory is known as the seven steps of influencing that addresses consumer needs. Before consumers buy a product, they are said to need seven positive exposures to it. A one-off presentation simply will not work. There is no reason why a sell to executives shouldn’t be treated in a similar vein.

Let’s take a scenario where you want to influence the executive team to fund a leadership program.

• Step 1 – Work out the needs of each individual on the executive team and strategise how to present the remainder of the steps to meet these needs.
• Step 2 – Drive your agenda by finding  an interesting article on leadership capabilities and sharing it with the executive team.  Highlight the key aspects in that article that would speak to the board (their platform may be innovation, safety, culture – the list goes on).
• Step 3 – Follow-up with a phone call to hear their thoughts.
• Step 4 – Find an ally. Get an executive team member who speaks your language to go and speak to the others on your behalf about this issue. Have them mention that you would like to present to the executive team about a way forward for leadership in your organisation.
• Step 5 – Data, Data, Data. Collate all data into a one page summary, giving an overview of what your leadership challenges are and ideas on how to approach them. Ideally present the data in categories targeting the needs of each executive (e.g, safety, innovation, culture).
• Step 6 –  Find a fantastic TED talk (there are numerous) and put it either on the agenda at an executive meeting or into the inboxes of those you are trying to influence.
• Step 7 – Hone in on the boss. Accidentally find the chair of the board in the kitchen between meetings and request to present to the board on the leadership challenges within the business.

This seven step process can be applied to almost any area that needs influencing. The success of your strategy comes down to how effectively you can empathise and walk in the other people’s  shoes, then pitch your solution directly to their problem.

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Technological disruption is driving a wave of change so great that the World Economic Forum has termed it the Fourth Industrial Revolution. To thrive in this ever-changing landscape and to progress your career, leaders need to know how to have more impact in a shorter timeframe. Central to that success is being able to influence. It’s a skill that ultimately becomes a source of competitive advantage by helping leaders make more progress.

Today’s workplaces are more – not less – complex

How we work and live is fundamentally changing. A 2016 report by the CSIRO and Australian Computer Society, Tomorrow’s Digitally Enabled Workforce, predicts that nearly half of the jobs in Australia are at risk of computerisation and automation.

Job tenure is long gone, while the casual and contract labour force is continuing to expand. The end result is a working environment that is more complex and ambiguous, where leaders are expected to deliver outcomes in a faster timeframe and often with less resources.

Collaboration is critical

Influential leaders know how to get things done through other people and are aware of the environment in which they are operating. They know how to use their position wisely to secure outcomes enabling them to cut through the noise and make change happen.

They do this in a way that is highly consultative and collaborative, knowing they will only secure sustainable change and progress if employees buy into it. They take a long term view of relationships and understand that relying on traditional hierarchical power to get things done doesn’t work anymore. Why? Because organisational dynamics and employee expectations are different.

In contrast, managers who struggle to influence often resort to hierarchical power plays – seeking to wield ‘power over others’.   They force decisions with little consultation, leading to poor outcomes and little buy-in.

Influence isn’t a solo pursuit

An effective leader knows they can’t do it alone. They need each team member operating optimally so they can collectively make progress and create change in the organisation. To do that, the team members need to be able to influence as well.

This is influence that is focused on ensuring balanced outcomes and considering the needs of all stakeholders. Achieving this requires teams to have the optimal mix of technical and behavioural skills. In this way the art of influence becomes a competitive advantage for the whole team – and a major benefit to the organisation.

The post Want to be a leader? Here is why you need to work on your influence appeared first on HRM online.