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by Michael D. Watkins Published 4 August 2022 in Brain Circuits • 3 min read
To be influential in complex organizations, you must be able
to navigate stakeholder environments and build alliances in support of your
objectives. There are key strategies involved in becoming an expert at building
alliances; it is a skill all leaders should aspire to master.
To be influential in complex organizations, you must be able to navigate stakeholder environments and build alliances in support of your objectives. There are key strategies involved in becoming an expert at building alliances; it is a skill all leaders should aspire to master.
First, understand the players.
Analyze the full set of stakeholders and break them down into the following five categories:
Building alliances
Adapting your strategy to the type of negotiation is essential. Mastering persuasion and exerting influence requires:
Master negotiators do not just influence decision-making, they analyze who else will influence how decisions will be made. They also build effective networks of broad and short-term temporary alliances.
Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change at IMD
Michael D Watkins is Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change at IMD, and author of The First 90 Days, Master Your Next Move, Predictable Surprises, and 12 other books on leadership and negotiation. His book, The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking, explores how executives can learn to think strategically and lead their organizations into the future. A Thinkers 50-ranked management influencer and recognized expert in his field, his work features in HBR Guides and HBR’s 10 Must Reads on leadership, teams, strategic initiatives, and new managers. Over the past 20 years, he has used his First 90 Days® methodology to help leaders make successful transitions, both in his teaching at IMD, INSEAD, and Harvard Business School, where he gained his PhD in decision sciences, as well as through his private consultancy practice Genesis Advisers. At IMD, he directs the First 90 Days open program for leaders taking on challenging new roles and co-directs the Transition to Business Leadership (TBL) executive program for future enterprise leaders, as well as the Program for Executive Development.
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