Mastering Workplace Influence: Strategies for Success

Part I: Commitment and Consistency

Navigating influence and persuasion within the workplace is a substantial subject. We all recognize and acknowledge the necessity of influencing stakeholders. In addition to technical prowess, it stands as a pivotal factor for achieving success not only for us data scientists and machine learning engineers, but across various professions.

I’m planning to delve into some of the essential components, drawing from my firsthand experiences and observations, and offer some pragmatic suggestions in the meantime.

Source

Influence and Persuasion

Whether you’re a parent guiding your children, a team leader navigating complex collaborations, or an individual seeking effective teamwork, you probably are intimately familiar with the challenge of “tell someone to do something”.

Yet, there’s a subtle distinction between those who merely follow directions and those who genuinely embrace and dedicate themselves to your ideas and visions. This discrepancy can profoundly impact the paths people choose and ultimately shape the outcomes achieved.

This is where the art of influence and persuasion takes center stage.

They move beyond getting somebody to just simply comply with what it is that you’re requesting to actually being truly committed to the course that you are setting for them, such that when you are not in the room, when you are away, these individuals are still doing the things that you want them to do.

Commitment and Consistency

Within the realm of influence, there are numerous facets worth exploration. Today I’d like to focus on “commitment and consistency”.

As Dr. Robert Cialdini states,

“Once we have made a choice or taken a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment. Those pressures will cause us to respond in ways that justify our earlier decision.”