Are You An Influencer Or Do You Take A Backseat?

This article is co-written by Robin Kiziak and Anders Liu-Lindberg 

As FP&A professionals we rarely get to make the decisions that impact business outcomes, however, through “influencing” we can still influence decision-making for the better. This goes straight to our purpose which is “to drive the right strategic decisions in the company”. That’s, of course, also why “influencing” is one twelve key skills that FP&A professionals need to succeed in the future. There are no two ways around that. Influence is power. No matter who you are, where you work, or what your professional goals are, achieving more influence in the workplace is critical for success.  

If you’re able to use influence to get the actions and outcomes that you desire then you will be able to work more effectively and your voice is more likely to be heard and acknowledged. 

Let’s make influencing tangible like any other hard skill 

Influence has countless advantages, but gaining that influence, just like learning any other skill, takes time and effort. As part of building an influence strategy there are broadly seven areas that you can focus on to achieve enhanced influence. 

1. Be flexible - work actively to show your flexibility while holding firm on your beliefs. Negotiations and compromises are often the best way to do this. Stay rigid in your beliefs when someone contradicts you, but work with them to find a mutually acceptable solution.
2. Build trust with your colleagues - influence is intrinsically linked to trust. If someone trusts you they will be open to influence. It's possible to convey a demand or assign a task that must be carried out by a colleague, but true influence suggests a free will component. Would the colleague carry out the task if you weren’t senior to them in a company hierarchy?
3. Be assertive, not aggressive - being assertive is the only way to get your ideas noticed, especially when you're competing with others for visibility, such as in a meeting. However, there's a line between being assertive and being aggressive and you need to ensure you stick to the right side of the line.
4. Cultivate reliability through consistency - inconsistency is the fastest way to ruin your reputation. Consistency, on the other hand, is slow but sure. If you execute your tasks effectively and on time, day after day, eventually people will come to rely on you. The same is true when you execute a consistent style of leadership, setting consistent expectations with your employees and giving consistent rewards for excellent work. People will come to rely on your behavior and expect you to be a consistent performer.
5. Focus on actions rather than argument - trying to build influence through words doesn’t work. Even the best speaker in the world needs to back up what they’re saying with actions otherwise it all too easily becomes a case of do what I say, not what I do. This tie back into being consistent and people being able to rely on your actions.
6. Listen to others - remember that influence is a two-way street. The more you believe in the people around you and incorporate their ideas into your vision, the more they'll believe in your ideas and incorporate them into their work habits. Take time to respect and acknowledge everybody's opinion, and let people know that you value them. If people don’t voice their opinion often give them the opportunity. Ensure that in meetings everyone has the opportunity to give their thoughts.
7. Be personal - a little personality goes a long way, especially when you're trying to build influence in the workplace. This is especially important when you're in a higher position, as a boss or a supervisor. If you isolate yourself, or try to build your perceived authority by distancing yourself from the others, it might only serve to alienate you and put you in a position where you're viewed with distrust or even resentment.

Influencing is, of course a generic skill that can be used by anyone in the company and by everyone who doesn’t make the decisions themselves. It’s particularly important for support functions like Finance though. 

How business partners influence decision-making

For FP&A professionals and finance business partners getting your voice heard and having influence within your organisation is arguably part of your role. 

Within finance you want to be able to be a trusted and reliable member of your management team as well as constantly adding value to make sure that the right decisions are made for the right reason.  

At times you will be the conscience of the business and must make the tough calls when operations, sales or marketing heads around you are losing theirs. Your influence and analytical argument will help when these moments occur. This is especially true with senior management who rely on the organization to feed them intel on what decisions to make. However, any intel they get will be biased by people’s own opinions and FP&A needs to be able to remove bias from strategic decisions as much as possible. 

When influencing the people, you work with it helps to understand what your natural go-to influencing style is. Everyone has a default setting that they will fall back on and when you are familiar with your go-to approach, it will be easier to identify when that’s not working and to flex your style accordingly. 

Fundamentally there are two main ways to influence, push and pull.  

There are pros and cons for both Push and Pull styles and it is important to understand the uses of each. To understand push and pull further the following notes outline the distinct types of Push and Pull styles and how they may be useful. 

Directive (PUSH)

This is an ‘I’- driven style where the influencer asserts their own views and ideas and expects others to follow. This style is most appropriate when:

• You are an expert
• You require very speedy action
• You are working with new or inexperienced staff
• It is a safety, security or time deadline issue
• When used ineffectively, your colleagues may judge you to be a bit of a ‘bull in a china shop’ 

Collaborative (PULL)

This is a team-oriented style where the influencer aims to involve others who will offer views and ideas about the issue. This style is most appropriate when:

• You require commitment from others
• You want innovative ideas from others
• Your issue has no clear answer
• If this style is overused or used ineffectively you may be regarded as ‘wishy-washy’

Persuasive reasoning (PUSH)

This is an issue-driven style where the influencer wants others to buy into their ideas by presenting them in an even-handed, logical, rational and objective way. This is most appropriate when:

• Your credibility with others and knowledge about the topic is high
• You need to get buy-in to an unpopular decision
• There is a ‘best’ answer and you’ve done the research to prove it
• Overuse or inappropriate use and you may be regarded as a ‘tough guy’

Visionary (PULL)

This is a style where you must tap into others’ emotions, engage their imagination and help them visualise what could be. This style is most effective when:

• You are at the beginning of a complex change process
• You wish to gain people’s attention and vet their appetite for future debate
• Innovative thinking is required
• Used ineffectively or overused, and other people may regard you as egocentric or idealistic

Influence is an extraordinary asset in the professional world, but remember, your goal here should be to become more respected in the workplace, not to increase the likelihood of getting others to do your bidding. One is a respectable journey to greater prominence and productivity, while the other is simply a Machiavellian power trip. 

When do I get the opportunity to influence? 

Now that you know distinctive styles of influencing and ways of influencing let’s end by talking about the HOW and WHEN. Essentially you influence through touchpoints. A touchpoint is when you create energy and direction about a certain issue. There are three points to a touchpoint. 

1. Listen intently
2. Frame the issue (to ensure everyone is on the same page)
3. Advance the agenda

Every time you meet a stakeholder is an opportunity to influence their decision-making and advancing the agenda. You must be conscious about how many touchpoints you have throughout a day. These can be formal like in meetings and informal like at the coffee machine. Don’t waste the opportunities. Speak up and ensure that you either learn more about the stakeholder’s current situation be it professional or personal or discuss a critical issue that’s on the agenda already. This is your most straightforward way of influencing decision-making.

What do you find challenging about influencing? Can you share some success stories of how you influenced a decision? We would love to hear from you so that others can learn from your examples. Now get on with mastering your influencing skills and make an impact in your company!

This was the fifth article in the series "Here's To The New Look FP&A Professional". You can the previous article(s) below.

Here's To The New Look FP&A Professional

Forget Numbers, Start Building People Relationships

First Step In Solving Any Problem Is Recognizing There Is One

EQ Trumps IQ Any Day And It's Time We Make It Count

You can read a lot more articles about FP&A, Business Partnering, and Finance Transformation below. It all start's with “Introducing The Finance Transformation Nine Box” where you set the ambition for your transformation. You should join the Finance Business Partner Forum which is part of the Business Partnering Institute's online community where we will continue to discuss this topic and you can click here to follow me on Twitter.

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How Business Partners Turn Analysis To Insight (part of case study series where I interview business partners about how they drive value creation using real cases)

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Anders Liu-Lindberg is a Senior Finance Business Partner at Maersk supporting our largest product and I have more than 10 years of experience working with Finance at Maersk both in Denmark and abroad. I am also the co-founder of the Business Partnering Institute and owner of the largest group dedicated to Finance Business Partnering on LinkedIn with almost 8,000 members. My main goal at Maersk is to show how to be successful with business partnering and drive value creation as a trusted partner. I am the co-author of the book “Create Value as a Finance Business Partner” and a long-time Finance Blogger with 39.000+ followers.