How do you influence when you have no authority?
When the political landscape feels charged and full of danger? 💣
I run #ZenClub with Piyusha Pilania and is our weekly Friday peer coaching where we work on consulting and project delivery skills practicing with role plays, and working through case studies.
Last week, Barrie Robertson flexed his acting skills role playing a BA with a crabby client Christopher Sauer, and then it was his turn to become the grumpy one with Jenn Hecht. 😁
Here are a selection of some excellent examples of #ActiveListening:
“So what I’m hearing is you’re saying there’s a lot of a lot of work being pushed on you from above, without a lot of support, yet you don’t get listened to… Is that right?”
“Okay, so you have not been involved in the decision to implement Sales Cloud to date…”
“Do you feel like you need a new system now? Or do you feel like that the problem is not in your systems, the problem is just your workload?”
“So if I understand, right, you’re open and receptive to a system that could help, as long as that system is actually helping clear work from your team, rather than introduce extra work onto your team.”
“I sense some frustration and friction between between yourself and others higher up. Would it be helpful to have some sessions without certain people so that you can give your opinion, you know, without fear of any counter
voices coming in?”
It was an incredibly rich session where we
🍩stopped and dissected the conversation at every point
🍩identified where the listening wheel was applied
🍩looked at what phrases could be more effective in #DeEscalation
Barrie is a seasoned consultant and a masterful communicator (also he has done my Consulting Discovery Masterclass… 🥰 so of course he was amazing! 🤭)
Anyway we will be diving into how to manage power and politics tomorrow, working through case study on stakeholders and how to manage them (see the Messy Merger 👇🏻)
📍If you like practicing real skills in a safe space rather than just talking about theory…
📍If you want to learn from other consultants’ experiences (and mistakes 😅) without the risk…
📍If you’re tired of feeling like you’re navigating politics blindfolded on your projects…
Then #ZenClub might be for you.
Every week, we:
👉🏻Work through real scenarios (messy, political, uncomfortable ones)
👉🏻Practice conversations and get feedback
👉🏻Learn frameworks you can use Monday morning
👉🏻Support each other without judgment #ZenClub meets every Friday from 2-3.30pm UK time.
£169 per month.
It’s a membership community for consultants who want to develop the human skills that make the difference between surviving and thriving in this work.
Its for all of us tech nerds who want to learn how to navigate the messy human stuff. 🌻
Link to join in the comments (Please set filter to ‘Most Recent’ as LinkedIn hides URLs).
See you there? 🥰
