The Decision Cycle for Influence
So, for what I’m working on right now, influence is the ability to affect others’ beliefs and behavior without authority. Day to day, that boils down to decisions - how can we affect other people’s choices? That’s where influence is measured most - if people make the decisions we want them to make. That might be in signoff, or in setting the scope for a project, or in approval for new headcount. So here’s a quick picture of the decision cycle that we can use to look at different areas to influence.
- AWARENESS
Everything starts with Awareness - the person recognizes that a decision needs to be made. - BELIEFS & VALUES
The decision is filtered through the individual’s internal map - starting from their beliefs and values, but also including their interests, motivations, attitudes, and priorities (see my previous post about that internal map). - CONTEXT
The decision is filtered through the external pressures that the individual deals with. That includes conversations and connections with others, the culture, and other criteria that shape the decision. - DECISION
The person comes to a decision, and communicates it to others. - EXECUTION
Actions based on the decision are carried out, either by the individual or delegated to others.
And finally, as execution unfolds, the decision maker becomes aware of other decisions that need to be made.
Throughout the cycle, we can think about influencing any of these five areas.
- How do they become aware? Can we frame the decision in a way that works best for us?
- What can we do to affect beliefs & values? (this often occurs over time, and is rarely a one-off).
- What can we do to set the context and make sure that our own concerns and priorities are heard?
- In a group situation, as the actual decision is made, how can we contribute?
- Finally, what can we do during execution to shift outcomes so that they are aligned with our own priorities?
Writing this out, it sounds a little Machiavellian—that’s the case if you’re pursuing influence selfishly. For me this is all about influencing more human-centered decisions…getting our clients or employers to make decisions that not only benefit them, but make things better for their customers, too. While that seems like common sense, it’s far from common practice, which is why I’m thinking and writing more about influence these days.
That’s exactly what I was looking for, a framework for framing influence. Knowing when you’re influencing helps you know how best to approach it.
There’s also a kind of ecosystem of decision cycles. A stakeholder might give sign off that requires execution by a developer. That developer then becomes aware of an execution question that requires a decision. It might be worth trying to influence the stakeholder about web standards and CSS, or it might be better to wait and influence the developer about those things.
It’s almost as if (continuing to riff here) you need to identify the minimum effective influence (and on what issue) you need to exert at each stage where you’ll be engaged. I guess that’s the same as knowing how to pick your battles. Or maybe it’s better to say you have to learn how to choose when and with whom you should influence.
Anyway. Enough rambling. Enjoying these posts! More!
In this cycle, ideas figure somewhere. They may be part of awareness but also may be pre-execution. It is interesting to think about the recursive nature of these elements. Decisions may be based on ideas which may be based on other ideas. A decision may require other decisions and a decision may influence other decisions. Awareness about one aspect may create awareness of others.
I still have to think a bit about influence. Why is it central? Why can’t Awareness be the central theme? Should the arrows from influence be bi-directional? Since each one of the factors may influence “influence”.
Add a temporal dimension, a social dimension and this picture will grow and becomes more intertwined.