By Marshall Goldsmith (editing by Gil Dekel).
Employees that are experts in their field are sometimes referred to as ‘Subject Matter Experts’. Many Subject Matter Experts have years of education and experience, yet they have almost no training in how to effectively influence other people, especially how to influence decision-makers.
In some cases, these decision-makers may be immediate or upper managers. In other cases they may be peers or cross-organisational colleagues.
Every decision that impacts our lives will be made by the person who has the power to make that decision, not the ‘right’ person, the ‘smartest’ person, or the ‘best’ person…
Here are nine suggestions designed to help you influence decision-makers:
In summary, think of the years that you have spent “perfecting your craft”. Think of all of the knowledge that you have accumulated. Think about how your knowledge can potentially benefit your organisation.
How much energy have you invested in acquiring all of this knowledge? How much energy have you invested in learning to present this knowledge to decision-makers, so that you can make a real difference?…
My hope is that by making a small investment in learning to influence decision-makers, you can make a large, positive difference for the future of your organisation!
11 June 2016. © Marshall Goldsmith and editing © Gil Dekel. Photo © Samuel Zeller/Unsplash, used with permission.
‘Influencing Decision-Makers: How Your Knowledge Can Make a Difference’ by Marshall Goldsmith and Gil Dekel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.