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Influence at Work

Published by Pearson

Beginner to advanced content levelBeginner to advanced

Five simple strategies to persuade and inspire others

  • Learn 5 top strategies to influence others with integrity and authenticity
  • Develop communication skills that help you connect and inspire others no matter what your personality type
  • Learn good and bad practices through actor-led interactive exercises

In 2021, LinkedIn named persuasion as one of the most in-demand soft skills for companies. Persuasion, or the ability to influence others, can take the form of gaining support, inspiring others, persuading other people to become your champions, engaging someone's imagination, creating relationships, or making powerful presentations. Whatever form it takes, being an excellent influencer makes the job easier. This course encourages participants to develop their personal style and then use it to improve their influence across key business functions.

The course is delivered by Debra Stevens, who is joined by two business actors for role playing, which makes this class highly interactive and experiential using a combination of discussions, demos, and forum theatre. Debra and her actors bring to life the 5 key strategies that enable you to influence others with integrity and authenticity: understand your stakeholders, choose your approach, understand your power, be clear and have conviction, and work toward common goals. You’ll also learn how to deal with resistance and objections in an assertive way that gets results and maintains relationships.

Career Success Series

The Career Success Series from Pearson addresses essential skills for your personal and professional development in the areas of communication, presentation, critical thinking, teamwork, leadership, problem solving, and resilience. These skills are critical for any industry, any job title, and any career stage – whether you’re just starting out or have been in the workforce for years. Expert trainers deliver practical tools and techniques you can use to enhance your resume, excel in your career, or simply enrich your life skills.

What you’ll learn and how you can apply it

  • The importance of understanding your stakeholders’ needs and communication style
  • How to match your ideas to ensure the results deliver shared objectives, collaboration, and improved relationships
  • How to maximize your power bases to establish your credibility and increase your influence
  • How to develop a core message that is compelling and inspiring when presenting or advocating your ideas

And you’ll be able to:

  • Use your questioning and listening skills to develop an understanding of your stakeholders
  • Sell an idea/solution/change with conviction, and deal with challenge effectively
  • Access a toolkit of strategies you can use immediately to improve your influence

This live event is for you because...

  • You need to use influence and persuasion to implement business changes, overcome obstacles, or successfully confront challenges
  • You want to gain an important skill that can help you advance your career or just improve where you are now

Prerequisites

  • This class is for everyone no matter what your level, whether you need a refresher or to learn some new skills

Recommended Preparation

Recommended Follow-up

Other Live Trainings by Debra Stevens:

Schedule

The time frames are only estimates and may vary according to how the class is progressing.

Segment 1: Why should you care about your ability to influence?

(10 minutes)

  • The importance of influencing
  • Three key takeaways
  • How this course will work
  • How to interact, and rules of the road

Segment 2: What is influencing? (20 minutes)

  • The power and the sway
  • Key skills required
  • Five key strategies
  • Introduction to the influencing strategic planner (ISP)

Segment 3: Influence in Action (45 minutes)

  • Understanding your stakeholders
  • Push and pull styles
  • Power bases
  • Interactive exercise: Influence – best practices
  • Q/A

Break (5 minutes)

Segment 4: Influencing Different Types of People (40 minutes)

  • Interactive exercise: Influence – finding your style
  • Top tips and strategies for success
  • Q/A

Break (5 mins)

Segment 5: Title Impact and conviction (35 minutes)

  • Influencing warmup and checklist
  • Assertive skills and communication
  • Nonverbal communication
  • Interactive exercise: Influence – body language
  • Q/A

Segment 6 – Influencing Challenges (15 minutes)

  • Common mistakes
  • Dealing with challenges
  • CARE model for dealing with objections
  • Interactive exercise: CARE model demo
  • Final look at the ISP

Course wrap-up and next steps (5 minutes)

Your Instructor

  • Debra Stevens

    Debra Stevens, trainer, coach, inspiring speaker, and founder of Debra Stevens Training and Coaching, has been running award-winning experiential workshops on conscious human skills for more than 26 years. Her training and speaking have taken her all over the world. She has worked with thousands of people at all levels in companies such as Coca-Cola, Network Rail, Santander, Stena Line, and Hovis, improving their human skills and helping them to be more successful leaders, salespeople, customer service operatives, business owners, parents, friends, and partners. She is the author of Stand Out.

Skill covered

Professional Communication