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Influencer: The Power to change Anything Executive Summary Losing weight: Is it as simple as burning more calories than consuming? This describes an outcome, not specific behaviors leading to success. Scientific evidence proves “exercise on home equipment, eat breakfast, and weigh themselves daily” are the vital behaviors leading to successful weight loss (Patterson 42). The core of Kerry Patterson Influencer: The Power to Change Anything breaks down desirable outcomes by identifying vital behaviors and analyzing the cognitive cause and effect map that drives thinking.
Two questions must be addressed: am I able to and is it worth It? (Patterson 50). These two categories, ability and motivation, funnel Into the six-influence forces framework focused on Individuals, social networks. And things/ environments: personal motivation, personal ability, social motivation, social ability, structural motivation, and structural ability (Patterson 80). The theory focuses on Inevitable change, long-term commitment, and alignment/collaboration to evoke the desired vital behavior.
Overestimation of Structural Forces. Align/Collaborate Forces, and Reasoned-strategies Developing Management Skills elaborates on the two major sources of influential power: human capital (personal competencies) and social capital (social connections) that directly overlap with Patterson first four forces (Wheaten Bibb However, the textbook concludes that gaining these two sources of power will then result in having structural power within an organization, the ability to change specific things.
A downfall of Patterson model Is that It overestimates the easiness of structural power (motivation and ability) because the model does not take into account the common giddy of organizational structure; it allows one to already assume having control over the structural influential forces. Both models overlap by emphasizing the collaboration of all Influential forces. These Influential models are made possible by straying away from the “l lead, you follow model and adapting a lateral leadership approach to leadership: “from networking and coalition building to persuading and negotiating” (HER OLL).
A lateral leadership model allows for the more flexibility and collaboration. Patterson Influential framework depends on the alignment of goals/motivations, ascribed by Wheaten as reasoned-strategies for influence. Reasoned strategies focus on long-term commitment, strengthening Interpersonal relationships, and pushing the other party to see the benefits of the action: “understand why the request is being made. ” (Wheaten 301).
The goals of both parties Intertwine and become congruent, and this method requires a lot of time because one has to identify incentives and underlying motivations. A concrete time-line for this sort of change is overlooked in Patterson theory, which could make influences feel hesitant by its ambiguity. Patterson model Is more of a lens to look for an opportunity to influence, providing influential insight. The other two influence strategies described in the textbook, retribution and reciprocity, play out more like manuals and do not consist of in-depth analysis.
The trade-off is that these two ‘Off Changing Vital Behaviors Contrast with Theory of Reciprocity and Verbal Persuasion Another highly used influence model developed by Allan Cohen and David Bradford involves reciprocity at its core and heavy emphasis on the process of exchange. Their book Influence without Authority focuses on the element of giving to chive, and its framework begins with assuming the other party is an ally. It then flows through clarifying “your priorities and goals” and to amphetamine with the other party (Cohen and Bradford 61).
This influential framework is short-term because it already defines the goal you want to achieve and takes on more of a negotiation approach. This influence model makes one define what he/she wants to change before diagnosing the issue and identifying vital behaviors. Reciprocity relies heavily on verbal persuasion and tone of voice, whereas Patterson framework looks at it room a behavioral perspective and avoids verbal persuasion and negotiation at all costs. The reciprocity approach has short-term objectives and is effective for those constraints.
But to implement long-term changes using reciprocity can be difficult because people have varying currencies and the process will always flow through the give/take cycle, setting up high expectations. Roger Fisher and Alan Sharp break down this reciprocity model into “improve personal skills, clarify goals, and influence others” through asking, offering, and doing (Fisher and Sharp 11). Reciprocity only touches the surface of influence because it does not make long-standing changes to people’s behaviors; it has more of focus on temporarily influencing them to collaborate.
However, Fisher and Sharp highlight an important point that many influences overlook, including Patterson: to influence others, one must improve his/ her own personal skills first (Fisher and Sharp 7). Patterson makes great strives to encourage people to become influences, but she needs to focus on the personal skills as a precedent. Application of Analytical Problem-solving Framework Patterson influential framework can be explained using the analytical problem- solving method: 1) Defining the problem parallels with finding vital behaviors. ) Generating alternating solutions similar to six-influential forces framework analysis 3) Evaluate and select an alternative corresponds to “diagnose before you prescribe” 4) Implement and follow-up on the solution monitors the progress of the influential source and following-up by adding other influential forces on different domains Vital behaviors are best found when looking into positive defiance: examples of best practices in circumstances where most have failed (Patterson 257). For example, looking at what public schools thrive in low-income environments and analyzing best practices used in these “model” schools.
The same issue arises with problem solving as does finding vital behaviors: “stating the problem as a disguised solution” (Wheaten 175). The follow-up stage is crucial in the influential model because adding supplemental forces depends on how they collaborate with each other. Personal Application: Sudan Entrepreneurial Venture – Influencing Fitness Behaviors plan on using this reasoned-strategy to influence fitness behaviors for my new company Sudan. For Sudan, I strive to make long-lasting changes in people in regards to their fitness habits, and therefore, taking on a more investigative approach to alter behaviors is crucial.