Got influence?

A few weeks ago, I participated in a panel discussion about using influence to deliver results. It was moderated with ease and distinction by Neerja Raman, a Valley exec, management speaker/author, and now research scholar and proponent of social entrepreneurship. It was a panel of impressive women, all with insightful stories and if you're interested, there's more information to be found at Neerja's blog and Peggy's (one of the panelists).

At the panel, the stories I shared were about managing up and/or out - either top bosses during my corporate stint, or VC investors and customers from entrepreneurial forays. But influencing your team is an ongoing, daily need, not a sporadic activity, and more so in an early stage startup when you have very little history and the culture is still being formed. Sure, when it's only you and a couple of co-founders and you've all worked together before, the influencing patterns are so ingrained in you that you probably don't even notice that you're following them. Whenever you're presenting anything of consequence to your tech co-founder, you will give it a game-changing, revolutionary tinge because that's what floats his boat and he's still got penguin stickers on his car. It's all automatic by now - just like in your family.

But that's not the case when you throw new people into the mix. First, you don't know what floats their boats, revs their engines, juices their hybrids, whatever. Though the beliefs, politics and fashion trends of millions have been driven by a few, influencing is often a a one-to-one game, requiring you to adjust your plan based on who you're trying to influence. That said, there are 'group think' opportunities, though rare in smaller teams, where you know if you can convince one key person, the rest woud follow. So yes, it takes getting to know the individual and his/her hot buttons.

Asking 'what are your hot buttons' is kin to a lame pickup line, and any answer you get is suspect. Most startup folks will say that they're driven by the idea, want to do something meaningful and interesting, and participate in building a company, yadiyadiya. But aside from money and security (usually not the strongpoints of an early stage startup), and the still valid Maslow's theory, people are not influenced by the same things, even in a startup. Some are drawn by appeals to their sense of adventure (we're going to try something new and get to invent it as we go!) while others are more partial to predictability (we're trying something new, but not really - see how it is similar to all this stuff you've done before, and here are 25 reasons why it is a good bet and the giant safety net in case it isn't). In a previous startup, I found the architect always responded to the 'big picture' pitch, while the development manager wanted everything presented in terms of timeline and resources, and didn't really care about anything outside of that. It may appear trivial, but it took some juggling, and quite a bit of time, to present to each one separately. It was a relief to get to the point that, at least for some things, I could present to one and give him the responsibility of convincing the other.

It sounds like calculating, manipulative behavior, but it isn't really - it is thoughtful and adaptive. It's being an effective leader and understanding that getting the support and buy-in of the team often takes pitching to each member's sweet spot. Which is why anything of significance, while it could be 'announced' in a meeting, pretty much requires individual discussion to get past 'reaction' to 'results'. It takes work though - especially the part about finding out what makes each person tick, and then remembering it every time you've got to make something happen. While there are many leaders who don't bother with these nuances, it is pretty much necessary for those entrepreneurs who are not aiming to be titled 'despot' - or failure.

What helps the entrepreneur is the the passion for the cause. You are so committed to your startup that you'll do whatever it takes to make it succeed, and right there you have more than half the influence you need.