To influence more effectively, seed your idea when people are in a more relaxed frame of mind, when their guard is down. You are more likely to get them to hear you, arouse their interest, and get on their calendar to discuss in more depth
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Seasoned influencers know that large group meetings are ineffective in getting you the outcomes you want. For example, if you want a group of decision makers to agree and decide on your proposal, the formal meeting is not the best place to make your initial pitch
You are more likely to get what you want if you have met every key decision maker ahead of time, briefed them, sought their input, and tweaked your original idea iteratively - so what you bring to the meeting is something they've already agreed on.
Experienced corporate players call this the meeting before the meeting. While these are officially frowned upon, this is the way things get done in most organizations.
However, these are still formal/scheduled discussions, albeit 1-on-1 or in smaller groups. As such, they need to be scheduled, have the agenda shared in advance, and unless your idea is already something they are thinking about, you are unlikely to get people to agree.
On the other hand, if you seed your idea when people are in a more relaxed frame of mind, when their guard is down, you are more likely to get them to hear you, arouse their interest, and get on their calendar to discuss in more depth.
This works best, when it happens casually, almost by accident. "Hey, now that I have you, what do you think about..."
However, if you leave this entirely to chance, you are most likely going to find you have very limited opportunities, or it takes you forever to get access to your key stakeholders.
Enter Manufactured Serendipity (h/t Tom Critchlow) : finding ways to intentionally bump into someone by accident. For example - making sure you "happen to be" in the elevator when the CEO walks into the office; heading to the coffee machine for a refill when your boss is fixing her cuppa...
When used appropriately, Manufactured Serendipity can make you a much better influencer, get your ideas heard, get valuable feedback and garner support to create the impact you desire
Are you manufacturing serendipity as a strategy to influence others and increase your impact? What are some examples where you have done this successfully?
Image Credits : serendipity by Torley via flickr
