Influence Without Authority

1. Influence is Built on Exchange: The Law of Reciprocity

Reciprocity is the almost universal belief that people should be paid back for what they do— that one good (or bad) turn deserves another.

The core principle. Influence without formal authority fundamentally relies on the Law of Reciprocity, the deeply ingrained human expectation of give and take. When you help someone, they feel an obligation to reciprocate, creating a basis for exchange. This principle underpins all forms of influence, from rational persuasion to personal appeals, as the recipient perceives some form of benefit or payment.

Constant give and take. Organizational life is permeated by this dynamic, where people constantly do things for others and expect something in return, whether it's standard pay for work, recognition for extra effort, or future help for current support. Ignoring this fundamental law makes gaining cooperation difficult, as people expect to be "paid back" for their contributions.

Positive and negative. Exchanges can be positive (trading valued goods/services) or negative (withholding value or imposing costs). While negative exchanges like threats can be powerful, they risk retaliation and damage relationships, making positive, mutually beneficial exchanges the preferred starting point for building long-term influence.

2. The Influence Model: A Systematic Approach to Getting Things Done

Although the concept of give and take is in many ways simple and straightforward, the process of exchange is more complicated.

A structured approach. When facing difficult influence challenges, a systematic model helps ensure you cover all necessary steps, preventing frustration or counterproductive actions. The Cohen-Bradford model provides a framework for diagnosing situations and planning interactions to achieve desired outcomes.

Six essential components. The model involves assuming everyone is a potential ally, clarifying your own goals, diagnosing the other person's world, identifying relevant currencies (theirs and yours), dealing with the relationship, and making exchanges through give and take. These steps guide you through understanding the situation and finding opportunities for mutual benefit.

A pilot's checklist. While influence can happen instinctively in good relationships, the model serves as a checklist for complex or resistant situations, ensuring you don't miss crucial factors or fall into common self-defeating traps. It helps you step back, analyze, and plan effectively when intuition isn't enough.

3. Currencies: The Goods and Services People Value and Trade

We have named the things that people care about “currencies,” because that equates something of value you have that you can exchange for something valuable they have.

The basis of exchange. Currencies are anything valued by the person you want to influence, serving as the medium of exchange for gaining cooperation. Recognizing the wide range of potential currencies is crucial, as people value different things beyond just money or formal authority.

Diverse forms of value. Currencies fall into categories like:

• Inspiration: Vision, excellence, mentoring, moral correctness.
• Task: Resources, challenge, assistance, support, information.
• Position: Recognition, visibility, reputation, insiderness, contacts.
• Relationship: Understanding, connection, personal support.
• Personal: Gratitude, ownership, self-concept, comfort.

Value is subjective. A currency's value is determined solely by the recipient, not the giver. What one person highly values (e.g., recognition) another might dismiss. Understanding the other's perspective is key to identifying relevant currencies you possess.

4. Understand Their World: Diagnose Situational Forces, Not Just Personality

This chapter’s premise is that identifying someone’s work context (mostly from a distance and even without knowing the individual or group) gives you a good tentative reading on significant factors driving the behavior of those you want to influence.

Beyond personality. To understand what others value and what drives their behavior, focus on their organizational context and situational forces rather than making assumptions about their personality or motives. Situational factors often have a more powerful influence on behavior at work.

Key diagnostic areas: Explore factors like:

• Their job tasks and responsibilities.
• Their environment and external contacts (customers, regulators, etc.).
• Their measurement and reward systems.
• Their unit's culture and norms.
• Their career aspirations and personal background.
• Their worries and anxieties.

Listen for clues. Pay attention to their language, metaphors, expressed concerns, and nonverbal cues, as these often reveal what is important to them. Direct inquiry, asking about their pressures and priorities, is also a powerful way to gain understanding and build rapport.

5. Know Your Power: Clarify Your Goals and Leverage Your Resources

Our basic premise is that your ability to influence—the power that is due to your skills, as much, if not more than your position—comes from access to resources that others want.

Power from resources. Your influence stems from having resources that others desire, enabling you to engage in mutually beneficial exchanges. Many people underestimate their own resources, feeling powerless when they lack formal authority or budget control.

Identify your currencies. Beyond formal resources, you possess numerous valuable currencies you can offer without permission:

• Technical or organizational knowledge.
• Customer or political information.
• Your reputation, appreciation, recognition, respect, gratitude.
• Your personal help on tasks.
• Your willingness to go above and beyond.

Clarify your objectives. Before seeking influence, be clear about your primary goals, priorities, and what you are willing to trade. Mixing personal needs (like needing recognition) with task goals can create confusion and hinder effectiveness.

6. Relationships Matter: Build Trust and Adapt Your Style

Relationships matter; the more good ones you have, the greater your odds of finding the right people to trade with and having some goodwill to help the trades along.

The lubricant of influence. Good, trusting relationships facilitate influence by enabling more complete communication, increasing willingness to be influenced, allowing for more flexible repayment of obligations, and making personal currencies more valuable. Poor relationships create suspicion and resistance.

Understand preferred styles. People have different work styles and preferences for how they want to be related to (e.g., analytical vs. action-oriented, big picture vs. detail, direct vs. indirect). Adapting your approach to match their preferred style increases comfort and influence.

Repairing strained relationships. When relationships are poor, you may need to address the interpersonal issues directly or focus on successful task collaboration as a way to rebuild trust. Acknowledging past difficulties, sharing intentions, and focusing on future ways of working together are key steps.

7. Making the Trade: Strategies for Mutually Profitable Exchanges

The difficulty of making an exchange depends in part on how closely your interests match.

Planning the interaction. Making exchanges requires careful planning, considering the relationship history, the value of currencies, and the desired interaction style. The goal is a win-win outcome that also preserves or improves the relationship for future interactions.

Exchange strategies: Approaches range from straightforward "free-market" trades to more complex ones:

• Show how cooperation helps achieve their goals.
• Uncover and trade for hidden value.
• Compensate for costs they incur.
• Build credit by doing favors in advance ("saving for a rainy day").
• Borrow on credit by promising future payment.
• Call in past debts when others are obligated.

Manage dilemmas. Be prepared to navigate tensions like escalating vs. backing off, openness vs. partial truth, sticking to plan vs. reacting to the moment, using positive vs. negative arguments, and focusing on task vs. relationship. Choose strategies that fit your relative power and dependence.

8. Overcome Internal Barriers: Your Mindset and Attitudes Are Key

However, we have discovered that far more often, the barriers are inside the influencer.

Self-defeating traps. While external factors can hinder influence, internal barriers within the influencer are often more significant. These include lack of knowledge, blinding attitudes, fear of reactions, and fear of failure.

Common internal barriers:

• Not seeing others as potential allies, leading to negative attributions ("They're impossible").
• Lack of clarity on your own goals and priorities.
• Failure to diagnose or accept the other person's world and valued currencies.
• Underestimating your own resources and potential currencies.
• Not addressing or repairing strained relationships.
• Reluctance to make trades or adapt your interaction style.

Break the cycle. Recognize negative attribution cycles and challenge your assumptions. Seek to understand others' perspectives, even when their behavior is frustrating. Focus on what you can control – your own mindset, preparation, and willingness to engage constructively.

9. Influencing Your Boss: Embrace the Partnership Model

Your boss’s effectiveness is part of your job.

A shared responsibility. Shift from a traditional superior-subordinate mindset to a partnership model, where you take responsibility for helping your boss succeed. You possess unique information about your needs and the impact of their management style, which is vital for their effectiveness.

Offer valuable currencies. Beyond doing your assigned job well, provide currencies your boss needs:

• Reliable performance and initiative.
• Being a trusted source of information (including potential problems).
• Representing them effectively to others.
• Being a sounding board and offering support.
• Helping them improve their skills (e.g., meeting leadership).

Frame requests strategically. When seeking increased job scope, challenge, or autonomy, frame your requests in terms of how they benefit your boss and the organization, not just yourself. Address their concerns (their currencies) by offering solutions that mitigate their risks.

10. Influencing Across Distance: Bridging Gaps in Communication and Trust

With the constricted information: Members and the leader are more likely to stereotype each other and less readily see how each member, even the most different, could be a potential ally.

The challenge of distance. Working with colleagues, teams, or direct reports at a distance increases the difficulty of influence due to reduced nonverbal cues, less informal interaction, and potential cultural or language differences. This can hinder understanding, trust, and the ability to see others as allies.

Compensate with conscious effort. Leaders and individuals must actively work to bridge the distance:

• Utilize technology effectively (video is better than phone for complex issues).
• Ensure clarity on goals and assignments.
• Pay special attention to meeting processes to ensure inclusion and participation.
• Practice attentive listening to pick up subtle cues and underlying emotions.
• Maximize face-to-face time when possible, using it for relationship building and addressing complex issues.

Build trust intentionally. Since trust doesn't build as easily through casual encounters, make intentional efforts through frequent one-on-one check-ins, showing genuine interest in others' work and well-being, and consistently delivering on commitments.

11. Leading Change & Navigating Politics: Vision, Stakeholders, and the Informal System

Even when you’re out to get something done—not to do someone in—you have to play politics.

Politics is inherent. Organizations are inherently political due to differing departmental interests, resource competition, and the existence of an informal system alongside the formal structure. Understanding this is necessary for effective influence, not something to be avoided or scorned.

Develop a compelling vision. For major change, articulate a clear, passionate vision of the desired future and its benefits to customers, the organization, or society. Link the vision to core values and strategic goals to make it more appealing and less threatening.

Identify and diagnose stakeholders. Map out all individuals and groups who can impact the change, assessing their interests, currencies, and potential reactions. Tailor your approach and the currencies you offer to each stakeholder's specific needs and concerns.

12. Hardball: Escalating When Softer Approaches Fail

But sometimes, making clear that there could be a negative outcome—and that you are willing to do whatever is necessary—can not only get the other person’s attention but also, in some cases, increase respect for you.

When positive exchange isn't enough. While win-win is the ideal, some situations with deeply resistant allies may require escalating pressure by raising the costs of non-cooperation. This should be a last resort, used cautiously to avoid permanent damage.

Gradual escalation. Start with clear communication about the issue and the need for reciprocity. If ignored, gradually increase pressure by:

• Explicitly stating the costs of non-compliance (to them or the organization).
• Indicating willingness to withhold future cooperation.
• Threatening to make the lack of cooperation visible to others.
• Using controlled anger or public pressure (with extreme caution).

Know your power. Understand your leverage points, such as your reputation, unique skills, or the value of your continued presence. The ultimate escalation is betting your job, a choice only made when the situation is otherwise untenable.

Last updated: August 12, 2025