Building Influence and Networking as an IT Leader
Developing influence and networking are an important part of our working lives. Senior executives estimate that they spend up to 50 percent of their time networking! Of course, this does not mean they walk the corridors aimlessly, hoping to meet someone important to chat with. They see networking opportunities in their day-to-day work—in a project review meeting, say, or preparing a negotiation or at the start of a board meeting. They will not typically sit on their own in the coffee shop until the meeting is about to start or eat a sandwich at their desk. They are out and about, meeting with their network contacts, finding out about the changing priorities of the business, and sharing their views (influencing, if you like) on developments in IT.
Building influence & Networking
Run by leading expert and former CIO, Robina Chatham, module 2 uses proven leadership models to help IT managers identify their leadership and management style and use it to best effect. Having identified their natural profile, delegates work on building influence by using different styles. IT is at the heart of all business and has a key role to play in many of the key corporate and political decisions. Using the work from module 1, we look at how to build strong business relationships in the business and increase our circle of influence.
The module on Influence & Networking covers the following topics:
Peer leadership – leadership profiles
Specific topics for module 2 of the course include
- Styles of leadership
- How we make decisions
- The archetype model
- Styles of leadership
- Understanding your own leadership profile
- Recognizing different leadership types
- Influencing strategies for the different leadership styles
Peer leadership –corporate politics
Topics for the module on corporate politics and networking include:
- Corporate politics — the inside track
- A political game
- A model for political success
- Case study ‘The Runaway Project’
Peer leadership – building influence
We review the effect of corporate politics on IT success, using guidelines from Dr Robina Chatham’s book, “Corporate Politics for IT Managers.” Delegates learn specific techniques to raise their profile and personal brand.
- Developing successful political networks
- Raising your political profile
- Assessing political power and leverage
- Techniques for building influence
- Becoming a ‘network kingpin’ for your company
Click to find out more about dates for our IT Leadership courses.
Some thoughts on influence, networking & politics
To do this requires a good network to work with. Networks do not just happen by accident. They require careful planning. In addition, studies show that communication around an organization often passes through a small number of people. These are the key business networkers, sometimes called “connectors,” the people whom everyone knows. Set yourself the target of becoming one of the networkers within your organization. There is no more certain way to ensure career success than a good network of contacts.
If you are interested in this topic, why not request a complementary download of the chapter on “Influence, networking and politics” from “Excellent IT Leadership” by David McKean, published by Amazon’s Createspace, 2014 – the one on which the course is based.
If you are interested in some further information, here are some of our favourite references. Always keen to learn more, let us know if you have any papers or books on these subjects you could recommend.
‘Corporate politics for IT managers’ by Dr Robina Chatham
Robina Chatham co-runs the Excellent IT Leadership program and is also a visiting fellow at Cranfield Business School. This first book was written by her and gives an outline of different political types. It is a light-hearted look at corporate politics in business, and identifies some of the problems IT managers experience in being side-line by their business colleagues. It looks at the different political animals, based on awareness and integrity.
Managing with power, Jeffrey Pfeffer
This is a classic hard hitting book on the essence of power and lessons on how to cultivate it.