Leadership Influence and Communications

Welcome to the new Era of Influence....

This week I’m rounding out the final corner of Cook’s PlayBooks - Top Level Leadership Framework: Influence and Communication.

It’s time to be BOLD and PROVOCATIVE. While you can be a great Strategist (corner 1), Decision Maker (corner 2), and you are improving you Leadership Culture (corner 3), IF you can’t Influence with great Communication skills, you are likely being relegated to being a great Team Manager vs becoming a great Company Leader.

We have definitely entered the era of influencing. In my mind, the concept of “Social Media Influencer” (SMI) is less than 10 yrs old. If you are under the age of 25, you have a distinct advantage of being an SMI native with much of your daily routine being Instagram, TikTok, YouTube. If you are between the ages of 22-35, you have native social media influencing skills but those have been typically learned from Twitter and Facebook. Influencing in business is similar but different than pure online. It’s now time to take these learned SMI skills and to translate them into more face-to-face skills. If you are over the age of 35, invest more of your time into greatly enhancing your verbal and written communication skills to increase your influence with your other company leaders.

As I started to think about what it takes to become a “Social Media Influencer” (SMI), I amalgamated my own definition of a SMI:

SMI = A content creating person who establishes credibility based on their authority, knowledge, or simply entertaining engagement with a particular audience. The SMI creates a following and influences their followers opinions, behaviors, and purchasing decisions with content that informs, educates, or entertains and creates a desire to share the content with others.

The keywords are “content,” “credibility,” “knowledge,” “audience,” “entertainment,” “following,” and “sharing.” You need to show up with most of these attributes in my view to be an effective influencer.

Now let’s also define INFLUENCE more broadly from the dictionary… Influence being  the topic of this week’s newsletter.

“Influencing is the use of communication to transmit knowledge and to impact the ideas, emotions, motivations, and actions of others. Influence is a fundamental social skill that usually starts with personal relationships”

My own leadership career has been heavily based in Finance and Operations and I’ve coached my teams for the last 15+ years that everyone on our finance and operational teams needs to lead with INSIGHTS and NOT JUST DATA. Moreover, my teams heard from me that we need to create Decision Influence by Storytelling the Data and specifically by starting the story with Key Insights. 

I believe the best finance leaders progress through their respective careers along this learning curve of translating Data to Insights / Wisdom.

Therefore my definition of  “Financial Influence” = “The Ability to Communicate Data into Insights/Wisdom in order to Create, Challenge, and Course Correct Decisions.”

The Finance Team is the only real team who sit at what I call the Unique Intersection of Data in an organization; an intersection where all the organization’s people and spending activities are recorded as data points. The goal of a great financial leader is to translate this data into unique insights of the intersecting data points across employees, departments, customers, internal op ex spending, revenue, and cash.

How to Influence? Actively practice communicating better:

One of the most critical requirements for Influence is effectively communicating. One framework I’ve curated in my Best Of files is what I’ve named the RUB 3D’S (I name things so I can remember them).

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COMMUNICATION PLAYBOOK #1:  CREATE THE RUB

1. Create the RUB (Relevant, Urgent, Big Stakes): Great communicators make what they are about to say extremely Relevant, Urgent, and communicate what’s at Stake (“Leading with Why”).

2. DEFINE and Highlight Winning vs Losing: Now that you have your audience’s attention, the next step is to clearly define Winning vs Losing. This can be done with Columns, Tables, or as simple as a whiteboard T-Chart (“Winning” = left side of “T”; “Losing” the right side).

3. DESIRABLE. Point to future. Storytell your vision highlighting the desirability of winning no matter how difficult. Now that you’ve defined Winning, connect more deeply with your audience on just how emotionally desirable the future outcomes are. Humans have the remarkable ability to go through extreme difficulty if the final outcome is desirable enough.

4. DATA-based Evidence. The next step is your communication is to wrap up your communication with data examples (comparison data, benchmarks, or other evidence) that cements your original RUB and once again repeats why your argument is so Relevant, Urgent, and Big Stakes.

5. SILENCE. The final step is to now pause. Try to stay silent for a full 10 seconds. If you are awesome at this go for 20 seconds. What seems like an eternity in your own head is actually allowing your audience (your listener) to absorb what you just said. The end goal of the silence is to have them confirm or ask questions or respectfully challenge your assertions. Silence Creates Engagement. If there is one and only one take away from this post, this may be the one for most. To me this was the “unlock key” to my own influence. What seems extremely painful in the moment becomes extremely powerful when your audience engages… and they can’t engage when you keep talking!
   

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COMMUNICATION PLAYBOOK #2: SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE: 

• Step outside of yourself.  Seek 1st to understand before being understood.

  • Sit in the other person’s or “the room’s” seat.

  • What is the audiences perspective of the current situation?

  • Why do they hold that perspective?  

  • What is the audience’s likely objections and areas of resistance? 

• What does room (or person) need to hear?

• What language do you need to use so the audience “hears you” and “understands you?”

• Conclude-summarize with the Why or 1st Principles to ensure everyone is aligned on the future desired outcome, the priorities required to obtain this future state, and the overall difficulty or risk.

EXAMPLES of speaking the other person’s or audience’s language?

CEO Language

• Are We Making our Revenue Numbers?

• How Do We Make Decisions Faster?

• Why Do We Have So Many People?

• Are Our Employees Working Hard Enough or Being Productive?

• Do We Have Enough Cash?

Board Language

• Blah, Blah, Blah… Revenue Growth

• Blah, Blah, Blah… Cash Burn and Cash Runway

• Blah, Blah, Blah… Strategy

Direct Team; Exec Team? All company meeting (Employees)?

• Are We Winning?

• Success Metrics

• What Does This Mean for Me?  My Department? My Team?

Communication Summary: 

• Who is in the Room?

• What Do They Want/Need to Hear?  

• What Do You Want the Audience to Remember? (3 or Less Things)

• Provide 3 (or Less) Key Insights or Evidence to Your Audience
  

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In my Decision Making Series, I wrote about Decisions being the currency of your Leadership. Using this framing, Influence has its own currency as well. The basis of the “Influence Currency” are Behaviors.

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COMMUNICATION PLAYBOOK #3: INFLUENCE CURRENCIES (Behaviors)

These are some key behaviors to increase influence.

• Inspiration: Leading with a strong point of view/vision. A desirable future.

• 1st Principles:  Doing the right things, the right way, at the right time.

• Information Sharing/Teaching/Coaching: Providing key data, knowledge and insights is a valuable currency of influence especially when designed to up-level a person’s career or help a group or team win. 

• Recognition: Highlighting others’ efforts, abilities, accomplishments. “Seeing” the other person or team. Open doors for others. Put them on stage and recognize them.

• Belonging: People want to belong to a winning cause or team.

• Creating Safe Space and Seeing People as Human First.

• Give to Get: Giving authority and ownership and others ability to Influence… gets back (returns) respect, gratitude, and influence.

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Specifically for Finance and Operational People:

CFOs and CXOs have historically been viewed as highly valuable, highly intellectual, subject matter experts but mainly “Advisors” and “Reporters of the Numbers” to their Exec Teams, Board, and Investors.

The following are survey stats and notes I’ve gathered over the years in terms of how Finance People support this:

• Unfortunately, in survey after survey over the last 15+ years, only 20% of Finance teams or personal are rated as effective in influencing business partner decisions and/or rated as being a valuable contributor to business planning and outcomes.

• Low Influence Finance People are characterized by

  • Order taking - taking Business Partner assumptions at face value and creating a spreadsheet from them 

  • Responding to business partners requests quickly without any questions

  • Focusing on satisfying business partners requests vs understanding them, asking questions, and engaging by strategically framing the requests for shared understanding and shared outcomes

Use these techniques to gain better influence:

• High Influence Finance People

  • Seek to understand the data or opinions surrounding business partner assumptions

  • Respectfully challenging and/or supplementing these underlying assumptions

  • Focus on aligning assumptions to the overall company or department strategy and helping the business leader structure the decision for an even greater overall outcome

Today’s CFO needs to go further and adapt to becoming a Key Strategic Leader in the business. A leader is someone who leads their clear strategic point of view and communicates it clearly and effectively with Key Insights. This is why Strategy and Influence are the 2 Top Corners of my Leadership Framework.

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COMMUNICATION PLAYBOOK #4: THE SUCCESS > INFLUENCE > ENGAGEMENT LOOP

The ability to scale/grow an organization requires the ability to effectively Influence to create the change that’s required to scale.

These are my step by step requirements of what I’ve defined as…

Cook’s Success > Influence > Engagement Loop.

• Success Requires Change

• Change Requires Leadership

• Leadership Requires Influence 

• Influence Requires Unique Insights

• Insights Require Clear, Credible Communications

• Credibility Requires Proven Impact

• Impact Requires Quality Execution

• Quality Execution Requires a Team

• Teams Require Trust

• Trust Requires Relationships

• Relationships Require Consistent Engagement

• Engagement Requires Authenticity and Transparency

Note: I derived these requirements from the more famous Success Requires Bad Judgement Loop that I’m sure most of you have heard by now:

”Success is Usually the Result of Good Judgement.

Good Judgement is Usually the Result of Experience.

Experience Usually Results from Bad Judgement.”

Ok, I’m on a roll… so I created a five bullet point version:

Cook’s Influence - Leadership Loop

• Influence is based on great relationships.

• Great relationships are based on trust.

• Trust is based on the transparency of your leadership.

• Transparency requires being authentic and curious.

• Curiosity requires asking a lot of questions, seeking the best ideas, and being a “Learn It All” vs a “Know It All.”

Let’s unpack these one by one:

Influence is Based on Strong Relationships:
Influence is the cornerstone of impactful leadership and is deeply rooted in the quality of your relationships. The foundation of a great relationship is trust, a fragile yet powerful bond that can either make or break the connection between a leader and their team(s).

Trust: The Foundation
Trust is earned and rarely given. Trust is earned through consistent and transparent actions over time. Leaders who model transparency create an environment where strengths and wins are celebrated and losses and feedback are quickly course corrected. Transparency in leadership means being open, honest, consistent, and clear of your intentions, decisions, and the reasons behind them.

Transparency: The Key to Authentic Leadership
To achieve true transparency, leaders must embrace authenticity and a willingness to be vulnerably curious. Authentic leaders are “Learn it Alls” and not “Know It Alls.” While they lead with their strengths, they actively seek help on their weaknesses and ask for consistent feedback. Authentic leaders focus on genuinely connecting with people and do not hide behind a facade of their title or position.

Curiosity and Vulnerability: The Catalysts
Curiosity is a powerful tool for growth and influence. The greatest of leaders are constantly curious and lead with questions. They ask to not just get quick answers, but rather, they ask to understand differing perspectives and to learn. They seek out the best ideas and lead with  a commitment to continuous improvement.

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Cook’s PlayBooks

• Build Trusted Relationships:

  • Schedule time to regularly engage with team members on a personal level to seek their feedback and to align on shared desired outcomes

• Practice Transparency:

  • Share your learning process with your team

  • Share the “Why” behind major decisions

  • Tell the truth about challenges faced by the team and the company and focus on closing gaps together

• Show Authenticity:

  • Share what you know and what you don’t know

  • Ask for input and insights from others

• Be a Curious Learner:

  • Model your leadership around “Best Ideas Win”

  • Create a challenge culture where assumptions are actively debated

  • Structure and make time for knowledge sharing sessions between team members with a focus on learning from each other and seeking out new knowledge and perspectives. 

• Communicate and Influence Effectively:

Step 1 of Communicating with Influence is to simply communicate much MORE OFTEN.  

1. Start with asking a lot of questions. It’s easy to ask questions.

2. Lead your own communication with your intentions, your Why, and what you are solving for.

3. Be curious of others’ points of view (PoV). Ask others what they think and actively incorporate your new learnings into your own modified PoV.

The great news for CFOs is this inquiry method is also one of the best ways to gather data and insights on most any subject.

Step 2 of Communicating with Influence is to publish your data, your analysis, and especially your insights and point of view. Lead with your insights and what you learned from asking all these questions and create a space to discuss the data and insights.

Steps 3, 4, 5: Keep calling these “Plays.”  Rinse - Repeat. 

Steps 5-7: Yes, keep communicating it 7 times, 7 different ways. Trust me - your audience won’t truly hear it until close to the 7th time!

They say we learned everything we need to know about communication in Kindergarten…

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Top 10 Ways to Give Away Your CFO or any CXO Influence

1. Not listening to your intuition / feelings

2. Backing down when someone disagrees

3. Making your needs secondary to others needs

4. Avoiding conflict - not challenging others

5. Staying nice - not providing direct, constructive feedback... as a gift

6. Excessive focus on approval - need to be “liked”

7. Minimizing importance of your own comments (both verbally, in writing/emails/slack, and body language)

8. Not taking credit for your accomplishments

9. Not pointing out the problem or providing a solution

10. Letting yourself be interrupted - allowing subject to change

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Top 11 Ways to Influence

1. Connect with people by being a curious learner

2. Speak ‘their” language

3. By asking powerful questions (“I’m curious what you think?” “How did you come to that conclusion?” “What are your assumptions”)

4. Demonstrate authentic listening by repeating what the other person said 

5. Use strategic silence to enable insights to sink in and to allow for engagement and challenging of your point of view from your audience

6. Practice storytelling in your communication and presentation skill with a focus on making your insights more memorable and repeatable

7. Tap your superpowers of “structuring” the options to influence quality decisions

8. Anticipate objections; look around corners; be 3 moves ahead in the game

9. Require point of view and personal insights from everyone 

10. Require learning and teaching from everyone

11. Stealing from spinal tap… this list goes to 11
    

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… Bottom Line: Learn It; Share It; Teach it

and that’s a wrap that rounds out Cook’s Top Level Leadership Framework and all 4 Corners.

Don’t worry, I have at least 100 more posts in me which I’m designing to be much shorter focusing on Key Plays that fit under one of these 4 corners.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my TL;DR. I hope you’ve at least scanned it quickly, bookmarked it, and will come back to these 4 corners in the future as well as my Decision Making Series:

My goal is to create a community of followers here where we can start respectfully challenging each other and getting together in person down the road.

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