Mind the gap
Influence isn’t one-size-fits-all. Your confidence and effectiveness shift depending on who, and what, you’re trying to influence.
That’s true whether you’re the CEO or the graduate trainee.
Nearly half (47%) of people on our open enrolment programmes are Director-level or above. The situations they tell us they feel less confident influencing are remarkably consistent.
This quick self-assessment asks you to think about those tricky situations. For each, you’ll rate how important it is to your role – and how confident you feel influencing it.
Whilst confidence and effectiveness are connected, it doesn’t follow that they are intrinsically linked. But the gap between the two is where some interesting stuff lives. It acts as a guide to help you focus your development.
At the end, you’ll get two tips: one to sharpen an area of high confidence, one to build confidence where it’s most needed.
Open enrolment participants
Before they joined a programme we asked
‘How confident do you feel when approaching influencing situations?’
The average response was 6/10.
And 68% of them are C-suite, Director, Head of or Senior Manager.
{ “label”: “Influencing the C-Suite”, “explainer”: “When you need buy-in from the most senior people in the organisation.”, “gapLabel”: “Influencing senior decision makers”, “gapQuote”: “
The more senior the stakeholder and the ask, the more I need help and support.
“, “gapProblem”: “We ask programme starters what their biggest influence challenge is, and the C-Suite say the same thing as the graduate recruits: influencing up the hierarchy is the toughest situation you face.
High stakes, limited access, a steep power dynamic – the confidence that comes easily with peers evaporates. You’re left nervous, ineffective, second-guessing your value.
“, “gapTip”: “There’s no magic formula to build your confidence with senior stakeholders. Behavioural agility helps – tailoring your argument, listening to resistance, building excitement. But one simple thing underpins those behavioural gymnastics.
A clear influence objective.
Not just, ‘I want this to go well.’
What exactly do you want to walk away with? Make it concrete – a visible action, a specific deadline.
‘Get their commitment’ isn’t an objective. What does that look like? An introduction? A signed contract? A meeting booked for Tuesday?
‘Build a better relationship’ isn’t one either. Clarity on roles? A shift in how they communicate with you?
One clear objective frames everything. You know why you’re there, so when the conversation shifts, you adapt without losing the thread.
“, “confidenceLabel”: “Influencing senior decision makers”, “confidenceQuote”: “I feel like I perform best in the big moments, with senior people. I get fired up for it and usually I know what’s expected of me.
“, “confidenceTip”: “When you’ve got a date with the senior team lined up in your diary, chances are you make time to prep like it matters.
Maybe you focus on your objective, the critical data, the key questions you have, the common ground you want to highlight.
That confidence-boosting prep magic works everywhere. One-to-ones, team meetings, client calls. Confidence grows when you prioritise your plan.
” },{ “label”: “Influencing without authority”, “explainer”: “When you’re not viewed as the expert or the most senior, but still need to have impact.”, “gapLabel”: “Influencing beyond your level and expertise”, “gapQuote”: “
I am used to being successful with my own team but it’s harder when I’m not the boss or the expert.
“, “gapProblem”: “Even as a senior leader there are situations where you’re the new hire, the non-clinical team member, the least senior person, and feel you don’t have expertise, status, or access to resources.
That means your confidence drains in key moments.
“, “gapTip”: “Organisations bestow some power onto each person in the system and knowing what sources of positional (organisational) power you have can increase your confidence.
Make an inventory of your sources of power against three categories: expertise, status, and resource.
Maybe you were hired for your technical knowledge or cultural fit. You may bring experience and perspectives that the organisation values. Perhaps you have access to budget, headcount or people’s time.
Knowing what sources of positional power you have is a good starting point for more confident influencing. Beyond that, developing your behavioural flexibility gives you the skills to be truly effective.
“, “confidenceLabel”: “Influencing beyond your level and expertise”, “confidenceQuote”: “I’m used to being in cross-functional rooms with different levels, and most of the time I can speak up and get my point across.
“, “confidenceTip”: “Positive influence means both parties should be as powerful (or more so) at the end of the influence interaction as they were at the start.
When you’re influencing peers or people who are more junior, look for opportunities to enhance their power.
For example, giving them the authority to move things forward without you acting as the go-between or enforcer.
” },{ “label”: “Influencing when there’s conflict”, “explainer”: “When you’re facing difficult conversations and emotional reactions.”, “gapLabel”: “Influencing where there’s disagreement”, “gapQuote”: “
I feel I am too accommodating with people and give in easily to avoid conflict.
“, “gapProblem”: “You find conflict deeply uncomfortable and seek to avoid it whenever possible. Whether it’s based on different opinions, needs or deeply held values, it’s one of the toughest interpersonal challenges you face.
But in the long run, if you avoid tough conversations, you weaken your reputation as an effective influencer. Someone who gets things done and builds good relationships.
“, “gapTip”: “In the Positive Influence model, listening is an influence behaviour that acts to defuse conflict because it lets the other person know that we understand their world. And when we feel understood our emotional ‘temperature’ regulates.
But how we listen is important, and being intentional about your approach makes a big difference to your impact.
Ask yourself if you’re:
• Listening to win – looking for an angle to gain the upper hand.
• Listening to fix – you’re already solving the problem before they’ve finished talking.
• Listening to understand – staying genuinely curious and putting your own agenda on pause.
Finding out what’s going on for other people comes quite naturally to me and is something I’ve used to defuse conflict.
“, “confidenceTip”: “Skilful conflict resolution helps you influence even the toughest situations. The risk is that, in focussing on understanding the other person, you fail to get your own needs met.
Reflect on a recent conversation where there was disagreement and ask yourself if you backed down, or failed to state your own needs or expectations. What might you have done differently?
” },{ “label”: “Influencing a group”, “explainer”: “When you’re navigating multiple stakeholders and priorities.”, “gapLabel”: “Influencing lots of people at once”, “gapQuote”: “
I feel a lot more confident when it’s one to one, but where you are trying to influence a group of people I would be less confident.
“, “gapProblem”: “When you’re trying to influence a group, your impact can dilute fast. People have different priorities, motivations, and ways of hearing things. Scramble to address everyone, and you risk influencing no-one.
“, “gapTip”: “Focus on the person who, if influenced, brings the rest of the room with them. They might be the most senior, the resident expert, the most connected, or simply the one others look to before deciding. Whatever it is, they can shift the room in your favour.
Before the meeting, consider what matters to them – their role, their pressures and goals. Then find one or two reasons why your idea speaks directly to those priorities. Keep it positive: show how your idea makes their world better, not just different.
Example: you want to increase headcount
• To the Finance Director: faster delivery, better profitability
• To the People Director: engagement rises when people have room to be creative.
• To the Head of Operations: expertise we can redeploy across the business.
• To the CIO: frees up time for monitoring and risk compliance.
One idea. Four people. Four reasons to say yes.
“, “confidenceLabel”: “Influencing lots of people at once”, “confidenceQuote”: “I like the buzz of a big group and sometimes feel at my best when there’s an audience.
“, “confidenceTip”: “Group meetings are a great place to use positive influence. They’re an efficient way to focus people on your objectives and to build relationships.
Group meetings can also be risky. It’s harder to connect with individuals, particularly quieter members of the group. Make sure you’re actively seeking everyone’s participation so you capture the broadest range of support and challenge to your idea. That means you’ll get the benefit of diverse voices and won’t be derailed by quiet dissent further down the line.
” },{ “label”: “Influencing a new relationship”, “explainer”: “When you’re working with people you don’t know.”, “gapLabel”: “Influencing to develop new relationships”, “gapQuote”: “
It’s harder when I do not yet have a relationship with the person I am working with.
“, “gapProblem”: “You’re regularly thrown into new situations where you need people to trust and back you straight away. New project? You’re working with strangers. Restructure? Your old alliances are no more. Expanding into new markets? You’re starting from scratch.
You need to get key people on side quickly, otherwise ideas stall, projects drag, and momentum hits a wall.
“, “gapTip”: “You’re paid for results, but lasting success rests on the strength of your relationships.
That doesn’t mean maintaining a perfect balance between both. It does mean keeping both in mind.
Finalising the organisational strategy? You’re more task-focused. Onboarding a new client? The relationship takes centre stage.
When you’re working with someone you don’t know, make the relationship your influence objective. Don’t wing it with weather chat and sports banter. Keep it purposeful. Clarity on roles? Agreement on communication styles? An understanding of personal values? Their dog’s name?
Tip the scales towards connection and treat this conversation with intentionality. That way you keep both relationship and task in focus.
“, “confidenceLabel”: “Influencing to develop new relationships”, “confidenceQuote”: “I’m good at building relationships with new people and getting them on board.
“, “confidenceTip”: “Positive influence is a balance between meeting your objectives and fostering strong and stable relationships.
Being intentional about where you focus your energy means you can maintain that balance. If you’ve made a positive start with a new relationship, ask yourself what needs to happen next to move your task objective forward.
” },{ “label”: “Influencing under pressure”, “explainer”: “When there’s no time to plan and prepare.”, “gapLabel”: “Influencing on the run”, “gapQuote”: “
I struggle in short time window, elevator pitch type situations, or a short slot in a larger meeting to present my piece.
“, “gapProblem”: “You’re racing from meeting to meeting, synthesising complex data, assessing risk, developing teams, strategies, people. When everything is happening at such a fast pace, your effectiveness can suffer.
How do you influence on the run?
“, “gapTip”: “Whatever the situation, effective influencing starts in the same place: with a clear objective. And that objective is even more important when you’re under pressure.
Your influence objective is what you want to happen next. What will the other person say or do? What change will you see as a result of the conversation? The objective is like putting a postcode into your satnav.
Once you know where you’re going, you can be flexible about how you get there.
The important thing is to make that objective concrete. Not ‘people will be energised and enthused’, more ‘people will self-nominate for key project tasks’. Not ‘The Finance Director will be happy with my budget proposal’ but, ‘The FD will sign off my budget’.
Taking just a minute to consider this before you click join on your next call can pay big dividends.
“, “confidenceLabel”: “Influencing on the run”, “confidenceQuote”: “I think I work best under pressure, when I have less time and have to focus on what’s really important.
“, “confidenceTip”: “If you’re more focused, concise, and effective when time is tight, what happens when you have more space? Do you lose focus, start using too many words, or find yourself easily moved off course?
To help you stay concise, distil your thinking to the essentials – your main proposal, your key question, what you actually want, your ideal outcome. Having that clarity means you can be flexible and focussed when things take an unexpected (ramble-inducing) turn.
” },]Where are you most confident, and where's the gap?
For each situation, rate how important it is in your role, and how confident you feel handling it.
Positive Power and Influence
Our open enrolment influence programmes are a melting pot of ideas, creativity, support, and learning. They’re for people who are serious about investing in themselves and seeing real results.
Open enrolment influence programmes
Open enrolment participants
Before they joined a programme we asked
‘How confident do you feel when approaching influencing situations?’
The average response was 6/10.
And 68% of them are C-suite, Director, Head of or Senior Manager.
