Power Survey 2000 - Initial Results

... continued from Power Survey 2000 - Background

So, at the dawn of this new age and new millennium, where do people in organisations believe they get their power and influence from? If we look at the organisation as a whole, the top twenty looks like this;

Source

Knowledge
Experience
Credibility
Expertise
Enthusiasm
Confidence
Interpersonal Skills
Achievement
Professionalism
Reputation
Assertiveness
Trust
Networking
Listening
Energy
Approachability
Common Sense
Empathy
Honesty
Self Belief

Percentage

27.5
26.6
22.8
21.8
19.9
19.1
19.0
18.2
17.7
17.7
16.2
16.0
15.3
15.2
14.8
14.6
14.1
13.6
13.3
13.0

The Science Bit

The numbers on the above table are a ratio derived from how often a specific word ie "Experience" appeared in the data base, divided by the total number of entries x 100.

Now I know that this is not the most scientific study of all time, but the emerging picture is still pretty convincing and I believe it to be a true reflection of the most popular influencing strategies that people believe they use.

Technical Competence

If we start to cluster some of the related items on this table together, then an interesting picture emerges. Clearly the most popular strategy is a combination of Knowledge, Expertise and Experience. What we might label Technical Competence. This is good news for anyone advocating life long learning or continuous professional development. The message here would seem to be that if you want to influence the organisational agenda, then get learning!

Note that Status and Authority (although present in the database), don't make the top 20. This is perhaps reassuring and appropriate given the organisational changes that have taken place.

Credibility

Other messages this table highlights are that Reputation, Professionalism and Credibility are also important. To some extent it could be reasoned that these might flow out of Technical Competence, however I doubt that this will work in isolation. Most of us know that you can be the greatest expert, but if your appearance is inappropriate to the situation or culture, or if you can not be trusted, Credibility is damaged and therefore personal power and influence reduced. It also occurs to me that Reputation, like Achievement can probably only be gained over time and with the consistently successful application of technical competence and appropriate behaviour.

Drive and Robustness

There are some other items that appear to bundle together well. Energy and Enthusiasm would seem to fit under a heading of Drive, and Confidence, Assertiveness and Self-Belief perhaps cluster together as Robustness.

Interpersonal Skills

I also notice that Interpersonal Skills are in the top 10, and if we combine that with Listening, Networking Approachability and Empathy, it would appear that the so called "soft skills" are highly regarded as sources of Power and Influence. Honesty and Trust could either be bundled together in their own right, or perhaps allocated to the Credibility group.

... continued in Power Survey 2000 - Analysis

This is an extract from an article written by Mike Phipps for Training Journal in 2000.