Want to influence others effectively? Start by letting yourself be influenced.
It sounds paradoxical, but in many situations, the best way to drive change is to first be open to change yourself.
In this video, we explore:
✅ A real-life case of deploying new technology in India and why a standard Western approach failed.
✅ How cultural differences impact collaboration and feedback.
✅ Why showing humility and asking for advice can be the key to building trust and influence.
The breakthrough came when we took a counterintuitive approach.
Want to become a more effective communicator and leader? Watch the video to discover how embracing influence can make you more influential.
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⸻ 👉 Full text:
Here’s a strange thing that came out of a recent session: When solving a problem requires influencing others, being open to influence oneself is often the most effective strategy. This may seem paradoxical, but bear with me …
The example we were working on in the session was the deployment of some new technology into a group in India. Previous attempts at doing this had started by sending a prototype to the group and asking for feedback. This approach generally works well in Europe and North America. Engineers receiving “new toys” on these continents tend to like the game. They play with the tech and enjoy interaction with the developers, suggesting improvements, receiving updates, giving further feedback, and so on. But this approach was not working so well for my coaching client when working with India.
So how could he have his Indian colleagues give him the feedback he needed?
In our session, we started off by reviewing known differences between cultures and how to adapt a western approach to the Indian one. And after a while, we realized that this approach was doomed to failure.
We could imagine all sorts of reasons why an engineering group in India would go about things differently from one in Europe or North America, and we could imagine many possible solutions to the problem of getting their feedback on the prototype. But then we were stuck.
Should all the possible solutions be tried in parallel? No – that was impractical and would lead to confusion. But if we tried the alternatives in series, it would take ages and exhaust everyone’s patience.
We started to make more progress when we imagined ourselves in the Indian group’s shoes. We did a little empathy practice Perhaps they feel disenfranchised – constantly on the receiving end of ideas, strategies … and engineering prototypes coming out of Europe?
But does the difficulty of getting feedback on the engineering prototype have anything to do with a feeling of lack of control in the Indian group? Maybe, maybe not, but considering these two points together inspired the following idea: why not simply explain our dilemma to a trusted colleague in India and ask for their opinions and advice?
In order to influence them, maybe we need to let them influence us. There’s the paradox!
This sign of humility would be a demonstration that we considered their input valuable. And it might just result in a good solution coming up!
#Leadership #Influence #CrossCulturalCommunication #Coaching #Empathy #Collaboration
