Three Principles of Influence for Project Managers
Your team is a group of humans.
This seems like an obvious statement.
You are probably the only project manager in your group. Another obvious statement.
You might even project manage multiple projects with multiple teams. If you’re a scrum master, you likely have three or four scrums.
The development teams you work with, unless they have significant experience with your particular brand of project management, likely are resistant and doubtful to the things you propose. Your ceremonies and meetings are more about the motions than they are about delivering value, and people engage only when its their turn or they are called on.
Don’t be frustrated, they’re only human.
Helping People Help People
If you have ever opened up JIRA or Asana and had groans, that is because your team does not understand the value of what you’re trying to do.
Project management, or product management, or scrum master, or product owner — whatever it is — are all amorphous, and very human, crafts.
That is an important word that I’d like you to think on for a moment. This is your craft.
Many of the people you work with do not appreciate that because your craft is not necessarily quantifiable directly. There are no landing pages, photoshop files, or SQL queries.
So you hold onto your JIRA tickets.
The value you bring, however, are your soft skills. By focusing on soft skills, you can help your team do their best work. They’re not doing their best work because they have an Acceptance Criteria (though it helps). They’re doing their best work because there is someone on the team who can handle and navigate things like communications lines between teams and stakeholders, represent the team or product to stakeholders, and alert the higher ups when something is about to go off the rails.
That is your craft.
Put Away Your Tools
You can’t ticket your way out of a group of people not trusting you. You can’t backlog your way out of someone thinking you are in their way.
So you need some new tools. More human tools.
Principles of influence come to mind, and can be invaluable.
If you have not read Influence by Robert Cialdini, that is not shocking all things considered. His is the work mostly reserved for sales, marketing, and business development professionals.
At its root though, it is about connecting with people.
Reciprocity
Do you ever feel indebted to someone who helps you out? They do you a favor, or get you a coffee, and now you feel like you need to make it up to them?
It is a natural evolutionary reaction to another member of your tribe, and it is called reciprocity.
Reciprocity is why if a waiter gives you mints with the receipt, you will tip them significantly higher than you would have without.
It is also why, after you have helped one of the more contentious members of your team solve a problem in a one on one style, they will be supportive about the next moves you need the team to take with the process you’re working on.
Perhaps they need some supplies that haven’t come through. Go check in with IT or the person in charge of supplies. Call it a blocker, and clear it.
That sounds manipulative, but its not. You help them, they help you. If it is someone who is a leader on the team, other members of your team are more likely to follow.
I highly suggest you keep this in mind, and be aware of opportunities to help your team out. The more you help them in individual capacities, the more they will come to trust you.
Which leads us to our next principle of influence…
Authority
People default to obeying their superiors. Think school with teachers. Think sports with team captains. Think your team and the leads.
When you win over a lead with reciprocity, the rest of the team will fall in step. It is how our brains are wired. You win over the lead, you win over the team.
As more and more people support you or follow their lead, you will begin to build up your authority. As you then make wins with the team, your authority among your group will increase.
The good news with this principle is it dovetails into the next that will help a PM build up understanding and connection with their team.
Social Proof
People are more likely to do something that they see other people in their circles do. Fashion is a perfect example of this. Most fashion has no rationale behind it, but people want to look cool because there are people they consider cool and they want to be like those people.
This is social proof.
It goes far beyond wearing pants or a jacket that they will be embarrassed by in four years, though. You can get people to do all kinds of crazy stuff, if they see others doing it. From small things like looking up at the sky when they notice others doing it, to crossing the street even when it is unsafe to do so.
You get leads agreeing, you get the rest of the team participating, and now the stragglers or the team mates who are historically difficult will come along. It may not be painless, but they’re part of the group.
Being ostracized is something people inherently want to avoid at all costs.
Victory In Planning
Now that you have thought about how to win people over and connect with your team, go get it.
Being a Project Manager of any sort is about so much more than tools and tactics.
It is about your team, your product, your users — and you.
