Roger Harrison, Harrison Associates, USA
A colleague used to quip that his wife called him a “model husband”. When he looked up the definition of “model” it was “a small imitation of the real thing” … And that’s the limitation of so much of the advice we receive, the training we do. Life is just messier, more varied (and more fun if, like me, you like messy situations!). So I’m delighted to find that Geof Cox has hit this nail on the head. His new book is for “anyone who needs to get results in situations where they do not have the positional power of authority – including project managers, project team members, those working in matrix organisations, technical staff, internal consultants, and professional staff – … along with those who do have a position of authority, but do not want to use that authority to tell people what to do.”
Jean-Marc Le Tissier, UK, A Better Way of Work
***** Helped me obtain my first class degree in business
Mehul
***** This is a brilliant little book. You can read it in an evening if you want. It has lots of practical things to do and try out. I use it, recommend it, bought a copy for my career minded niece and really, it's great.
Josephine Reese
I was attracted by this increasingly crucial topic and found that the author masters it, with depth and finesse. The book is packed with practical examples and great quotations that make quite an enjoyable reading. Best of all, I started practicing the suggested approaches and they are surprisingly effective! Highly recommended.
Roberto Gavazzi, Masserini Associates, Italy
***** If this is what you have to do, this book is essential reading!
What I like about this book is that it gives me not only concrete examples but also specific tools that I can apply, tools that make sense and really work! Reading it, I felt inspired to work on projects (and people!) that I didn't know how to approach before. To get results both personally and professionally, this book really helps.
Jane Everett, International Coach and Facilitator, Italy
**** A handbook for the manager / leader of the 21st century.
Geof Cox has produced a very useful book for the leaders and managers of the 21st century. In his book he addresses most of the issues we are facing in today's business and explains the necessary shift from a control driven environment to an environment where we influence each based on the understanding of each other's needs. What I also found appealing in the book are the links to other positive and strength based approaches and the attention for cross cultural aspects. The book is highly practical with its numerous case studies, insights into different styles of influencing, checklists and supporting graphics. A true hands-on guide as it says on the cover of the book. 4 stars.
Joep de Jong, CEO, Van Harte & Lingsma, Netherlands
***** A real hands-on guide you will use and re-use time and again.
This book is so much more than just a book. First Geof Cox guides you through the concepts of power and influence. Then he provides tools to determine your own prefered influencing style and to understand how your style interact with others. Moving on, you will recognize issues you encounter and people styles you deal -or struggle- with. You will find yourself walking back and forth between chapters to link it all up in action plans to deal more effectively with the issues at hand. A book you will keep with reach as a guide for increasing your impact on your business results.
Wilfried Dubios, aureval consultants, France
**** Influencing in any organisations!
I really liked Geof's book as it details theory, case studies and self development exercises that help the reader to identify key approaches to influencing the modern agenda, whilst aiding self-development. I think this will resonate with people from most organisations and, as more and more organisations move to forms of matrix management, even in the public sector, this book should be seen as a primer for leaders and managers who have to make change happen ... often without authority to drive that change! This is particularly so if you find yourself working with difficult or challenging staff! I recommend it to all!
John Thurlbeck, Wear Consulting
***** Practical, helpful and relevant
Geof's book provides a clear and wide-ranging approach to a subject that is increasingly important. Traditional command-and-control structures with formal, positional authority are less and less relevant. If you have to get things done by other people across differing functional, geographical or cultural boundaries, then this book can help. A good, short, practical and readable guide to help acquire some of the skills that differentiate the really excellent from merely competent.
Steve Kendall, Managing Director, Oxford Projects Ltd
***** A first-rate guide to influencing
Geof has harnessed a range of relevant theories and models about influencing and brought them alive with case study examples and through sharing his own wide experience in the subject matter. This highly readable book contains practical and extremely valuable information for anybody looking to increase their influence at work. I strongly recommend it. The timing is also good as influencing, without necessarily having positional power, becomes ever more important.
Frank Penson, Partner, Strategies for Training
**** Informative and practical
This really is a hands-on practical guide that is helpful and isn't difficult to read or full of management speak. In fact there are lots of exercises to do, case studies to learn from and principles that have been made very accessible. I also like all the quotations which somehow give it an extra bite!
Derek Osborn, Professional Career and Business Coach
****A useful companion for consultants and coaches
Four recognisable influencing styles: people (sharing, listening), ideas (connecting, envisioning) , process (proposing, reasoning), action (demanding, exchanging) form the backbone of this book. Geof Cox shares freely his insights, experiences and exercises around this model. That makes this book a useful companion, not only for managers but also for consultants, trainers and executive-coaches.
Erik Boers, Het Nieuwe Trivium, Netherlands
****An Influential book about influencing
I found this book extremely readable and useful for a number of reasons. The structure of the book is logical and accessible, starting with a description of the organisational settings in which effective influence is so important, going through an outline of a range of influence styles and ending with application issues, from the relatively simple to the highly complex. Geof’s experience shows through in the numerous case studies and examples, which are easily recognizable and very instructive. His writing style is attractive and clear. He works with complex models and theories in a way, which makes them immediately comprehensible and relevant. He challenges the reader to work through a wide range of development exercises to make the content come to life in a personal way. For the reader who is just beginning to seek a deeper understanding of the “rules of organisational influence”, this book is a great place to start. For readers who have already delved into the subject through extensive reading and/or following related training and development programmes, Geof’s book provides an invaluable summary of the prevailing wisdom.
Nico Swaan, Heerenveen. Netherlands
****Hands-on advice to be more effective at the workfloor
I really like the book, it is written in a very lively way due to the many examples, cases and the link to daily business practice. As with any powerful book or course on interpersonal influence, the models are simple, easily accessible but very powerful. For people who like structure (like me) the influence model presented by Geof helps a lot, as the `responsive' and `directive' axes steer the communications, and force you to think first about what you want to achieve. Having studied a lot about negotiation in the last 2 years, I especially like the way in which the model forms a perfect introduction to win-win-style of negotiations. This win-win style becomes a natural consequence of a conscious choice of communication and behaviour, rather than the "preferred-but-unrealistic" style as it is seen by many people. I recommend the book to anybody who feels intrigued by or became curious about the title of the book: how to be successful and get results when hierarchy won't help and authority is absent. The many case studies and lively style of writing makes the book a very helpful and practical guide to increase interpersonal effectiveness at the workplace!
Frank Garten, Intercultural Business Consultant, Netherlands