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How to Win Allies and Influence Your Peers

Professional relationships can advance—or sink—your career.

By Susan Cramm

September 01, 2003 — CIO — It could keep you up at night—the thought that you could get fired suddenly in spite of the good work you have done. I received a call a few weeks ago from a very talented CIO in shock after being terminated on trumped-up charges of financial improprieties. He had been with the company for several years and had been promoted to CIO a little more than a year before. During that time, his accomplishments were impressive: improved governance, alignment with the business, strategic positioning and delivery in spite of organizational downsizing.

In the CIO’s final meeting with the CEO, when the charges were presented, the CEO ended with a question: "Why didn’t you play golf with us during the last offsite?" You may ask (as did the CIO) what golf had to do with the cause for termination. Although the CEO denied any connection, in a single question he was more honest and direct about the underlying cause for the rift than he had been during the previous few months, when his relationship with the CIO degraded from strained to hostile.

This example underscores the importance of building relationships to be a successful CIO. To be sure, relationships are important at almost every professional level, but the stakes increase once you get to the top job and have to balance the needs of a diverse group of stakeholders.

To address this issue, large companies spend a boatload of money on developing competency models that identify critical values, behaviors and skills necessary for executive success. Executive recruiters and career counselors advise their clients to understand their personal motivators (including financial rewards, power and influence, lifestyle, autonomy, affiliation, workspace, intellectual challenges, skill building, and recognition) and examine their cultural fit with companies accordingly.

Unfortunately, competency models, personal awareness and interviewing processes are imperfect at best. At some point, you will find yourself working with people you don’t really like—and most likely, they’ll feel the same way about you.

Although relationships are two-sided and you cannot control the behavior of the other party, it is possible to change the nature and quality of a relationship.

Be positive. Executives are optimistic by nature. They believe in possibilities and are attracted to people who approach work and life with enthusiasm. Make it your goal to leave the participants in each meeting and interaction feeling energized, by placing their needs in front of your own. Don’t sap energy by complaining, commiserating or gossiping. Put work in proper perspective by developing a personal life with outside interests and passions. When asked "How are you?" make sure that you can say "Great!" with conviction.

 

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