Behaviours for a Push Strategy

Push behaviours tend to be viable only where there is a robust relationship between two parties. They are unlikely to be successful where the parties are virtual strangers or where there is an element of suspicion between them. Influ-ence rests on relationships that are built over time and through various circum-stances. Potential relationships can be severely weakened or totally destroyed through the attempted application of push behaviours to fragile relationships.

Managers who seek influence must first of all improve their relationships with those whom they wish to influence. Using push behaviours to influence people with whom you have no relationship is a forlorn quest. You will come across as arrogant, presumptuous, threatening and ‘unbalanced’. Hence, resorting to push behaviours presumes a previous investment in developing a relationship through combinations of pull behaviours.

This leads to a singular conclusion: taking the necessary steps to improve – even establish – relationships through pull behaviours is a necessary precondi-tion for using push behaviours to influence them. In short, pull influencers earn the ‘right’ to use push behaviours.

Exhibit 4.3 Push behaviours Behaviour Description

Reasoning Using logic and rational argument to point to the ‘required’ decision Suggesting Making general recommendations

Asserting Using assertions to identify the ‘correct’ decision

Coercing Using pressure to compel someone to take a course of action

The four push behaviours described in Exhibit 4.3 appear at first glance deceptively normal for many managers. They are what managers do every day without thinking too much about them – which is part of the problem.

Inappropriate behaviours are counter-productive and some people resent and react to the careless use of push behaviours against them.

Activity 4.11

How many times recently have people reacted negatively to the way you allegedly said something to them?

Do they accuse you of using an aggressive tone, abrupt language or disrespectful gestures when, in your view, you merely told them to do what they were supposed to do?

Some (usually female) managers do not feel comfortable when contemplating push behaviours and they feel self-conscious when told to practise them.

4.4.1 Reasoning

Rational reasoning is highly regarded in the West, where there is a strong prej-udice in favour of rationality in managerial theory. In argumentative discourse, logic is assumed to be superior to subjectivism. From a given premise a logical conclusion follows. Any other conclusion is false and, by logical implication, should be rejected.

Examples: reasoning

‘It stands to reason that if we cannot sell in their territory then they cannot sell in ours.’

‘On the basis that you wish to impose an inhibition on my writing a book on the same subject for another publisher, logically I must require you not to publish another author’s book on this same subject.’

‘There is no logic in my accepting prices below my costs of production.’

Asserting that a decision is based on logical reasoning bestows authority or legitimacy on it. The ‘numbers are neutral’ and Giacomo only conveys the message: ‘We must always submit to the evidence’, etc. A manager’s capability

for logical analysis (such as in a facility for using quantitative methods) is a powerful intervention in a dispute on what should be done.

When you tell someone ‘you can’t argue with the facts’, their role in the decision is secondary rather than primary because the facts exist independently.

And when you insist that they ‘set emotion aside’, their discretionary influence on the decision is correspondingly diminished; dismissing a contribution as

‘emotional’ or ‘illogical’ is usually sufficient to discredit it. They become a mere cipher in an impersonal decision process.

Hence, no discussion on the role of rationality can neglect how claims to rationality may be manipulated by those anxious to claim objective authority for the decision they prefer. In principle, a rational decision has a powerful claim to be meritorious in its own right; in practice, your claim to have chosen rationally may be spurious.

Activity 4.12

How many managers do you know who resort to claims that their decisions are rational?

How many of them demonstrate formally how they arrived at their rational decision?

Exercise 4.6

Give a rational argument for why you deserve a pay rise but a colleague does not.

4.4.2 Suggesting

Suggestions are sometimes regarded as the ‘softest’ of the push behaviours.

Because a suggestion, like advice, does not have much weight, some people make a case for reclassifying suggesting as a pull behaviour. It is, however, different from advice in that anybody can and does offer advice (which strangers mostly ignore), whereas in an influencing exchange a suggestion presumes a relationship (the suggestion is freely sought and legitimately offered) and, therefore, that there is some confidence that the suggestion will be seriously considered. The likelihood of the suggestion being implemented is directly related to the strength of the relationship.

Examples: suggesting

‘Have you thought of contracting out these services?’

‘In my view, a request for compensation is best backed by a lawyer’s writ.’

‘Pick whom you want but I think you would be better with Morag in that post, not Michael.’

Suggesting behaviour is not an offer of impersonal and disinterested advice.

As influencers we have a direct interest in the outcome and our suggestion is geared to achieve the outcome we favour. So when strangers ask for advice on the shortest route to a dockyard, we are indifferent whether they heed or ignore us. In suggesting to colleagues that they should support a scheme to build a new dockyard, we have a direct interest and would be anxious if they chose instead to check our suggestion with a third party (particularly one known to oppose our stance) before committing themselves.

Our confidence in our relationship with those to whom we feel free to make suggestions is closely bound up with our confidence that they will heed what we suggest because we have influence over them. That is why suggesting is a push behaviour – it is a unilateral determination of what we think should be done by others and not what we jointly agree might be best.

Exercise 4.7

A friend consults you about an irritating legal problem that she feels strongly about (and you allowed her to wallow). After listening to the details, you form the opinion that she will not win the case. How would you suggest to her that she drops her suit?

4.4.3 Asserting

Asserting is a step up from the right to make general suggestions to someone (with an expectation that it will be acted upon). In asserting that this or that is the correct decision for someone to make, there is a much more complex relationship implied by the fact that the assertion was made. A stranger making such an assertion may be ignored; a close ally would not be ignored.

Examples: asserting behaviour

‘You must stand up to Linda on this issue.’

‘Your team must score at least four or better on the evaluation scale if it is to be awarded an extension to its contract.’

‘If you don’t fight back now, you will pay for it over and over again.’

Assertive behaviour is not meant to be ambiguous. As in Tit-for-Tat behaviour, you know where you are with assertive people. Therefore the language they use is clear and to the point.

In appraisal interviews it is necessary to be assertive if those being appraised are to be absolutely clear what they must do to achieve a satisfactory rating.

Praise for what they have achieved is matched by direct comment on where they have fallen below the organisation’s standards and what they must do about it.

If something less than assertive behaviour is used, the substandard behaviour has less chance of being corrected because the people are not sure what they have to do. Advice that ‘you must try harder’ is less valuable, for example, than

specific targets they must reach in attendance, timekeeping and completion of assignments on time.

Evasive decision-making styles that use language like ‘on the one hand . . . and on the other . . .’ and anything that invites uncertainty about what must be done are well short of assertiveness.

Exercise 4.8

How would you use assertive behaviour to influence a US Senator who is undecided on the vote for impeachment in, say, the Clinton trial? (Take either side, for or against.)

4.4.4 Coercing

Coercive behaviour can work in robust relationships. It is at the extreme of the influencing relationships. The influencer puts pressure on the target to act in a specific way or manner in pursuit of his or her goals.

The form of the compulsion may vary from a direct instruction that is highly likely to be obeyed (‘vote for the rejection of the minutes of the Board meeting’) to an instruction combined with a threat (‘if Harry wins the vote because you fail to support me, then I will not support your promotion’). The difference between asserting and coercing is that asserting is direct advice (‘you must stand firm’) and coercion is a direct command (‘you will stand firm, or else’).

The use of coercion rather than the softer influence behaviours indicates some form of power over the target. Relationships give power to the influencer and, ironically, partners behave towards each other in ways that would not be tolerated if there were no relationship. Examples of altercations between domestic partners come to mind (it has been observed that spouses treat each other much worse than they treat their lovers), as do interpersonal tensions between politicians in the same party (some cannot bear to be in the same room as certain fellow members).

Examples: coercing

‘Go to the match, but I will not be here when you get back.’

‘Remember, “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” and not supporting Amelda on this vote will cost you dearly.’

‘If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.’

Coercion is a complex relationship behaviour that is hardly different from bullying and intimidation. It may be willingly accepted by the parties and as vigorously resisted if an indeterminate line is crossed. Coercion is often accepted out of a sense of obligation or duty, but it is also fiercely resisted if the person feels humiliated or exploited (and if there is a viable option to switch sides).

Exercise 4.9

In what circumstances might you use coercive behaviour to gain the compliance of a colleague?