I am not a leader. How can someone listen to me?

I am not a leader. How can someone listen to me?

"Do you want to use the power of your position to improve your influence? In Microsoft culture, abuse of power is unacceptable ." Xiao Yongzheng opened his door and told us the most taboo thing in the process of building influence.

Xiao Yongzheng, a project manager at Microsoft's Asian Engineering Institute, is currently the Director of the Business Software Department of Microsoft Asia Pacific R & D group. He once saw an example of an attempt to influence other colleagues by taking advantage of the "power" of his leadership and finally encountering a "rebound" of severe emotions. It is often said that "it is not difficult to solve things that can be solved with money, but it is difficult to solve problems without money ". Similarly, in work, power can help build influence, but in the absence of power, how can we obtain support from others through its own influence?

"There will always be things out of your control ." Xiao Yongzheng joked: "Even Bill Gates needs to influence his customers. In this case, the title is invalid. How to help customers achieve their business goals and influence their business is the key to success ."

In Xiao Yongzheng's view, there is a simple truth, that is, how to "understand and cater to the needs of others ". "The most important technique is listening ." Xiao Yongzheng stressed. Sometimes, people are eager to express themselves to highlight their uniqueness, but forget that listening is not only polite, but also a prerequisite for effective communication.

"Many people seem to be listening, but they are thinking about how to refute it ." Xiao Yongzheng said: "If you cannot listen well, you cannot communicate well. How can people listen to you if they do not meet the needs of others' expressions? Without two-way effective communication, how can you drag others into your 'camp 'and influence them so that they can support your decision ?"

Xiao Yongzheng shared his "secret" for achieving influence-finding people you want to influence and setting a common goal with them.

"Sometimes, even if a leader publicly expresses his thoughts and goals, others may not necessarily agree with them. Consensus is not a one-way 'speak to him ', and you need to get the 'feedback' from the other party '." Xiao Yongzheng said: "It is to pull him into the group and share your common goals, rather than simply using commands ."

Xiao Yongzheng used a simple example to strengthen his opinion: "For example, if I am hungry, ask my colleagues to help me buy some food. Should I tell him, 'I am hungry, you can just look at something to fill your stomach,' or tell him, 'I am hungry, would you better buy me some brand of cookies? Generally, you must think that the last expression has a clearer meaning, and the other party is not easy to understand. But what if the supermarket doesn't have this brand of cookies? He may need to go back to the office and ask me what to do. In this way, a very simple thing will also make the help people feel very annoying. As a matter of fact, I only need to tell him my goal-filling my stomach-is enough. ." The purpose of sharing is to form the basis of influence.

When someone "takes chicken feathers as an arrow", most people will have resistance, and may "throw" a strong comment in the first place. Xiao Yongzheng's solution is to write out his opinion and delete it. It sounds a little helpless, or even a little sad ". "But it depends on how we interpret this ." Xiao Yongzheng's solution is to look at it: "Be a trial of life !" Don't let your mood go, and improve your ability to solve problems.

"What's more, emails cannot convey emotions very accurately. If you are a little careless, it is easy to get people wrong ." Xiao Yongzheng's suggestion is that it is best to communicate by phone and then clarify with another email to avoid many misunderstandings. If you must use an email for communication, you must read the email three times before sending it. "After an email is sent, recall does not return. Most of the time, we regret it when we send the email. We should send a recall email to make the result worse ." Xiao Yongzheng said: "the recipient may follow your previous email because of your recall action ."

Finally, Xiao Yongzheng talked about an ordinary and important topic-respect. It sounds a bit old-fashioned, but how many people can really do it? It must be admitted that, on the stage of the incomparable reality in the workplace, people will wear colored glasses more or less, as the saying goes, "watching people with dishes ". However, the high-tech industry is changing rapidly. Maybe your former colleagues or even subordinates become your major customers or superiors in the next day. If you have a small "disrespect" for him ", are you sure you want to meet me again?

"What we need in the end is people who work practically. China's software industry also needs a group of steadfast people. They don't care whether they can fly in the short term, but they really love what they do ." Said Xiao Yongzheng. With such feelings, it may not be difficult to achieve communication, and the influence of communication will be easy.

(Author Shi daN)

 

This article is excerpted from the book "entrepreneurship at Microsoft -- the growth of Microsoft's Asian Engineering Institute (dual-color.

Book details: http://blog.csdn.net/broadview2006/article/details/6617589