Our Priority Is Not Automatically Their Priority

Your success often depends on leaders you cannot simply manage. This article explores influencing without authority and how the 3Ps, priorities, pressures, and purpose, help you find alignment with other departments.

It’s mid-week and you realize that you need a report from a director in another department in order to meet a deadline next week. You reach out with what feels like plenty of notice, asking if they can get the report to you by Friday. The response you get back is, “Sorry, but we can’t get the report to you by Friday. We have several other priorities we need to complete first.”

Sound familiar?

As leaders, we are naturally taught to take charge, give direction, and work with those we have direct authority over. However, the departments and teams we oversee do not work in silos. Our success often depends on people we cannot simply manage.

Our success often depends on people we cannot simply manage.

Influencing Without Authority When It Isn't Their Priority

This is where the leadership skill of influencing without authority comes into play. As leaders, we not only need to know how to manage our teams, but also how to influence those who are crucial to our success but who have responsibilities and pressures of their own.

Success in lateral leadership comes in part from having good working relationships and strong project and time management, but a key part is understanding the needs and responsibilities of other leaders and their departments. This does not mean convincing others that your priorities are more important than theirs. It means intentionally finding alignment between competing needs.

That alignment starts by recognizing that the other leader is looking at the situation through a different lens. Their responsibilities may require them to make a completely reasonable decision that does not align with what you need.

The 3Ps: Priorities, Pressures, and Purpose

Every leader has their own set of priorities, pressures, and purpose. Understanding all three is essential to influencing without authority.

• Priorities: What are they responsible for right now? Maybe they have three deadlines you don't know about.

• Pressures: What constraints are they operating under? Maybe they're short-staffed, waiting for information themselves, or dealing with something you can't see.

• Purpose: Why should this matter to them? How does your request connect to something they're responsible for or to a shared organizational goal?

Taking the time to consider these questions does not guarantee that you will get the answer you want, but it can change how you approach the conversation.

Incorporating the 3Ps into how you work with other leaders helps build relationships based on understanding and respect for the needs of both departments. This often means compromise comes into play as both leaders work toward the larger organizational goal.

Something we all know but often forget in the moment is that our priority is not automatically their priority. It is easy to think that because we are in the same organization, we should be focused on the same things, but that is rarely the case. We might have the same end goal, but each department may have different responsibilities for getting there. And in these situations, both leaders may be right in advocating for the needs of their teams.

The next time you need something from another leader, don't start by asking, "How do I get them to do this?" Start by asking, "What matters from where they're sitting?"

Whether you lead here in Yuma or anywhere across the country, if you want support influencing without authority when your priority is not automatically their priority, I'd love to talk. Schedule a consultation.

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