Courses/Communication/Influencing Skills
Influencing Skills
A half-day course on building influence at work without formal authority.
Overview
A half-day, trainer-led course on how influence works and how to build it. Participants examine the difference between influence and persuasion, the skills and types of power behind influence, and seven practical strategies drawn from sources including Carnegie and the Cohen-Bradford model. The pack contains everything needed to run the session in a classroom or online, and every file is editable.
Format. Half day (about 3 hours including a coffee break). Designed for classroom delivery and adaptable to live online sessions.
Who it is for. Open level: anyone in an organisation, whatever their position, who wants to increase their ability to influence others positively.
What delegates take away
- Define influence and distinguish it from persuasion.
- Recognise the barriers that limit influence at work.
- Understand the skills and types of power that underpin influence.
- Apply seven strategies for influencing people without formal authority.
- Build a personal action plan for developing influencing skills.
Course outline
Participants define influence, compare it with persuasion, and test the distinction against six workplace behaviours.
Participants review their own influencing behaviour and identify the barriers that hold influence back.
The session examines the skills an influential person draws on and the types of power behind influence.
Each strategy is explored in turn: empathy and understanding, likeability, finding out what others want, genuine interest and appreciation, highlighting commonalities, being open, and listening.
Participants start a personal action plan using the handout, exchange ideas, and recap the session objectives.
What is in the kit
Slide deck
32 editable PowerPoint slides with speaker notes on every slide
Trainer notes
Slide-by-slide session script with activity instructions, timings, Q&A prompts and online-delivery variants for each activity
MIZAN Edition field guide
Updated research with sources, two GCC-context case studies, three new activities, an AI-era section and a 30-day transfer plan
Participant workbook
Note-taking and activity workbook mirroring the session, with an action-plan appendix and a further-resources section
Handout
One handout: an influencing strategies action plan
Certificates
Four templates: attendance certificates in digital-signature and printable formats, plus a CPD completion certificate template and a completed example
Course administration forms
Feedback form and sign-in sheet
Online delivery guide
Guidance on running the session over Zoom or similar platforms, including tools for running the activities online
Pre-course preparation guide
Orientation document explaining each file in the pack and how to prepare for delivery
Dual formats
Everything ships in both editable Word/PowerPoint and PDF versions
Editions
The license in one sentence
Buy once, deliver the course as often as you like to as many delegates as you like, edit anything, add your own branding — you only may not resell or redistribute the materials themselves. Every download is stamped with your name, tier and order number. Full license terms
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