What is Soft Power? Hard power is familiar to us all; it’s the use or threat of force. And economic power, in all of its forms of reward and penalty, is equally common. But how can you get people to do what you want, without incentives, sanctions, or coercion?
In the geopolitical domain, Joseph S Nye coined the term ‘Soft Power’ for this form of gentle persuasion. But soft power is equally valuable in organizational settings. Arguably more so.
Our Agenda
In this article, we’ll examine soft power in project management negotiation. We will cover:
- The Organizational Need for Soft Power
- What is Soft Power?
- Twelve Ways to Apply Soft Power in Project Management Negotiations
- Summing up Soft Power
We’ll start with why soft power is so valuable to us, as project professionals.
The Organizational Need for Soft Power
In today’s world of matrix management, holacracy, adhocracy, and the agile enterprise, few managers have any sort of formal power to wield. Yet you’re still required to get things done, on time, on budget, and to specification.
This has always been the case for us, as Project Managers. The need to wield authority without power is almost baked into our role description!
So, let’s look at how you can deploy soft power in your workplace, on your projects, and when you are leading change.
What is Soft Power?
When Nye coined the term ‘soft power’, he asserted that:
‘Seduction is always more effective than coercion’
Soft power builds on your social influence. This, in turn, reflects the reality of day-to-day human interactions. And they are equally valid at work as anywhere else.
Who do you like?
I bet there are a lot of answers. But I’d equally wager that all of these are true. I’d bet you like people who:
- You trust
- Help you out
- You see often
- Listen to you
- You can believe
- Respect you
- Are like you
- And are like you want to be
- The people you like and trust, like and trust
- Make you feel good
So, what’s the secret to soft power?
It’s simple: be all those people.
Once you start to do this, you can use soft power to shape, reinforce, and shift the perceptions and opinions of colleagues, clients, and other organizational stakeholders. We’ll examine twelve ways you can do this.
Twelve Ways to Apply Soft Power in Project Management Negotiations
Integrity
Trust is an essential part of soft power, and to earn it, you need to constantly live up to your commitments. Integrity is also about the extent to which you act with authenticity: doing and saying what you believe is right, rather than succumbing to pure pragmatism.
A reputation for integrity is a long-term investment that you can write off with one poor choice. So, make integrity your first priority whenever you face a tough decision.
Helpfulness
Wouldn’t it be a nice world if everyone just helped anyone else? We’d so much like this that, when we encounter people who are happy to offer help without expecting a return, we immediately like and value them. There’s even a name for that behavior: ‘paying it forward’.
Building up credit in your bank of favors and helpfulness is a great way to grow your soft power.
Familiarity
Nye talked about the importance of attraction to soft power. And attraction starts with familiarity: we like what we are comfortable with, and we are comfortable with what we know.
This is why so many brands spend a lot of money on ‘brand recognition’ advertising, establishing familiarity with their product in the minds of their target market. Invest time in getting to know – and be known by – the people you want to influence.
Listening
With some people, there is nothing they need better than a darn good listening to! Because, in general, the quality of listening you will encounter in the workplace is pretty poor. We’re all in a rush, we all want to say our piece. So, we often half-listen at best.
When people know that they can speak to you and you will listen intensely to what they are saying, they will often seek you out. They’ll feel you have wisdom to impart and see you as a powerful coach and mentor. Ironically, it’s often the people who say the least that can influence the most. This is, perhaps, the softest of soft power!
Expertise
Authority also comes from your knowledge, experience, and expertise. When you have this kind of authority, people will seek out your advice, feeling confident that it will be well-informed and therefore reliable.
Once again, less is more. If you confine yourself to offering opinions only on matters where you have an informed point of view, people will come to rely on your thoughts more.
Trusted advisors are able to combine integrity, helpfulness, familiarity, listening, and expertise to create a reputation people trust. There is one more thing they tend to prioritize…
Manner
How you come across to people is important. Do you treat them with respect? Are you able to remain courteous, even when you are under pressure? Diplomacy is a key part of soft power.
Manner, however, is about more than just manners. We associate a certain authority with those who demonstrate confidence without showing arrogance. This is as difficult a challenge for us in organizations as it is for nations on the world stage.
Similarity
‘People like people who are like themselves’ is a cliché because it is true. So, take time to discover the points of common interest between yourself and your stakeholders by listening to their concerns and trying to see the world from their point of view.
Finding out about people’s interests, and then making a point to talk about them in small talk is a powerful way to build rapport. If I think you share one of my interests, I am more likely to like and trust you.
Charm
Charm is a shockingly effective way to get people to like you and be influenced by you. Common courtesies, a simple smile and a few well-placed compliments can go a long way to attracting people to you, and bringing them under your spell.
Be careful with your compliments, though. Make sure they reflect genuine observations of things that will matter to the person you are complimenting. If I have put a lot of effort into crafting an important presentation, I don’t want to hear that you like my tie. I’d rather you noticed how the structure of my talk made the core message easy to understand and agree with.
Relationships
Because we are social creatures, the promise of a relationship, and the opportunity to deepen it, are powerful motivators that you can exploit effectively to influence people. When you help them to feel part of an in-group, you feed their need to conform and be part of a social structure, leaving them more willing to treat you as a valued part of their group, too.
Note that the in-group / out-group distinction can differ in its definitions and implications from one culture to another. In Japanese culture, respect and courtesies I referred to under charm are afforded to members of an out-group (soto), whilst members of your own in-group (uchi) are treated with greater familiarity and casualness.
Status
As social animals, we don’t just crave belonging and a desire to be part of an in-group: we also want status within our group. When you are able to treat people with the respect they believe is due to them, and even elevate their status a little and treat them with more respect, they will want to reciprocate the favor in some way.
One of the things I have learned is to treat junior people with great respect. Seek them out and give them your time. They may not have influence now, but the soft power you can exert over them, through treating them well at the start of their career, will extend as they rise through the ranks of their organizations.
Control
Our need to control our environment is a fundamental part of being human. As soon as we feel we have insufficient control, we suffer symptoms that we describe as ‘stress’.
When you give people control over an aspect of what is happening, they will respect and like you for it. So, the granting of control over specific aspects of organizational choices or decisions around change is a powerful way to exert soft influence.
And, because people feel a need to exert control, by directing that urge, you minimize the likelihood that they will seek to exert control in other directions.
Achievement
We all want to feel useful and effective. So, my final example of soft power is when you help people make a contribution. The positive feelings they get as a result of being able to achieve something are a reward that they will want to pay for in terms of granting you favors or concessions.
So, setting up chances to do something useful is a way to gently persuade. Invite people to join in your success and make contributions. Help people find ways they can succeed. They’ll feel in your debt forever.
Summing up Soft Power
Soft Power is the strongest form of power. If you rely on hard power, there’s always a chance you’ll run into someone with a bigger stick than you have. And, if economic power is your favored approach, what happens when you meet someone with deeper pockets? But soft power doesn’t compete in the same way. You make friends, and they act as your friends. Nothing can beat that.
Learn More
If you want to learn more about this topic, I have written extensively about soft power (and its near-neighbor, hidden power) in my book ‘The Influence Agenda, A Systematic Approach to Aligning Stakeholders in Times of Change’.
And for more about negotiation for managers and project managers, my latest book is ‘How to Negotiate‘, in the 1.8 million-selling Creating Success series, published by Kogan Page.
Have Your Say
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