The Power Of Indirect Influence, Criteria, Frameworks, And Agendas

Forbes

a day ago

Jury instructions
One of the most important parts of any trial is the judge's instructions to the jury. Through those, a judge will explain the relevant legal principles and definitions, clarify the jury's role and responsibilities, and provide a framework for evaluating the evidence, and guidance on the process the jury should follow in its deliberations.
You can increase your indirect influence on groups with a similar why, what, how approach. Lay out the applicable principles and decision criteria to help people understand why the meeting, discussion, or initiative matters. Clarify participants' roles and responsibilities to give them a framework for what they are being asked to do or decide. And give them an agenda so they know how to approach their work.
Principles and Decision Criteria
As discussed before, cultural, strategic, operational, and tactical leadership should nest, starting with culture - who you are and what you stand for. Another way to think about this is that culture is the collective character of the individuals in an organization. Consciously or unconsciously, individuals make choices about what matters to them and how they choose to live in terms of behaviors, relationships, attitudes, values and environment. The same is true for organizations, reinforcing those choices with guiding principles to make tacit agreements explicit and easier to follow.
As you're helping others make choices, start with those underlying guiding principles. Then draw lines from those guiding principles to decision criteria. Note this is not about telling people what you want them to decide but instead showing them how to think about decisions in terms of the underlying guiding principles in your culture.
Back to the judge's instructions, the relevant legal principles and definitions flow from the laws of the land and ultimately the Constitution and its codification of who we choose to be as a collective American culture. For judges this is merely reporting. They don't get to decide on the legal principles. They merely choose which ones are relevant in any situation.
Roles, Responsibilities, and Frameworks
Roles, responsibilities, and frameworks bridge from guiding principles to action. Guiding principles apply equally to all. While culture is the collective character of the individuals in an organization, it comes to life in the choices everyone makes. Help people understand which choices they get to make and which choices they do not get to make. Help them understand their individual responsibilities and give them frameworks for how to think about those choices and actions.
All meetings to review potential advertising at Procter & Gamble began with a relook at the copy strategy. This laid out the benefit, support, and character the potential advertising needed to convey. That was Procter & Gamble's core framework for evaluating advertising.
Judge's instructions include telling the jury which decisions they get to make and which they do not and the legal frameworks for those decisions.
Agendas
Don't underestimate the power of an agenda. Yes. It's just a process. But it lays out what's going to be done or discussed in what order. In that it makes choices about the allocation of the most valuable resource of all – people's time.
Lyndon Johnson figured this out when he became Senate Majority Leader. Previously, the job was mostly clerical, scheduling debates and keeping track of committee assignments. He volunteered for the job to be of service to his more senior party leaders. But he realized that job gave him the power to decide what bills would get discussed, debated, and voted on. Bills couldn't become law without a majority of senators voting yes. But they couldn't even come to a vote without Johnson's agreement.
Judges' instructions include telling the jury which things to discuss in which order.
Agendas can be little or big. Arguably all should be clear on the purpose (why), objectives (what), and agenda (how) for almost every meeting. And, people should be clear on the mission/intent (why), objectives (what), and strategies and plans (how) for initiatives, campaigns, and programs.
Implications for you
This is about leverage. What you can do yourself is bounded by time. But there are no bounds on how much you can influence others. Leverage principles and decision criteria, frameworks, and agendas to inspire, enable, and empower others to do their absolute best together to realize a meaningful and rewarding shared purpose.
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