Influencing Without Authority Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Project Managers, Business Partners and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CS-118

Before you join: Participants should have at least two years of workplace experience and responsibility for delivering outcomes through colleagues, clients, suppliers or partners they do not directly manage.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Influencing without formal authority is a daily requirement for professionals working through matrix structures, shared services, project teams, regulatory functions and external partnerships. They may need a business unit to provide data, a senior sponsor to support a change, a peer to alter priorities, or a technical specialist to contribute scarce time. Position alone rarely secures commitment. Results depend on credibility, relationships, sound diagnosis, clear requests and the ability to handle competing interests without damaging working relationships.

This course develops practical methods for gaining commitment when participants cannot direct others. Participants assess sources of influence, map stakeholders, identify interests and decision criteria, and select an appropriate approach for each conversation. They use Cialdini’s principles of persuasion, the SCARF model, principled negotiation and conflict-management techniques to frame proposals, build coalitions, respond to resistance and agree clear next steps. The course also addresses influence with senior stakeholders, difficult peers, remote colleagues and cross-functional teams.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with realistic cases, peer analysis, role simulations and structured feedback. Cases reflect situations such as securing risk-control changes in a bank, aligning a public-sector programme team, obtaining operational support for an NGO initiative, or resolving priorities between corporate functions. Participants leave with a stakeholder influence map, a conversation planner, a resistance-response guide and a 30-day influence action plan for a current workplace objective.

The course suits experienced individual contributors, project staff, functional specialists and new managers whose responsibilities exceed their formal decision rights. It is delivered over five instructor-led days in classrooms in 50+ cities or live online. Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30, providing approximately 6.5 contact hours, and participants receive a certificate of completion.

What you will be able to do

  • Map stakeholders, power bases, interests and decision routes for a workplace objective
  • Diagnose influence barriers using stakeholder analysis, SCARF and relationship evidence
  • Build credible influence strategies using reciprocity, expertise, relationships and coalition support
  • Frame proposals around stakeholder interests, evidence, risks and mutually acceptable outcomes
  • Conduct influence conversations using active listening, calibrated questions and clear requests
  • Negotiate commitments using BATNA, objective criteria and principled negotiation methods
  • Respond to resistance, conflict and political behaviour without damaging essential relationships
  • Produce a 30-day influence action plan with measures, milestones and stakeholder commitments

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Gain a repeatable method for preparing high-stakes stakeholder conversations
  • Increase credibility with senior colleagues through clearer evidence-based requests
  • Handle peer resistance without becoming passive, aggressive or overly accommodating
  • Secure clearer commitments, owners and follow-up actions from cross-functional meetings
  • Apply a personal 30-day plan to a current workplace influence objective

For your organisation

  • Reduce delays caused by unclear ownership and weak cross-functional commitment
  • Improve adoption of change initiatives through earlier stakeholder involvement
  • Strengthen collaboration between business, technical, operational and control functions
  • Resolve competing priorities before they become escalated conflicts
  • Improve quality of decisions through better framing of interests, evidence and risks

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish ethical influence from positional control and assess their current sources of influence.

  • Formal authority, personal power and credibility in matrixed working relationships
  • French and Raven power bases assessed against a live stakeholder
  • Reciprocity, consistency, liking, authority, scarcity and social proof principles
  • Ethical influence boundaries: informed choice, transparency and legitimate organisational interests
  • Trust deposits and withdrawals identified through observable workplace behaviour
  • Influence goals separated from control, manipulation and positional authority
  • Personal influence baseline using credibility, relationships, expertise and network reach

Participants can map stakeholders and select influence approaches based on interests, power and relationships.

  • Stakeholder mapping by power, interest, support and decision-making role
  • RACI analysis clarifying who recommends, decides, executes and must be consulted
  • Interests, positions and hidden constraints identified before proposing solutions
  • Decision criteria elicited from business, operational, financial and risk perspectives
  • Influence routes mapped through sponsors, allies, gatekeepers and informal connectors
  • Stakeholder salience assessed through power, legitimacy and urgency
  • Priority influence targets selected using impact, relationship strength and timing

Participants can build trust and credibility before and during important influence efforts.

  • Credibility built through competence, reliability, integrity and appropriate self-disclosure
  • SCARF model applied to status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness
  • Reliability signals established through deadlines, follow-through and accurate commitments
  • Mutual exchange identified without creating obligation, favouritism or perceived impropriety
  • Relationship currencies matched to stakeholder priorities and professional values
  • Informal conversations used to surface concerns before formal decision meetings
  • Network gaps identified across functions, grades, locations and professional communities

Participants can frame proposals around stakeholder priorities, evidence and practical consequences.

  • Message framing around stakeholder interests, risks, gains and avoided losses
  • Pyramid Principle structures recommendations, supporting arguments and required decisions
  • Problem statements distinguish symptoms, causes, impacts and desired outcomes
  • Evidence selected for relevance, credibility, proportionality and decision usefulness
  • Value propositions tailored for executives, peers, technical experts and operational teams
  • Clear asks specify the decision, contribution, deadline and expected standard
  • Written influence messages structured for email, briefing notes and meeting papers

Participants can conduct purposeful conversations that reveal concerns and create commitment.

  • Conversation objectives defined through desired outcome, relationship and next step
  • Open questions reveal priorities, assumptions, constraints and unspoken objections
  • Active listening uses paraphrasing, summarising, labelling and purposeful silence
  • Calibrated questions invite problem-solving without assigning blame or issuing demands
  • Ladder of Inference checked before interpreting stakeholder motives or behaviour
  • Advocacy-inquiry balance tests proposals while inviting challenge and alternative views
  • Meeting close confirms commitments, owners, deadlines and communication arrangements

Participants can adapt persuasion methods to stakeholder preferences and decision contexts.

  • Cialdini principles selected according to relationship, evidence and ethical limits
  • Social proof demonstrated through relevant peer examples and credible endorsements
  • Reciprocity applied through useful information, support and timely contribution
  • Consistency linked to stated priorities, agreed principles and previous commitments
  • Choice architecture presents workable options without concealing material trade-offs
  • Influence styles adapted for analytical, relationship-focused, directive and cautious stakeholders
  • Commitment ladders move from initial interest toward specific accountable action

Participants can negotiate workable agreements when priorities, resources or risks conflict.

  • Principled negotiation separates people, interests, options and objective criteria
  • BATNA analysis clarifies alternatives before entering resource or priority discussions
  • Reservation points and aspiration targets set realistic negotiation boundaries
  • Objective criteria drawn from policy, data, market practice and service standards
  • Package proposals trade across timing, scope, resources, risk and visibility
  • Concessions planned conditionally rather than offered automatically or prematurely
  • Agreements recorded with deliverables, accountability, review dates and escalation routes

Participants can respond constructively to resistance and manage disagreement without unnecessary escalation.

  • Resistance diagnosed as information, concern, constraint or competing interest
  • Objection handling follows acknowledge, explore, respond and confirm sequence
  • Thomas-Kilmann modes selected for competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding and accommodating
  • Difficult conversations prepared using facts, impacts, requests and boundaries
  • Emotional triggers recognised before responding defensively, withdrawing or retaliating
  • Political behaviour distinguished from legitimate stakeholder advocacy and risk management
  • Escalation decisions based on impact, authority, relationship risk and time sensitivity

Participants can secure attention and support from senior leaders and diverse cross-functional groups.

  • Senior stakeholder briefings lead with decision, impact, risk and recommendation
  • Executive attention managed through concise options, evidence and explicit trade-offs
  • Coalition building aligns sponsors, influencers, implementers and affected groups
  • Cross-functional meetings establish shared outcomes before debating departmental preferences
  • Pre-wiring gathers views and reduces surprises before formal governance sessions
  • Dissent surfaced constructively through red-team questions and alternative scenarios
  • Remote influence strengthened through communication cadence, visibility and documented commitments

Participants can sustain commitments and apply a structured influence plan to a current objective.

  • Commitment tracking records actions, owners, dependencies, deadlines and evidence
  • Follow-up messages reinforce agreements, decisions, changes and unresolved risks
  • Influence metrics measure stakeholder movement, commitments, adoption and delivery progress
  • Relationship maintenance schedules purposeful contact beyond immediate transactional needs
  • After-action reviews identify effective messages, missed signals and changed assumptions
  • 30-day influence plan sequences stakeholder actions, conversations and review points
  • Personal practice commitments connect course methods to a current workplace objective

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Stakeholder influence map template
  2. Power and interest analysis
  3. Influence conversation planner
  4. Persuasive message framing model
  5. Resistance response checklist
  6. 30-day influence action plan

Who should attend

  • Project Managers — need commitment from contributors outside their reporting line
  • Business Partners — must align functions around shared commercial or service outcomes
  • Programme and Change Managers — require sponsorship and adoption without direct control
  • Functional Specialists — need decision-makers to act on technical, risk or policy advice
  • New Managers — depend on peers and senior colleagues to deliver cross-team priorities
  • Account and Partnership Managers — need to gain cooperation from internal and external stakeholders

Skills and tools covered

Stakeholder mappingPersuasive communicationRelationship managementPrincipled negotiationConflict handlingInfluence planning

Tools and standards

French and Raven power bases, Cialdini's principles of persuasion, SCARF model, Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce each method, followed by case analysis, group work, paired simulations and facilitated feedback. Participants work on realistic influence situations involving peers, senior stakeholders, project contributors and resistant partners. They practise preparing messages, asking diagnostic questions, making requests, negotiating commitments and responding to objections. Reflection periods connect each method to a live workplace objective. The final sessions convert learning into a stakeholder map, conversation plan and 30-day action plan.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have at least two years of workplace experience and responsibility for delivering outcomes through colleagues, clients, suppliers or partners they do not directly manage. They should be able to describe one current influence challenge, such as gaining approval, obtaining resources, changing a process or resolving competing priorities. Familiarity with workplace meetings, email communication and basic project or team structures is useful. No prior management qualification, sales training, psychology background or formal negotiation training is required. Participants do not need direct reports or budget authority.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should have experience working with colleagues, clients, suppliers or partners whose work affects your results. No formal management, sales or negotiation qualification is required.

Bring a current situation where you need support, approval, resources, changed behaviour or cross-functional cooperation. You will use it to create a stakeholder map and practical action plan.

It is designed for project managers, specialists, business partners, change staff and new managers who must gain commitment without direct reporting authority. It also suits experienced professionals working across functions or with external partners.

Communication courses often focus on clarity, listening and presentation delivery. This course uses those skills within a structured process for diagnosing stakeholders, building support, negotiating commitments and handling resistance.

Participants develop materials for a live workplace objective, rather than relying only on generic examples. They leave with planned stakeholder actions, tailored messages and follow-up measures for the next 30 days.

The five days cover influence foundations, stakeholder diagnosis, credibility, persuasive communication, negotiation, resistance, senior stakeholder engagement and application planning. Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

Related courses in Communication Skills