Surviving the Frontier: Influence Without Authority in the Organizational Wild West

Let me begin by stating that the wild west isn’t all bad. There are truly beautiful moments that come from being on a team where you are all building from the ground up and riding through the desert together. The adventure and excitement of seeing the work of your hands is part of what draws people to the wild west culture. On the other hand, the rough and unbroken terrain of the wild west presents different challenges that can impede basic survival. These obstacles include lack of processes, policy, shotgun communication styles and/or the allowance of aggressive territorial behavior. In some ecosystems, these types of organizational issues have the potential to do more harm than good, especially if the organization lacks a solid internal HR infrastructure.

It’s important to reflect on why this concept of influence without authority is vital to our everyday lives. In her article called “Millennials Aren’t Afraid To Change Jobs, And Here’s Why,” Forbes contributor Sarah Landrum wrote, “One CareerBuilder survey shared employers expect 45% of their newly hired college grads would remain with the company for under two years, and the study showed that by age 35, about 25% of young employees would have worked five jobs.”

The millennial generation is struggling when it comes to choosing a fight or flight. We as millennials have failed to understand the power of influence in our daily professional lives.

So what do we do? Well, let me start with a story…

Imagine a starry night and the cowboys and cowgirls have gathered around the campfire after a long day on the range to swap stories. Why stories? Stories are the vessels that take us on our journeys and carry us to faraway places. Storytelling is a powerful tool that transcends cultural boundaries and spurs people to adventure, play or restitution. We find hope, deliverance, faith and even freedom in stories. I firmly believe that stories have the power to change lives.

Here are a few things I would talk about around the nightly fires that burn in the organizational wild west. Let us remember the story of the great Titanic.

At 11.40pm on the night of 14 April 1912, on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, the RMS Titanic struck the iceberg that would ultimately lead to the sinking of the ship less than 3 hours later. At around 2.20am on the morning of 15 April, the Titanic disappeared beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, a disaster that resulted in the loss of more than 1,500 lives, almost two-thirds of the people on board. 

What if someone on board the Titanic was able to influence Captain Smith to slow down the ship? The art of influence without authority can save, an organization or even life. It’s easy to quickly develop a “Titanic” mentality but the solution can’t always be “down with the ship!” Incremental change through evangelism is always possible. Learning how to navigate conflict and become a person of influence with or without an authoritative license, cultivates leadership skills that are necessary to succeed in today’s workforce.

Now, we begin our adventure into the great unknown of the organizational wild west.

Chapter 1: The Organizational Wild West: Exploring the Wild West Ecosystem

There are many pros and cons to working in a wild west environment and it comes down to knowing what the best organizational ecosystem is that you will thrive in.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Explore the power of influence in your professional life.
• Influence is very different than persuasion. It’s about rallying people behind a unified vision that benefits everyone involved.
• Assess your current organizational ecosystem and find ways to enhance it.
• If you are working in a wild west style organization, be sure to fully utilize the advantages.

This is only the beginning!  Keep an eye out for additional articles in my organizational wild west series. We’ll dive into the rules of engagement within the conflict, methods to identify organizational needs, key sources of bargaining power, the art of evangelism, the danger of explosive leadership and much more. Stay tuned!