Looking for ways to improve your communication at work and influence those people with more power? Dr Connson Locke, the author of Making Your Voice Heard, and I discussed this and much more on Episode 31 of the Reframe & Reset Your Career podcast.
In this episode, we will learn about:
Graduating from Harvard and starting her career in the non-profit sector,
Moving to Hong Kong and working in management consulting,
Developing an interest in training and teaching, which she developed at the Boston Consulting Group,
Earning a Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley,
Her book Making Your Voice Heard and upward influence,
The four channels of communication: words, voice, touch and visual,
The importance of non-verbal communication, including facial expression, body language and tone of your voice, especially when communicating an opinion,
How to look and sound more confident through eye contact, voice and posture amongst other things,
French and Raven’s 5 bases of power, including developing Expert and Referent Power,
When starting a new job, taking time to understand the organisation and its power dynamics before trying to change things,
Stereotype threat,
Potential techniques for feeling more powerful such as visualisation,
Creating a “smile file” of positive feedback that you have received to pick you up in difficult moments,
Power posing and the research of Amy Cuddy and her colleagues,
Focusing on growing your Circle of Influence not your Circle of Concern,
The importance of picking your battles, upward influence takes time and effort.
Connson is a Professorial Lecturer at the The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She joined the LSE in 2008 where she teaches Leadership, Organizational Behaviour, and Negotiation and Decision Making. Connson has over 30 years’ experience as an educator, coach, and consultant working in Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and Australia. Prior to entering academia, she served as Regional Training and Development Manager for the Boston Consulting Group where she was responsible for the learning and development of consulting staff in 10 offices across Asia Pacific.
Connson was awarded the LSE Department of Management’s Outstanding Teaching Contribution Award in 2013, was highly commended for Inspirational Teaching in the LSE Student-Led Teaching Excellence Awards 2015 and 2017, and received the LSE Excellence in Education Award in 2018.
Connson holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration (Organizational Behaviour) from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. in Sociology from Harvard University where she graduated with honours. Her book, Making Your Voice Heard, uses the research on power and influence to help people speak up to those who have more power than they do.
Connson told me: “Expert and referent power are really important … think about it as a reputation that you’re building over time and the stronger that reputation when it comes time for you to actually suggest a change to the company or complain about something … then they will go “oh maybe we should listen” … it’s a long-term strategy. So the expert power is basically people respect you for something for some kind of expertise, it doesn’t have to be an expertise on the particular thing that they’re discussing at that moment but it has to be an expertise in something that’s important … The referent power is people want to work with you, they want to have this good relationship with you, you have a reputation as someone who’s great to work with”.
Resources & People mentioned
The Priory of the Orange Tree – Samantha Shannon
French & Raven
Dr Amy Cuddy
Dr Andy Yap
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey
Influence – Dr Robert B. Cialdini
Contact Connson
Website: https://connsonlocke.com/
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/connsonlocke
Twitter: https://twitter.com/connsonlocke
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiHMQQ9zxBdOk-LdXv-l2YPWKN8Pn7ktM
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ConnsonChouLocke/
LSE Executive Education: https://www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse/executive-education
Reframe & Reset Your Career Resources & Contact Info
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHASU4QApsJ3RsOFo1zTnhQ
LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reframe-reset-your-career/?viewAsMember=true
E-mail – reframeandresetyourcareer@harshaboralessa.com
I am honoured and grateful to Mac’s List and Mac Prichard for including me in the Mac’s List top Career Podcasts of 2022. Thank you so much to the listeners and the wonderful guests who have made the show such a success!
It would be great to hear from you, the listeners, and your thoughts about the podcast, YouTube channel or anything else, it’s always a pleasure to hear from you. I have had some great reviews but not had any way of responding. Thanks so much for your support and have a great week!
*Reframe & Reset Your Career, including any comments made by the host and guests, is for informational purposes only and does not constitute advice of any description, including but not restricted to financial, legal, investing or medical advice.*
