Influencing Without Authority | Procept Associates

Today’s organizations run on influence. Influence enables you to build the relationships you need to get results inside or outside the formal power structure. To be successful in busy cross-functional organizations, you need to be skillful and flexible in the way you influence others.

This workshop with show participants some of the common effective methods and pit falls encountered when influencing others. We will establish a framework that participants can use to increase their influence. By walking through a number of scenarios we will demonstrate how to more effectively move your ideas into actions.

This workshop utilizes short lecture, guided discussion, and hands-on application activities in small teams. Team activities are debriefed by the instructor through occasional team presentations.

Learning Objectives

Participants will gain practical skills to:

Define “influence” as it pertains to projects, and understand the differences between responsibility, accountability, authority, and power
Assess influence situations and apply appropriate strategies to achieve success
Analyze how organizational structure and culture impacts the ability to influence
Employ strategies to influence others in a virtual organization
Create plans for communicating and building interpersonal agreement
Identify their preferred style of influencing others and determine the effectiveness of that style

Who Should Attend

Project Managers and team members who need cooperation on projects from others who are not directly reporting to them.

Prerequisite

None

Materials

You will receive a course binder containing copies of presentation slides, case studies, exercises, and suggested solutions.

MODULE 1: Recognizing Influence Opportunities

Definition of influence
Stages of influence
Influence opportunities in four major project phases

MODULE 2: Choosing Influence Strategies

Influence strategies instrument
Analysis of each participant’s influence tendencies
Case studies to determine the most effective strategy to use in a situation

MODULE 3: Power, Authority and Influence

Definition of power, authority, responsibility, accountability
Self-assessment of participants’ power-oriented behavior
Class exercise on power and influence
Analysis of real-life power and influence situations

MODULE 4: Influence and the Organization

How the organizational structure and culture impacts influence
Influencing others in a virtual organization

MODULE 5: Plan to Influence

Skills for influencing and building agreement
The importance of good communication when influencing
Developing plans for communication and building agreement

TESTIMONIALS

"As a leader and manager, I have recognized that I have room to improve my influence profile. Having recently completed the Influencing Without Authority course,..." See more

"As a leader and manager, I have recognized that I have room to improve my influence profile. Having recently completed the Influencing Without Authority course, which demonstrates a practical and systematic approach to influence, I now have a reasonable path and tools to do so. Looking forward to implementing strategies to maximize my power!" See less

Praful Mistry

Manager, GIS at City of Richmond Hill

COURSE INFO

Course ID: TS-5800

Course Level: Beginner

Duration: 1 Day

UPCOMING SESSIONS

online_course_icon

Begins February 3, 2026
Instructor(s): Carroll Blair
Starts in 302 days
Register >

PMI PDU BREAKDOWN

The following table provides the breakdown of the professional development units (PDUs) for this course aligned with the PMI Talent Triangle^TM.

	WoW	PS	BA
PMP	0	7	0
PgMP	0	7	0
PfMP	0	7	0
PMI-ACP	0	7	0
PMI-SP	0	7	0
PMI-RMP	0	7	0
PMI-PBA	0	7	0

The three columns in the above table are Ways of Working, Power Skills & Business Acumen.

Other Credits

Other professional (re)certification credits are available, including:

Certified Business Analyst Professionals (CBAPs) earn 7 CDUs (Category 2B)
Certified Software Quality Engineers (CSQEs) earn 1 RUs
CIPS Information Systems Professionals (ISPs) earn 7 Learning Credits
CIPS Information Technology Certified Professional (ITCPs) earn 7 Learning Credits