A manager without authority works out what a colleague values, such as visibility, help with a staffing gap, or a say in direction, and offers it in exchange for the support the plan needs.
An example
Launching a paid newsletter at a regional newspaper group meant subscriber tracking, and the product manager behind it needed the data team to build it. The data team reported to finance, owed product nothing, and had a nine-month backlog. Before asking, she spent an hour with its lead and learned what he cared about: his team was invisible to the executives, two of his analysts were bored with reporting work, and he wanted the newsroom to stop sending him ad hoc requests by email. She offered three things she could deliver: a slot for his team to present the subscriber model at the quarterly leadership review, the newsletter analytics as a project for the two analysts, and a request queue that product would set up for the newsroom. He moved the tracking work up. The newsletter launched in four months, and his team presented its results to the leadership group.
Why it works
Supporting the plan now comes with something the colleague values, so it looks better to them. People without authority over one another trade: help for help, recognition for effort, a say in direction for cooperation. The trade works only in a currency the other person values, which is why finding out comes first; generic offers miss. Everything turns on having something real to give, finding out what matters to the colleague, and then delivering it.
The thinking behind it
Allan R. Cohen Influence Without Authority (1990), by Cohen and Bradford, builds influence on exchange: people cooperate when they receive something they value in return, and each trades in particular currencies, grouped as inspiration-related, task-related, position-related (recognition and visibility among them), relationship-related, and personal, all resting on a law of reciprocity. The product manager's three offers map onto those groups: visibility for the team, interesting work for the analysts, and help with the lead's own problem.
When it fits
Cooperation from people you do not manage and who owe you nothing, such as a team in another function, a shared service, or a peer with competing priorities, is what it is for. It also needs resources of your own to offer (visibility, work, information, help, a say) and the time to learn what the colleague values before you ask.
How to use it well
Learn the other person's world before you ask for anything. What are they measured on, what frustrates them, and what would they like more of: recognition, interesting work, help with a problem, a say in direction, a relationship with someone senior?
- List what you can offer in each of those currencies, within your own authority.
- Make the request and the offer together, plainly. People prefer a clear exchange to a vague favor.
- Deliver first if you can, or at least on time.
- Keep track of the balance between you and settle it, so the relationship is in good order for the next request.
What it costs and where it backfires
Exchanges create expectations, and a name for trading can make people wonder whether your support is ever free. Offers you cannot deliver cost more than offers you never made. Currencies that belong to others, such as headcount or budget you do not control, are not yours to trade. Keep the exchange open and within your authority. Once the currency is information you are not entitled to share, or a promise about someone else's decision, the trade has crossed a line.
When it is used on you
Offered something you value in exchange for support, decide whether the exchange is fair and whether you could back the plan on its merits. Take the offer if you could. Ask the colleague to state what they are offering, in writing if it is substantial, and hold them to it.