90 Days - Part 8: Creating Coalitions

Summary

Creating coalitions is imperative to any successful strategy, and is especially the case in a shared services business model, since the the team answers to both internal and external customers, providing support to achieve overall company objectives. Often, new leaders devote too much time toward the up and down dimension of their specific vertical; the boss(es) and the direct reports. Seeking out strategies to build coalitions across the organization supports all other aspects defined in the 90 day plan.

The material in this section is limited to the checklist below, with remaining material referenced here

1. Whose support do you most need to succeed? What existing coalitions seem most powerful?
2. What influence networks are most important to you? Who defers to whom on key issues?
3. Who are your potential supporters? Potential opponents? Convincibles? How will you test your hypotheses about support and opposition?
4. What tools of influence will you employ to convince the convincibles? How will you shape potential supporters’ perceptions of their interests? Of their options?
5. How can you sequence interactions to build momentum for your initiatives? Are there patterns of deference that you can exploit? Can your supporters help you to recruit other key people?