Check the Power Behind the Scenes

Often there are influencers and powerful contributors behind the scenes. We must uncover who they are by asking W questions:

• What other individuals are consulted before decisions are reached?

• Whose opinions help to set strategy, tactics and policy for our counterpart?

• Does the decision require an expert or technical specialist's approval?

• Who are those experts, and what is the extent of their influence?

When we are pursuing this we should build a humanogram, a human map of who does what in the organisation. Get your counterpart to help you build it; let them draw on it with pencil or pen. You might even ask whether any of these individuals play sport together or socialise together, thus finding powerful pairings - which may be helpful information indeed.