Power and influence AS

Coaching assignment week 6: Gaining authentic power and influence (AS)

PART 1: PLANNING

I would really like to improve my positive power and influence on my friends, that is to say I would like to be able to convince them more often to “say yes” to the activities I am proposing, and not giving up so easily.

I will apply this skill in asking them if they would like to institute a new habit: Sunday’s brunch until the end of the semester, as these are the very last few moments we are spending together in Canada. I will propose that idea at our usual diner time, so around 7 PM in the kitchen of the Parents Resident because it’s the moment where every one of us is present. I will start by sending them an inbox on Facebook (before dinner time) with the few places that I have found that seems to be nice for a brunch, to see how they react to that proposition so that I can able to measure the level of interest and find the right arguments, or in the worst case get rid of the idea.

To sum up I will propose my idea of brunch for this Sunday to my group of friends (5), at my dinner time on Saturday 7pm, in the kitchen of our residence.

I will come prepared to the dinner because I will know from the answers I got through Facebook if this is of any interest for them. If I see that one or two of my friends are very enthusiastic about the idea I will be very happy (if they answer in a positive way to the inbox) and maybe ask them for help if I see that the others are less motivated.

The indicators of my successful performance will be a quick response to my inbox and an enthusiastic response. Also if they propose some other places for brunch so that we can choose all together will be really awesome! This will indicate that the idea is good and that they are ready to goJ.

PART 2: EVALUATION

I have to say that it was quite a success! All of my friends said that it was a good idea and we went for the brunch! To a place called “Cosmo” and I really recommend it to you but please make a reservation before going because on Sundays it’s full of people!! We had a really nice time, and as it was something unusual everyone was kind of excited when we were on our way to the restaurant. It was a very nice feeling, being able to motivate all of my friends to go out on a Sunday morning outside the campus!

I really hope we will do it again J maybe not every week, but at least twice in a month. To cut the routine. For the next time I might only suggest a brunch and let my friends pick the place so that they can feel involve in the process as well. We can even proceed to a vote, it can bring some fun. We can even ask some other people to join us. I know that this time, all of them were free and were able to make it, but I am wondering if next time I will be able to gather the entire group together again. So I will propose the idea of the brunch in the middle of the week, so that everyone can manage its time to make things work so that we can spend time together again. The brunch time has to be a relaxing time, full of joy and good food, so the mood has to be there as well!!

Looking back on the skill practice, I realized that I was able to initiate something new and that I gather the group all together when normally everyone is in its room, studying or skyping or watching movies. 2 people of the group are really not into going out of the campus because they prefer staying in their room in case they will have to do an extra homework, and I was able to make them get out of the room and maybe for at least one hour make them relax and enjoy a new place.

This experience will help me in the long run to give ideas and my point of view on some activities. Without pushing people to do it, but just to let them know that it’s going to be something nice and good for them. I wasn’t begging them when they were reluctant at first, I was just telling them the benefits of such activity. I let them decide on their own only by giving my points and argumentsJ.