Background to the Influencing Skills Survey

Okay, there's so much more we could say about this survey, but rather than try to predict what you want to know, here's a page of regular questions we get asked about it. If you get to the bottom of this page and still have questions, please contact us and we'll be more than happy to help.

Why was the survey developed?

Because we wanted to help our clients to explore the way they influence in more detail. We couldn't find anything else which met our criteria, so we researched and built the Influencing Skills 360.

How was it developed?

The origin of the survey was a research project led by Colin Gautrey in 2007. It looked to answer the question, what are the critical skills needed to be influential? You may also be interested in reading the research results — the Critical Political Skills.

Do you have norm groups?

No. Although thousands have completed the survey since it was originally released in 2009, we do not use the data in this way. Partly, it is because we believe it can only have limited value, and we want people to focus on thinking through the practical steps they can take to become more influential, rather than worrying about how they compare to others. From time to time, we do look at the data to discover trends, but we are very realistic about the usefulness of this for individual development!

What's changed since the Influencing Skill Assessment tool?

Not very much. After nearly three years of success with the Influencing Skill Assessment tool we wanted to update it to fit better with our current development work. The name change subtly focused more on self-development rather than measurement, you can now use it several times to chart progress over time and we have tidied up some of the administration processes.

What's the difference from the Gautrey Influence Profile?

The Influence Profile is a psychometric questionnaire which analyses the behaviour you prefer to use when you attempt to influence someone. The Influencing Skills 360 provides a broad look at all of the skills critical to successful influence, not just your behaviours. Put another way, the survey does a complete inventory of your skills, while the profile focuses on how you like to behave.

Which is best for me, the Influencing Skills 360 or the Influence Profile?

If you want a broad assessment of your influencing capability/skill, choose the Influencing Skills 360. If you want to focus on the way you influence people, talk to them etc., choose the Influence Profile. Often people start with the survey and progress to the Influence Profile.

The survey is also great if you want to assess the training needs of a group, because we can aggregate the data to help you to design specific needed development training sessions.

If you have any queries that are not answered here, please feel free to contact us.