home / skills / menkesu / awesome-pm-skills / influence-craft

influence-craft skill

safe

This skill helps you map power dynamics and build influence without authority to secure buy-in and drive cross-team collaboration.

npx playbooks add skill menkesu/awesome-pm-skills --skill influence-craft

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

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SKILL.md

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---
name: influence-craft
description: Maps organizational power dynamics and builds influence without authority using Jeffrey Pfeffer's power frameworks. Use when getting buy-in for ideas, navigating company politics, managing up, or building coalitions across teams.
---

# Power & Influence

## When This Skill Activates

Claude uses this skill when:
- Need buy-in from multiple stakeholders
- Navigating organizational politics
- Building influence without authority
- Managing up effectively

## Core Frameworks

### 1. Sources of Power (Source: Jeffrey Pfeffer)

**7 Sources:**
1. **Expertise** - Being the expert
2. **Resources** - Controlling budget/headcount
3. **Relationships** - Network and connections
4. **Information** - Knowing what others don't
5. **Position** - Formal authority
6. **Charisma** - Personal magnetism
7. **Will** - Persistence and determination

### 2. Building Political Capital

**The Approach:**
```
1. Map power structure
   - Who decides?
   - Who influences decisions?
   - Who controls resources?

2. Build relationships
   - Help others succeed
   - Offer expertise
   - Share credit

3. Accumulate wins
   - Start with small wins
   - Build reputation
   - Expand influence
```

---

## Action Templates

### Template: Stakeholder Mapping

```markdown
# Stakeholder Map: [Initiative]

## Decision Makers
- **Name:** [role]
  - Power level: [High/Medium/Low]
  - Support: [For/Against/Neutral]
  - Concerns: [list]
  - Approach: [how to influence]

## Influencers
- **Name:** [role]
  - Influences: [who]
  - Cares about: [what]
  - Approach: [strategy]

## Coalition Building
- **Early supporters:** [list]
- **Fence-sitters:** [list]
- **Opposition:** [list]

## Action Plan
1. Build coalition with: [names]
2. Address concerns of: [names]
3. Pre-meetings with: [names]
4. Present when: [timing]
```

---

## Quick Reference

### 🤝 Influence Checklist

**Preparation:**
- [ ] Map power structure
- [ ] Identify stakeholders
- [ ] Understand motivations
- [ ] Build coalition

**Execution:**
- [ ] Pre-meetings (surface concerns)
- [ ] Customized pitches (per stakeholder)
- [ ] Data + story (logic + emotion)
- [ ] Build momentum (early wins)

---

## Key Quotes

**Jeffrey Pfeffer:**
> "Power is the ability to get things done. If you want to make an impact, you need to understand power."

**On Building Influence:**
> "The most successful people build their political capital before they need it."

Overview

This skill maps organizational power dynamics and teaches how to build influence without formal authority using Jeffrey Pfeffer's power frameworks. It guides product people and managers to get buy-in, navigate politics, manage up, and form coalitions across teams. The focus is on practical, repeatable steps to expand political capital before and during initiatives.

How this skill works

The skill inspects stakeholder networks, identifies sources of power (expertise, resources, relationships, information, position, charisma, will), and generates a targeted influence plan. It produces stakeholder maps, coalition strategies, and a short action plan with pre-meetings, messaging tailored to motivations, and early-win tactics. Outputs are concise templates you can apply directly to a project or pitch.

When to use it

You need cross-functional buy-in for a new product or feature
You are managing up and need support from a senior leader
You must navigate competing priorities or informal politics
You want to build influence before launching a high-stakes initiative
You are forming a coalition across teams with different incentives

Best practices

Map who decides, who influences, and who controls resources before drafting plans
Tailor pitches to each stakeholder’s motivations—mix data and story
Run pre-meetings to surface and address concerns early
Start with small, visible wins to build credibility and momentum
Share credit and help others succeed to strengthen relationships

Example use cases

Create a stakeholder map and action plan for a cross-team product launch
Prepare a one-page influence brief to get a VP to sponsor a roadmap change
Design pre-meeting talking points to convert fence-sitters before a review
Plan a coalition strategy to redirect scarce engineering resources
Build a multi-quarter plan to increase your informal influence in a new organization

FAQ

How do I start when I don’t know the power dynamics?

Begin with a simple map: list decision makers, influencers, and resource holders. Schedule quick 15-minute discovery chats to learn priorities and concerns, then refine the map and hypotheses.

What if someone opposes my idea?

Treat opposition as useful information. Identify their core concern, offer small experiments or mitigations, and seek allies who can reframe the value. If resistance is structural, adjust timing or scope to reduce perceived risk.