About this training
Impact & Influence is a practical, one-day workshop that shows you how to build genuine influence at work irrespective of your role hierarchy. You’ll learn to connect with different audiences, build trust quickly, navigate the unspoken power dynamics in any organisation, and move decisions forward, even when you have no formal authority to lean on.
A hands-on day built around one question: how do you make an impact when you can’t simply tell people what to do?
We start by pulling apart two things people often confuse — power and influence. Power is about position, control and authority. Influence is the ability to shape how others think, feel and act. You need to understand both to use either one well.
Who it’s for
Professionals at any level who need to get things done through other people — especially those leading projects, teams or change without direct authority. It works equally well for emerging leaders finding their voice and experienced managers who want to sharpen their impact.
Why it matters for modern professionals
The way we work has changed. Flatter structures, cross-functional projects, matrix teams and hybrid working all mean the same thing: more and more gets done through people you don’t manage.
You’re asked to lead a project without being anyone’s boss. To win over a stakeholder in another department. To bring a room round to your idea when you’re the most junior person in it. In this world, the ability to influence without authority isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the core professional skill.
The good news: it’s learnable. This workshop gives you the models, the language and the practice to do it well — and to do it with integrity, so you build relationships rather than burn them.
Whether you’re stepping up to lead, trying to get a stalled initiative moving, or simply tired of good ideas going unheard, Impact & Influence gives you a way forward.
The day is practical throughout. You’ll:
Map your own power
Using French and Raven’s classic model of the bases of social power — reward, coercive, legitimate, expert, referent and informational — you’ll build a personal “power net” and see, often for the first time, exactly where your real leverage sits.
Build trust on purpose
Using the Trust Equation — credibility, reliability and intimacy, divided by self-orientation — you’ll learn why trust grows or erodes, and how to make more “deposits” than “withdrawals.”
Learn the six levers of persuasion
You’ll work through Robert Cialdini’s six principles — reciprocity, scarcity, authority, consistency, liking and social proof — and how to apply them ethically at work.
Listen like it matters
You’ll spot the bad habits that quietly kill rapport — the interrupter, the advice-giver, the faker — and practise the kind of listening that actually makes people feel heard.
Put it to work with a plan
Using a structured influencing approach — prepare, explore, persuade, assert — you’ll leave with a concrete plan for a real situation you’re facing right now: the tricky stakeholder, the underperformer, the cross-functional project with no extra authority attached.
The impact in practice
- Strengthen your communication and interpersonal skills to connect with a range of audiences
- Navigate and overcome common barriers to being heard — including unspoken power dynamics, bias and workplace culture
- Influence decisions, even without formal authority
The proof is in the room
Training Participant: EVE Female Leadership Prog
Nationwide
“Honestly, this was one of the best training sessions I’ve been on.
Anna was brilliant and made time fly by getting us moving about the room in different groups. This session relit a fire under me to reconnect with the subject.”
Training Participant: SLT Team Member
Pride in Leadership
“Anna was engaging and knowledgeable. She was open to answer questions and posed challenges to pre-existing blockers that will help aid me going forward”.
I would highly recommend for anyone looking to build their own confidence and become a pioneer for other LGBT members of staff!”
Training Participant: Away Day
NHS
“I think Anna has a great bank of knowledge to share especially regarding the psychology behind everything which made it very interesting.
The energy also made the day move quickly while giving important insights.”