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Cross Organizational Influence

About This Program

Cross-Organizational Influence is the essential skill of high-performing professionals. This course demystifies the behind-the-scenes legwork and persuasion that highly productive individuals engage in as they work through others to drive business performance. High performers apply their Cross-Organizational Influence skills-an array of learnable strategies and techniques-as they work across organizational boundaries, business units, functions, disciplines, countries and/or cultures on complex, mission-critical issues. They are skillful communicators who convey ideas and information clearly and convincingly. They are consensus-builders who have learned to manage diverse agendas and competing interests while promoting cooperation, strategizing, resolving conflicts, and exerting influence to get important things done.

In one way or another, every major workplace decision and project is influenced by organizational politics. This course illuminates a rarely discussed topic and offers concrete and practical tips for achieving personal, professional and organizational success. It includes the use of influence at all levels of an organization, with chances to practice making a persuasive formal presentation and capitalize on an impromptu opportunity to advance an agenda.

Program Faculty

David Binder

David Binder has worked with organizations in industries including manufacturing, high technology, banking, service, health care and government. He has extensive experience in delivering training on productivity, leadership, organizational change, team-building, problem-solving, performance management and selection skills to employees and all management levels.

He has worked with Los Alamos National Laboratories, Sharp Laboratories of America, Hewlett Packard, Eaton Corporation, PPG Industries, Delta Air Lines, and other clients on projects aimed at improving the productivity of knowledge workers through the use of the nine strategies described in How to be a Star at Work, written by David's colleague, Dr. Robert Kelley. He has also designed and delivered executive leadership development programs for organizations like DaimlerChrysler AG, The Edgewood Chemical and Biological Defense Center, and Sandvik Steel Company.

Before joining Avid Learner, David was an independent human resources and organization development consultant working on contract for several consulting firms. In this capacity, he developed and delivered a variety of performance improvement programs for leaders in organizations like Heinz USA, Kemper National Insurance Companies, Holnam, Inc., Michael Baker Corporation, and several divisions of the United States Army.

Prior to forming Avid Learner, David spent eight years as an account executive and senior consultant with Development Dimensions International (DDI), two years as a Senior Consultant with Change Technologies, Inc., and five years as the Manager of Training and Organizational Development at Capital Blue Cross in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

David's clients have appreciated his outstanding facilitation skills, his ability to link learning to business objectives and outcomes, his intense focus on customer satisfaction at all levels, and his content knowledge. He is frequently sought by customers to facilitate sessions for senior audiences, and he works effectively with all organization levels.

As an adjunct professor, David has taught classes on Followership, Leadership and Star Performance in the Executive MBA Program, and in Organizational Behavior in the full-time MBA program in the Katz School of business.