The best job offers always go to people who are able to get things done. But whether you are looking for a job now or trying to rack up the accomplishments that will help you compete for jobs later, you can’t do everything by yourself. In almost every work environment, and certainly in the bio/pharma industries, the ability to influence others — to win help with the projects you care about — is an essential job skill.

In this issue’s column, I’ll discuss one of the keys (perhaps the most important factor of all) to getting things done. Personally, I have to review this topic annually, because I have the tendency to do everything myself, and that’s just not productive. When I fall back into those old habits and find myself up at 4:30 AM to complete a project, that’s proof positive that I haven’t been following the “Law of Reciprocity,” to use the term that two authors have coined for this ability.

Managing Others with “Influence Without Authority”
In companies all over the world, businesses have gotten leaner, flattening those traditional hierarchies that used to be full of directors and vice presidents. Today, much of the burden for getting things done falls on those who are lower down on the totem pole.

Today, I am working on an assignment for a research organization that has more than 5,000 scientists in 15 countries. Each of those scientists has his or her own interests and goals to fulfill — but, of course, so does the local management. Their goals are often different. And then, overriding all of these individual and local management objectives is the one grand mission that makes the organization tick, the driver that keeps everyone employed.

Over time, the alignment among those various agendas can deteriorate. Scientists find an interesting side road and, like all scientists, they want to take it. Individual research centers can lose their way as well; sometimes local issues seem pressing in comparison to a less-clear challenge of staying on track with the vision set by someone thousands of miles away. Without some management from the head office, the whole enterprise could crumble.

But how do you manage a system of thousands of staff doing bits and pieces of research on giant grants spread all over the world? In the old days — two decades ago — there would have been a complicated system including dozens of staff in a management hierarchy. Today, the job is done much more effectively by a couple of project managers working from the head office using an informal system that I will call “influence without authority.”

Respect and Great Communication
I asked one of these professionals how he deals with getting things done on such a grand scale. His answer is illuminating, and not only for those charged with managing big, important projects. It can also help you with your daily challenges — including finding a job.

“I’m dealing with people in many locations, so my first issue is to understand how to relate well to people of that culture. Simply charging ahead is never a good idea when you are building bridges. Whether this is building a collaboration across labs for a publication, or dealing with a major grant across worldwide laboratories, you’ve got to start with respect. And in science, nothing builds respect faster than understanding cultural differences,” said the 35-year-old Ph.D. American biochemist and professional project manager.

“I have no authority over these scientists I work with. They report to their own management. But if I’ve built a respect between us, the link for communication is then open. And that’s where the second major piece comes in. To gain their cooperation, I’ve got to communicate our vision about how their work fits into the big picture. They’ve got to see clearly how helping me get this project accomplished will actually help them, and their colleagues, with their own goals,” he told me in a personal interview.

My contact made it very clear in our discussion that no one, no matter how much they like you, is going to work for you or take your recommendations if they don’t understand what’s in it for them.

The Bond that Keeps People Working Together
In the excellent business book Influence Without Authority, (John Wiley, 1990) authors Allan Cohen and David Bradford put into a unique perspective a process that powerful people have been using to get things done for thousands of years. What those authors call the “Law of Reciprocity” is the almost universal belief that people should be paid back for what they do. Another way to put it is, “one good turn deserves another.” Sounds simple enough, right?

While sometimes in a work environment it’s “you do this thing for me, and I’ll do this other thing for you,” it’s more often about reminding people that certain actions are in everyone’s best interest. “A rising tide floats all boats” is the expression that comes to mind; it’s in their interest to help the tide rise. In this way, self-interest is used to encourage people to work together towards shared interests.

But despite the apparent ease of applying such tools to their work lives, many people stumble in the implementation. They come across as manipulative or insincere, which can devastate work relationships. Scientists, with their analytical nature, value straightforward input. Any obvious attempt to involve them in someone else’s scheme generally backfires. But when a course of action is likely to be useful to everyone — including them — they’re quick to recognize it.

“It’s one thing to remind them of the major goal and the deadlines associated with it,” said my project manager acquaintance. “But it’s another thing en-tirely to suggest to a scientist that he or she drop a line of inquiry just so that we make our deadline. In order to get to that, we’ve got to have a level of trust that really makes such a request workable.”

To properly employ the law of reciprocity, you must be in a trusting relationship. If a colleague made a special request for your help today, you wouldn’t hesitate if you knew that colleague would pay you back for the extra effort tomorrow.

“At the heart of it, that’s what’s greasing the wheels of work,” he told me.

Applying the Law of Reciprocity in Your Situation
How can this approach work for you? On just about any project involving more than one person — or that could benefit from the involvement of others — you need to help others recognize what’s in it for them. For example, if you want someone with special expertise to do an experiment for you, you need to convince them that the project you are working on is likely to be important enough to the company to make it worth the time they’ll spend on it; or, if the results are interesting, there may be an opportunity to collaborate regularly on future shared projects.

It can also help advance you with your company. Lisa and Chonglin are both scientists working at a larger California biotechnology company. They each work in different areas of the company, and have never been formally asked to work together. And yet, they have a collaboration in place that has benefited both of them.

Last year, Lisa found that a particular reagent was not available from a supplier that had been considered a prime partner for her project. This could mean as much as a 30-45 day delay in her end of the work — and she knew what this could do to the company’s goals. Her role was only a tiny piece of this new drug’s development, but there would be a ripple effect by any lack of progress at her end.

Lisa knew that another department of the company had developed some capabilities in this area. While they didn’t have the exact reagent that she needed, she suspected that there was someone in that group who could provide expertise and, perhaps, modify his work a bit to get her what she needed. That’s when she met Chonglin, who was as busy as anyone else on his own projects. Lisa decided to use the Law of Reciprocity and ask Chonglin for some help.

Lisa convinced Chonglin to go to his boss and ask for a small percentage of time that he could dedicate to helping her. Together, they found a way to duplicate the difficult reagent development that had been contracted outside. With their new status as allies, Lisa and Chonglin improved their chances for job-market success considerably, thanks to the Law of Reciprocity.