Minority Influence Strategies

There are two different strategies for exercising influence when you have the minority perspective. The first strategy is to build up idiosyncracy credits. Idiosyncracy credits are the right to be different because you have earned to right to be respectfully heard by being a ‘good and competent team’ player up until that point. Once you draw down on your credits with the group for a particular issue, you will have to accumulate more credit before you can use this strategy again. The idiosyncracy credit strategy tends to work well with predominantly male groups.

The second strategy, one that works well with mixed and/or female groups, is to be consistent, persistent and have an objective behavioral style. This means you bring up your issue using as much supportive, factual data as you can. You must demonstrate that you are bringing up the issue as a concern because you care deeply about the effectiveness of the group. If the issue looks self-serving, you will not be able to exercise influence.

Minority influence is more easily done by group leaders than by regular group members. People who tend to always bring in a different perspective may be disliked by group members. But their influence is very beneficial for the team. Even if the group does not agree and follow suggestions given by the minority group member, the group is likely to make a better decision for having considered more options, and to have more commitment to the decision. For the person exercising minority influence they can take comfort in the finding that their influence may be latent, but it is lasting. The ideas they brought forth for the group will stick with group members, perhaps influencing other decisions at a later date.