How to Lead People Who Don't Have to Listen to You

About this course

You own the deadline. The people who have to move for it report to someone else. Charm runs out. Favors get expensive. Escalating every ask makes you look like you cannot run your own work. This course is for the project lead, the cross-functional manager and the director whose results depend on Operations, Finance, IT, Legal or Procurement without a reporting line to lean on.

You start by inventorying what you already hold when you hold no authority: the goals both sides already answer for, the working relationships you have earned, and the small promises you keep that make the next ask land. Then you learn why the same request sits for some people and moves for others. ENRICH (Ethnicity, Nationality, Race, Identity, Culture, Heritage), the identity lens created by Duane K. Andrews and Sherry M. Jerimie, sits over that read: nationality here means country of origin, and the course never treats immigration or visa status as the teaching example.

Bubble It Up takes any ask to the goal both sides already answer for, so the conversation stops being about you and starts being about the work. Bubble It Back takes two opposing plans upstairs to the goals and lets the goal choose. Cases put each tool on a live deadline: a project lead with nobody on the schedule, a pick-path ask under pressure, evening sailings that pull two departments apart.

By the end you have a way to move work across the line without going around your peer's boss, without spending political capital you do not have, and without turning every cross-team ask into a favor you will have to repay.

Who it is for

• Project leads and managers whose results depend on people outside their reporting line.
• Cross-functional leads who need work from Operations, Finance, IT, Legal or Procurement without authority.
• Anyone who has reached for charm, favors or their boss's weight and watched the cost grow.
• Directors who want their people to move work across the line without escalating every ask.

Learning objectives and outcomes

By the end of the course you will be able to:

1. Inventory what you hold. Name the goals, working relationships and small promises you already have when you hold no authority.
2. Read whose ask waits. See why the same request is answered for some people and not others, using ENRICH across the line.
3. Bubble it up. Tie any ask to a strategic goal both sides already answer for, and ask from that meeting point.
4. Bubble it back. Put two opposing plans on one page and take them to the goals instead of settling the fight in the hallway.
5. Name the Technical Disguise. Spot a people conflict dressed as a technical one before you argue the tech.
6. Sort Solid, Dotted, Shared. Put every piece of matrix work under the goal that owns it, and never settle Shared alone.
7. Use the Goal Owner Test. Know when going up alone reads as weak, and when going up together on one page is the move.
8. Keep the Standing Promise. Treat your coworker as your number one customer, and leave with seven models on one chart.

What is included

The Participant Booklet is the knowledge companion to the course: every framework drawn, every case, the reference you keep after the video ends.

The Workbook is the fillable PDF: prompts, cases and private entries you complete while you watch. Open the player to download both PDFs with your course.

Chapters

16 chapters, 3 h 05 min of video.

1. 00Welcome11:57

   They don't report to you. They answer to the same goals. How this course works, who built the models, the eight questions, and the lever almost nobody pulls.

2. 01The Work Is Yours, the People Are Not8:50

   Your name on the result; their reviews elsewhere. What you already hold, and three sentences to try this week.

3. 02Case - Nobody on the Schedule Reports to Her9:15

   Intercity coach; nine months; no staff. Kavya's list she never made.

4. 03Why ENRICH8:06

   Foundation for Whose Ask Waits. Six dimensions, not a polite word for race. Framework by Duane K. Andrews and Sherry M. Jerimie.

5. 04Whose Ask Waits12:50

   Why the same request waits for some people. Build the relationship before you need it.

6. 05Bubble It Up15:39

   Mission to action plans. Find the goals, bubble both, ask at the meeting point.

7. 06Case - The Pick Path9:16

   Outdoor gear under a real deadline. Ask for the page.

8. 07Bubble It Back11:58

   Two plans on one page. Let the goal choose.

9. 08Case - Evening Sailings9:09

   Ferry operator. Bring the goals forward into the next chapters.

10. 09The Project Nobody Reports To16:29

    The Technical Disguise. What the lead owns when nobody reports to them.

11. 10Case - The Shader Fight8:01

    Video game studio. People conflict in a lab coat; analysis paralysis.

12. 11Two Bosses17:53

    Solid, Dotted, Shared. Lateral relationships are the skill.

13. 12Going Up Costs You11:52

    The Goal Owner Test. Going up alone reads as weak; going up together is different.

14. 13Case - Item Four at the Monthly Review9:30

    Grocery cooperative. Dexter and Lystra; go up together on one page.

15. 14Your Number One Customer15:37

    The Standing Promise. Your coworker is the customer you serve most often.

16. 15The Close8:26

    Seven models on one chart. Eight questions answered. Your next month.