Infinite Influence: Captivate, Connect, and Compel Anyone, Anytime

| Alyson Van Hooser, 2023

What’s It All About?

When we have conversations on the shop floor, we’re often in a state of influence—and how we show up for those conversations impacts the outcome. If you are curious and intentional, you’re more likely to get your desired results. And if you choose the wrong approach, the conversation might not play out the way you want it to, even if you go in with the best of intentions.

So how can you improve the way you influence and show up? In her book Infinite Influence: Captivate, Connect, and Compel Anyone, Anytime, keynote speaker, leadership expert, and all-around amazing human Alyson Van Hooser shares her seven top secrets for growing your “infinite influence” and shifting your mindset to learn the skills you need to find stronger outcomes, strengthen your relationships, and take yourself to the next level of success.

Infinite Influence is rooted in personal stories, which makes it easy to instantly connect to her concepts and lessons. She offers simple solutions for connecting on a deeper level and using influence in a positive way, and I know I left this read wishing I had Alyson’s book twenty years ago when I was running a manufacturing plant.

Favorite Quote

“We are innately wired to consider our past experiences as we move forward and attempt to make more informed decisions.”

Biggest Takeaway

We all know the “golden rule” about treating others how you want to be treated. But when leading with the golden rule, we can fall into the trap of running on autopilot and leading with assumptions, rather than curiosity and intentionality. Alyson’s book delves deeper into this concept. It includes great lessons about to use curiosity to impact your conversations, delve deeper into your relationships, and harness the power to find better relationships and better outcomes.

Bonus Information

Alyson Van Hooser was a recent guest on the Mindfulness Manufacturing podcast, where she shared a combination of personal stories and memorable anecdotes to show the importance of influence within teams and organizations, plus discusses how curiosity and intentionality can make a big difference in how you influence and communicate with others.

Listen to Alyson’s episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing here!

Reviewed by: Trevor Blondeel, January 16, 2024

At Manufacturing Greatness, Trevor Blondeel works with manufacturers to connect the top to the shop. If you’re ready to improve your own organization, contact Trevor to learn how Manufacturing Greatness can help you build stronger leaders and develop a dynamic, high-performing workplace.

Mindfulness Manufacturing

Our show is about providing listeners with real stories that come from a place of experience, transparency, and authenticity. Most importantly it’s about what we learn from these stories and applying Mindfulness in our everyday work and personal lives.
Our intention is to create an environment where people can learn through open honest discussions on how we apply Mindfulness. Although our experiences and stories come from time in a manufacturing environment hence the title “Mindfulness Manufacturing”, we still see our discussions and topics relatable to any organization or profession.

When a mistake occurs on the plant floor, your mind might jump to one question: who caused this issue, and should I write them up for their mistake? But there’s a more productive approach you could be taking—and in this episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing, guest Dr. Jake Mazulewicz breaks it all down!

With a background as a firefighter, EMT, and military paratrooper, Jake knows the challenges of high-hazard industries, and works with organizations to reduce errors and create safer, more reliable workplace environments. In this episode, Jake shares why you can’t procedularize everything, including the way you handle errors and accidents, and offers great insights and stories about how to use connection and curiosity to improve safety, address errors, and strengthen your organization.

3:35 – Procedures and policies are the work that is imagined, and on the floor is how the work actually gets done

4:19 – The work as-done is almost always radically different than the work as-imagined

5:20 – Even when you have standards and people show up wanting to do a good job, you can still see issues that need to be addressed

6:44 – There will always be areas that absolutely need to have procedures in place

8:02 – There are also adaptive jobs, which leans less into procedures and more intro troubleshooting and tacit human knowledge

10:56 – In an ideal environment, both mechanistic and adaptive models are used and respected and needed

12:11 – There are four levels, ranging from strict procedurals to looser guidelines that show what to do, but not how to do it

15:36 – Tacit knowledge gets shared through conversations

16:22 – A way to share important information is to have frontline experts record videos sharing their insights to problems, especially those that are not covered in procedures

19:44 – Through conversation and connection, more knowledge is shared

21:58 – Debriefing also plays a central role

23:45 – If you have strong discipline, you’ll find more freedom

25:31 – In most situations, errors are signals, not defects

27:07 – When an error occurs, be curious and find the deeper cause of the problem

Connect with Jake Mazulewicz

Find him on Linkedin

Visit his website