The Hidden ROI of Influencing Skills Training: Why Persuasion Pays
Imagine this: you’re in a meeting, oat milk latte in hand, presenting what you genuinely believe is a cracking idea. You’ve done the spreadsheets, prepped the PowerPoint, and even resisted the urge to animate the pie chart. Yet, your idea is politely nodded at, then quietly forgotten, like last year’s New Year’s resolution. What happened?
It’s rarely about the idea itself. More often, it’s about the delivery, the buy-in, the subtle art of persuasion. And this, dear reader, is where influencing skills training comes in.
Why Influencing Matters More Than Ever
Organisations are flatter, workforces are hybrid, and decision-making is often dispersed across continents, time zones, and Teams calls. According to McKinsey (2021), cross-functional collaboration is now cited as one of the top three skills leaders need to thrive in a complex environment. But here’s the rub: you can’t just rely on formal authority. The ability to influence — without the job title, the budget, or the proverbial big stick — has become indispensable.
Enter influencing skills training. Think of it as the upgrade from dial-up internet to fibre broadband: once you’ve experienced it, you wonder how you ever managed before.
The Business Case for Influence
Some may hear the word “influencing” and think of glossy Instagrammers convincing you to try a new skin care regime. But in the workplace, influence is a different beast. It’s about guiding decisions, creating alignment, and moving projects forward when consensus feels like herding cats.
Research shows that organisations investing in soft skills see substantial returns. A landmark study by the University of Michigan and Accenture (2017) found that training programmes targeting communication and influence skills yielded an average ROI of 250%, primarily through increased productivity, reduced conflict, and improved employee engagement. That’s not chump change.
Similarly, Deloitte (2019) reported that companies with strong interpersonal training programmes were 2.5 times more likely to be “high-performing” compared to peers. In other words, influence isn’t just nice-to-have; it’s profit-positive.
What Influencing Skills Training Looks Like
Good influencing skills training doesn’t involve Jedi mind tricks, nor does it require you to become the loudest voice in the room. Instead, it equips participants with practical tools:
Understanding motivations: Spotting what actually drives colleagues (spoiler: it’s not always the KPIs).
Adapting communication styles: Knowing when to dazzle with data and when to connect with a story.
Building credibility: Becoming the trusted go-to voice, not just another meeting invite.
Creating win–wins: Ensuring that people feel their interests are respected while still steering towards your desired outcome.
When rolled out effectively, these techniques help staff at every level — whether it’s a project manager wrangling stakeholders, a team leader guiding change, or a graduate trying to be heard on their first cross-department call.
Counting the Pennies (and the Pounds)
Let’s talk ROI in practical terms. Suppose a mid-sized organisation invests £50,000 in a tailored influencing skills training programme for 100 managers. If even half of those managers save just one hour a week by running more efficient meetings, reducing rework, or cutting through conflict, the savings can be eye-watering.
At an average managerial cost of £50 per hour, that’s £130,000 saved per year — over 2.5 times the initial investment. And that doesn’t even account for the harder-to-measure gains: faster project delivery, reduced staff turnover, and better client relationships.
As Harvard Business Review (2020) notes, “soft skills have hard impacts.” It’s ROI with a smile.
Influence: A Competitive Advantage
Here’s the thing: technical skills get you in the door, but influencing skills get you a seat at the table. According to LinkedIn’s 2023 Workplace Learning Report, communication and persuasion are consistently ranked among the top five most in-demand skills globally. Yet, paradoxically, they’re the least formally trained.
This is a classic case of under-investment. Companies are leaving money — and talent — on the table. The cost of not training people in influence often shows up as:
Projects stalling due to lack of buy-in.
Promising staff disengaging because their voices aren’t heard.
Leaders wasting hours in circular conversations.
And all of that has a very real financial impact.
So, Is It Worth It?
In a word: absolutely. Influencing skills training isn’t about turning employees into smooth-talking salespeople; it’s about equipping them to navigate the messy, human side of work with more grace, confidence, and impact.
The ROI is clear. But beyond the pounds and pence, there’s also the culture shift: workplaces where collaboration feels smoother, ideas flow more freely, and people feel genuinely heard. That, surely, is priceless.
Final Thoughts
Next time you’re weighing up whether to invest in another technical certification or another software licence, consider this: what if the real competitive edge comes from something more human? Influence, after all, is what turns clever ideas into implemented realities.
So, if you’ve ever left a meeting muttering “why does nobody listen to me?”, perhaps it’s not you. Perhaps it’s simply time to invest in influencing skills training. Your future self (and your bottom line) will thank you. At Coached we work with all team and company sizes, and all budgets.
GET IN TOUCH TODAY, ANd let’s talk about how our INFLUENCING SKILLS training can support your team’s development, motivation and purpose, leading to long lasting change.
References
Deloitte. (2019). Human Capital Trends Report.
Harvard Business Review. (2020). The Hard Science of Soft Skills.
LinkedIn. (2023). Workplace Learning Report.
McKinsey & Company. (2021). The State of Organisations.
University of Michigan & Accenture. (2017). The Value of Soft Skills Training.