The Influence Plan: A Stakeholder Playbook for High-Stakes Decisions

Julie Young

Ex-SVP Leadership/Executive Coach 30yrs

Covered by the Maven Guarantee

Build influence and executive presence to move decisions before the meeting.

You and your team are delivering. You're the one people count on. And you keep watching decisions you should be shaping get made without you or your input.

Here is what almost nobody tells you.The real influence work does not happen in the meeting.It happens before the meeting, in the 1:1s, Slack threads, and the hallway.No one teaches it, and most learn it by trial and error.

Not knowing these skills is keeping you from looking like executive material.

And AI is speeding up decision-making. What sets senior leaders apart now is judgment, framing, and the ability to align stakeholders before a decision hardens. That is the human side of influence, and it is a skill you can build.

In this workshop, you bring one real initiative you need to get real traction on. You leave with a stakeholder-by-stakeholder Influence Plan and concrete next steps, so in your next high-stakes meeting, you know who is in, who will push back, and how to address the challenges.

This is for Directors and senior leaders who are done toiling behind the scenes and are ready to be seen at the executive level.

What you’ll learn

Learn to read the stakeholder system and pre-sell decisions, so your work gets funded, supported, and acted on faster.

Build your Decision Path Map to see who influences whom and who can veto

How to identify the real decision path (not just the calendar invite)

How to map stakeholders by influence, decision power, and “work-on” priority

How to spot what’s underneath the pushback: what they’re worried about, what they want, and what they can’t support

Diagnose who and why stakeholders are actually stuck using the Trust Stack

How to figure out why a stakeholder doesn’t trust you or your recommendation yet, and what to do about it

How to tell whether the gap is credibility, reliability, or relationship strength

How to design one “one rung up” move that changes the dynamic fast

Stop guessing what your stakeholder want

How to run targeted interviews that surface decision criteria and non-negotiables

How to ask questions that reveal concerns people will not say in the meeting

How to capture what you learn and translate it into a practical plan

Choose the right influence moves

How to select the right influence lever for the situation (Clarity, Connection, Credibility, Collaboration, Courage)

How to avoid the default traps (over-explaining, escalating too early, waiting for the meeting)

How to match your message, evidence, and ask to what the stakeholder needs to say yes

Pre-sell before decisions are made (put it all together)

How to sequence the right conversations so you know who’s in, who will push back, and why

How to surface concerns early without sounding salesy or triggering defensiveness

How to build alignment before the meeting so it is a decision, not an interrogation

Leave with an Influence Plan you can use immediately

A stakeholder-by-stakeholder plan (who, why, and what to do next)

Your next-conversation strategy (opening frame, questions, and ask)

A one-page summary you can reuse for similar situations going forward

Workshop agenda

Set the stakes + lock your “win” We’ll quickly lock the decision you’re here to move and define a “win” you can actually execute, so you leave with a plan.

Build your Decision Path Map Build your Decision Path Map in triads (influence & decision power) and use a quick AI prompt to turn messy context into a clean stakeholder list—so you know who influences whom and who can veto.

The Trust Stack: Diagnose what’s getting in your way Diagnose what’s blocking buy-in with your hardest stakeholder—then leave with the exact questions to ask next. You’ll build it in triads so you’re ready to act.

Run the System Sensemaking Interview You’ll learn the questions to ask that surface decision criteria, non‑negotiables, and concerns people won’t say in "the" meeting, so you can address resistance before it turns into an ambush.

Choose your next influence move (the 5 C’s) Use the 5 C’s (Clarity, Connection, Credibility, Collaboration, Courage) to choose the right next influence move. Draft your opening frame, 3 questions, and your ask—so you stop over-explaining.

Leave with your specific Influence Plan + Hot seat Q&A Pull it together into a one-page Influence Plan (next steps by stakeholder + your next conversation script + your first 48-hour move). We'll wrap with additional Q&A, so you leave unstuck.

Learn directly from Julie

Julie Young

Julie Young is an executive coach focused on the expert-to-executive transition.

I’m Julie Young, an executive coach and former in-house talent leader who has spent 30+ years inside high-stakes, stakeholder-heavy organizations.

I’ve led leadership development through major growth cycles at Takeda Oncology, coached integration teams during the P&G/Gillette merger, and built talent systems serving thousands of employees and leaders.

I built the Next Level System™ because most high performers do not need more generic communication advice.They need a repeatable way to map the stakeholder system, surface real concerns early, and shape buy-in before decisions harden.

That is what this workshop delivers: a practical pre-decision playbook you can use immediately with your next initiative

Career highlights

Built a global leadership competency model used to evaluate 3,000+ leaders across 7 affiliates at Takeda.

Executive-coached P&G/Gillette merger integration teams , facilitating exec sessions for 30 cross-org leaders and designing integration charters.

Delivered 500+ hours of executive coaching across pharma/biotech, healthcare, tech, and operations;

founder of In-Sight Leadership Solutions and creator of the Next Level System™ .

Who this workshop is for

Directors (Director/Sr Director + “director-equivalent” Senior ICs) in matrixed orgs or cross-functional projects

Anyone who is an "expert" in their functional area and needs to influence other functions or teams.

(Product, Ops, Program/PMO, Clinical Ops, IT/R&D) who own cross-functional outcomes and need stakeholder traction.