Strategic Influence - how to generate buy-in for your ideas with Tami from Miami
Knowledge in action workshop provided to the ATD conference on May 18 2026
MAP Out Your Influence: A Better Way to Get Buy-In for L&D Initiatives
Tami from Miami — Knowledge in Action Workshop, ATD Conference
Good afternoon, everyone. Let's do a quick reality check.
I am going to describe a few situations. If this has ever happened to you, give me a clap. Think of it as… professional group therapy.
Clap if…
You've made a new friend at ATD.
You love connecting with people who get it.
You love learning new things which actually help you do your job better.
You love getting an email from an executive leader saying they heard from their team that the training was great.
You hate being accountable for employee development and not having enough ownership to do what you know needs to get done.
You're asked to put together a proposal for a new management training program, and after two weeks of prepping, the executive who requested it misses your meeting and never reschedules.
You hate when you were promised budget for a program, but then it poof disappeared when priorities shifted.
My friend Peter Shankman says it's not ADHD, it's ADOS… Attention Deficit Oooh Shiny.
Clap if you know an executive or three with Shiny Object Syndrome.
You hate when you told an executive that a specific high-cost training wasn't what they needed… they booked it anyway because they heard about it from their buddy at another company in an entirely different situation… and it flopped, and you had to clean up the mess.
That's a lot of clapping.
Look around. You're not alone.
This isn't a small problem.
This is lost budget.
This is stalled initiatives.
This is time you don't get back.
This is missed opportunities for impact.
This is what happens when good ideas don't have strong influence behind them.
Good ideas aren't enough. Being right is not enough.
The Story You Already Know
I'm going to tell you a story, and I want you to clap or laugh if anything I mention feels oh-too-familiar.
You've stayed late every day for a week in preparation for a new training program, and finally the day is here. You set up your background so that you look professional. People show up to your training…
Actually… let's rewind.
Fifteen minutes before the training starts, you get a slew of Teams or Slack notifications. Chris from Engineering is running a bit behind. Taylor from Marketing is putting out a fire. Jordan from Sales forgot they were double-booked.
You're thinking: Of course they are.
You start anyway. Attendance looks… decent. You say, "Cameras on." Sixteen people turn on their cameras… out of many more.
During the training, when you ask for responses in the chat, they trickle in. When you split everyone into breakout rooms, a few people never leave the main room. A bunch of heart and clap emoji reactions flood the screen at the end. Yet only one single person fills out the feedback form.
Weeks later, behaviors don't change, leaders don't notice improvements, and you're back to the drawing board.
Clap if you've been there… last week?
There must be a better way. Clap if you believe there's a better way.
Hi, I'm Tami from Miami
I lead trainings on Influence for Impact.
Today, you're going to experience selected parts of multiple workshops I offer. I selected these parts particularly for you so that you can walk out of here with better tools to solve the problems you face every day.
In my workshops, I introduce a simple and systematic way to influence anyone to do what you want. And who doesn't like it when people do what you want?
This system is equally effective at:
Getting you more headcount
Convincing your partner to go to Greece this summer
Convincing your mother-in-law that the holidays should be at your house this year
That's why I love it so much… and that's why my participants love it so much.
I love that people walk out of my trainings finally knowing what they could have done better in that conversation they've been replaying in their mind for a week, and what they are going to change in the proposal they are currently working on so that it lands better.
I'm sure you're tired of clapping, so I'm going to try something new. If what I say resonates with you, I want you to raise your hand. In a Southern Baptist Preach! Amen! sort of way. Ready? Everyone try it.
Raise your hand if you wish you had double your budget for programs… and know that even then it wouldn't be nearly enough.
Great. Your arms are stretched.
Now let's talk about what you're seeing in your organization. If this is something you see, I want you to raise your hand.
Newly minted managers are lost and don't know how to do… well, most anything.
Leaders complain about being in the weeds, but never invest in training their team to take on tasks.
Your company is trying to do more with less. Less people, less budget, less time.
Everyone seems overworked and exhausted, and yet no one showed up to the training on Managing Stress and Avoiding Burnout.
Everyone — front-line employees, managers, and senior leaders — all want to improve performance, drive more impact, and be more satisfied at work. No one wants to change the way things are done.
The Elephant in the Room: AI
Now that I've got you moving, let's talk about the elephant in the room. The topic that is literally being discussed in practically every other session happening on this floor. Right now, there's an even bigger question sitting underneath all of this:
If AI is changing how work gets done… will it replace my job, or redefine it?
You feel it, and so does everyone else.
Right now, every leader is asking an existential question: If AI is reshaping how work gets done, if AI is replacing so many roles, what will happen to our people? What will happen to me?
What skills matter now?
What do we invest in?
What do we stop investing in?
And in this moment, L&D is no longer about competency development and learning programs. It's about helping the organization navigate uncertainty. That makes your role in L&D more important than ever. It also makes it harder than ever.
The easy answer is to say: we need new programs. We need AI training. We need upskilling.
But that's still not the real issue.
The Real Issue Is Ownership
The real issue is this: most learning initiatives never had true executive buy-in to begin with.
Not surface-level support. Not budget approval. Real buy-in. The kind where leaders prioritize it, reinforce it, and hold their teams accountable to it.
Here's what's actually happening behind the scenes. Executives are making trade-offs every day. They are deciding what matters right now. And if your initiative is not clearly tied to their goals, it doesn't matter how innovative and interactive it is — it will always lose to something that is more urgent in their world.
We all know the best way to increase attendance is not for L&D to send out fifteen reminders, but for a leader to send one.
We all know that attendees are more present and engaged when their supervisors are there too.
We all know that real behavior shifts happen when managers reinforce learning outside of the training room.
That kind of experience comes with buy-in. Real buy-in.
This isn't a learning problem. This is an ownership problem.
And the way to get someone else to buy in and really own something — that's what influence is all about.
This is an influence problem.
Why Most Approaches Backfire
The approach most L&D leaders use to gain momentum usually makes their job harder. They try to convince everyone. They lead with content. They push harder when they feel resistance.
But influence doesn't work that way.
Influence is about cultivating relationships across the organization.
Influence is about captivating people's attention.
Influence is about connecting the dots for people — that the things that matter to you also matter to them.
Influence is about motivating people to do what you want.
And most importantly, influence is about activating people. Getting them to take an action. Encouraging them to take a step in your desired direction.
That's what influence is about.
This session is supposed to be a Knowledge in Action, so let's get active. I'm going to give you a system for influence which you can apply today. It's a simple system that solves these problems. This system helps you create real alignment and momentum around your ideas. This system gets your initiatives prioritized and funded. And this system transforms attendees into active participants who actually apply what they learn.
Let me make this clear: we are not here to improve our presentation skills. We are here to learn how to build momentum around our ideas.
One more time — give me a round of applause if you believe there's a better way. Give me a round of applause if you're ready to learn about that better way.
Introducing the M.A.P. Out Your Influence Framework
M.A.P. MAP. MAP It Out.
Step 1: Manifest
Step 1 of the repeatable system for influence is about deciding or choosing where you want to go. But I take it one level deeper — beyond that choice, this system requires you to manifest.
That's right. Manifest. You're going to manifest where you want to go.
What I mean by manifest is that you need to not only imagine the thing you want to happen, but also to imagine the world which is created once it happens. What other events occur, or don't occur, because of your initiative? Who benefits down the line in the future you've created? What value has been given to different groups of people because your idea comes into fruition?
Let's do this all together right now. Let's make this breakout session the knowledge in action it is supposed to be.
Think about something real. That initiative you're currently pitching to get funded. One that you know would drive real impact, but you also know hasn't gotten the executive traction it needs.
Got it? Great. Hold onto that. Because that is what we are going to work on today.
Today, we are not going to talk about this in theory. We are going to apply it.
This is the same worksheet I use in my Influence for Impact workshops. It is how I help leaders turn ideas into funded initiatives.
As I mentioned, the first step is Manifest. Everyone pull out a pen and start filling out the top cell of your MAP It Out Canvas. Write down information about the program you've got in your mind.
M — Manifest. That is one clear vision. One destination.
In your case, that is your program getting funded and having impact. Go deeper. What is the outcome you want? Not the activity or program. The outcome.
Describe in vivid detail all the people in your ideal future and how they are benefiting from your initiative. What are they capable of doing which was previously blocked? What challenges can they now overcome? What value have you delivered to them?
In my hour-and-a-half workshops, we have more time for this part, but I know you're the kind of group who likes homework.
I'm sure many of you have started reading the other side of the worksheet. Consider it a cheat sheet for you to M.A.P. out your own influence, and it's also a tool to enable you to teach others in your organization. Share it so that they can gain the same influence skills you're learning about today.
For the rest of the workshop, I'm going to have a QR code in the upper right corner of my slides. That QR code will allow you to download an editable PDF version of the M.A.P. It Out Canvas. This editable PDF is exclusively available to my workshop participants.
The reason I will continue to show it is that I don't want to pressure you to download it before you believe it works. My job is to prove that to you, and if I succeed, I know I'll see you pick up your cell phone and scan the QR code.
I also want to make sure you understand that, because this worksheet includes both the MAP It Out Canvas and the explanation of what each step entails, it is a complete guide which you can utilize with your teams to train them in this crucial skill. You are all qualified training professionals. With this worksheet, your team will be ready to unleash their own leader within.
Let me take a step back and give you an overview of the next two steps. We've all taken the first, and often most important, step. You manifested where you want to go.
Step 2: Assess
Next up is A — Assess. Assess where they want to go.
There are many perspectives. Finance cares about cost. Your boss cares about priorities. Your cross-functional partners care about effort and impact.
Different people. Different motivations.
I want you to think about three people.
First, someone who should support your initiative. They're already aligned, or close to it.
Second, someone who is likely to resist this at all costs. They have different priorities. They may never fully agree.
Third, someone on the fence. Someone undecided. A swing vote which could go either way.
Take a moment. Write down the names or titles of those three people.
Now, for each of them, I want you to think about where they want to go. Not what they say in meetings. What they authentically care about.
For Finance, it might be cost, efficiency, risk. For your boss, it might be increasing NPS, visibility, or outcomes. For that person on the fence — that is where your opportunity is. They are probably the most difficult person to assess. You may not have as many interactions with them. You may not have a shared history. But you know that their vote matters.
Now write those things down in the Assess column. What does success look like for each of them? What drives them?
I'll give you another minute. I know this is hard work. You'll probably want to keep filling this out in whatever downtime you've got. For now, as long as you've assessed at least one of the people on your list, let's move forward.
Step 3: Promote
We've reached the third step. P — Promote. Promote where we can go together. Show them that you are a partner in their success.
Promote is where those many definitions of success overlap. Think of it like a Venn diagram. You are finding where your vision intersects with what they care about. It's the shaded area. It's the overlap. It's how you get them to care about your idea.
That is how your idea becomes their idea too.
When it is their idea, they are invested. They have ownership. You've created a partnership. A partnership in success.
They now want to help move your initiative forward.
That intersection — that is where buy-in happens.
This works on executives, on teammates, on coworkers in departments in a galaxy far, far away, and on your direct reports. And it works because they recognize that their success is tied to yours.
Why This Worksheet Becomes a Tool You Keep Coming Back To
This editable PDF, which you can download, you can use again and again. Because as I say in Level 2 of the Influence for Impact series, Life's a Pitch: everyone pitches something — some are just more successful.
In our world, we pitch ideas. Ideas in which we need other people to believe and invest. And I want you to be successful in every way you imagine.
For everything you are pitching:
To get funding
To encourage an impressive candidate to join your team
To get permission for that extended vacation you want
To change… well, pretty much anything
My favorite emails are the ones — and I've gotten hundreds of them — where people share that they've been using this simple M.A.P. Canvas to successfully pitch the things that mattered to them:
Launching a new initiative
Receiving budget for team expansion
Changing a broken process
Getting a coveted promotion
What can you use it for? What can your boss or team use it for?
A Pitch for Everyone Is a Pitch for No One
In the tech industry, we often say: a product built for everyone is a product built for no one.
If you remember only one thing from today's session: a pitch for everyone is a pitch for no one.
A pitch for everyone… is a pitch for no one.
But most people are still building the deck to rule all decks. Trying to convince everyone with one message… and wondering why nothing moves.
Turns out, more slides do not create more influence. Better alignment does.
The real work, it turns out, is understanding the people you need to influence, aligning to them, and nudging them out of inertia and into action — or occasionally stopping the momentum of a moving train headed off a cliff.
Which is why we build the pitch with intention. We MAP the people. That is why the Assess step exists — to enable the Promote step to be personalized and successful.
On your worksheet, as you look at Manifest, there is a singular cell. But for Assess and Promote, you see many, many rows. That's because you have your vision for the ideal future you want to create, and you need to respect that everyone else has their individual vision too.
People want to be spoken to like the unique individuals they believe they are. Invest the time to customize your pitch to each person. It will be time well spent.
Knowledge in Action: Try It Right Now
Like many things, this M.A.P. Canvas is better with friends.
Rather than spinning ideas in your own mind, turn to someone next to you or behind you and collaborate. Make a new friend, potentially. That's what conferences are really all about.
Share your initiative. Share the person you assessed. Together, figure out how you would promote the idea to them.
Where is the overlap?
What do they care about?
How does your initiative help them?
You have three minutes each. I'll tell you when to switch. Go.
[After three minutes] I know you're having fun, but it's time to switch.
[After three more minutes] Alright, let's bring it back.
A few questions to discuss:
What changed — the idea, or the positioning?
What did you learn through talking with someone else?
Was it helpful to have something written down to aid the discussion?
What we all just did — that is MAPping out your influence.
What you experienced in three minutes is exactly why participants keep using this canvas after the workshop. People revisit the canvas again and again to MAP out their influence — to stop pitching to everyone, and to start building momentum for the ideas that drive impact, one individual at a time.
If this framework feels useful to you, now is probably a good moment to pull out your phone and grab the editable version.
It will help you remember to not push your idea, and instead to align it with what someone else already cares about. And remember that you did not do this alone. You leveraged another perspective to learn more about your target audience.
That is how influence scales. That is how ideas move forward. That is how programs get funded. That is how behavior actually changes.
The Physics of Influence
It turns out fundamental laws of physics apply here too. An object at rest will remain at rest. An object in motion will remain in motion. Unless a force is applied upon it.
That force is influence.
What you did worked. Now imagine if your manager approached influence this way. If your peers approached influence this way. If your cross-functional partners approached influence this way.
How much faster would things move?
Influence is how organizations move faster.
Putting It All Together
One Manifest. Multiple Assess perspectives. Then Promote the intersection.
When we get to Promote, you are not creating one message. We are identifying where each of those perspectives overlaps with your vision. That is how you move from agreement in a meeting to action across an organization.
Promote is where alignment turns into action. When I work with teams on this, this is the moment where it clicks.
In reality, you don't need everyone aligned. You need the right people aligned, the undecided leaning your way, and your supporters actively advocating for you.
MAP out your influence. Stop pitching to everyone. Start building momentum for the ideas that drive impact with the people who have a shared interest in their success.
Imagine what your organization would feel like if the most impactful ideas consistently gained traction. How many more people would feel heard? How much faster would innovation move? How much less energy would be wasted?
That future starts with influence.
Bring Me Your Hardest Challenge
If you have questions, I'll be at the bookstore or Booth 1639. You can come and MAP what they NeeDoh. You share the person you need buy-in from. We'll share what they need to know — and a teenie NeeDoh for you to fidget with all the way home.
Can't make it? Schedule a call with me right now. I love talking through these challenges and seeing where I can help.
Bring me your hardest challenge. You're not alone. You don't have to solve it alone.
One Final Question
Before I share some final thoughts, please share your feedback. As L&D leaders, you know the value of feedback, and as a product person, honest feedback is my love language.
While you have your phones out, this is also the easiest moment to grab the editable version of the MAP Canvas.
As you fill out the feedback form, I'll leave you with one final question:
Where do you want to go?
What is the organization you want to create?
MAP out your influence. Stop pitching to everyone. Start building momentum for the ideas that drive impact.
Imagine what happens when your organization transforms.
Think about it.
Where do you want to go? How will stronger influence muscles get you there?
Thank you.