Are you the easiest person to ignore where you work? For most people this is not a bad thing. In fact being invisible does have its advantages. Almost unlimited time to place stupid Facebook games is a well known one. If you job comes with some actual responsibility though, being the easiest to ignore will kill your projects, and your KPIs.
In practice people assign priorities based on who can make their lives the most difficult. It doesn’t matter how. It could be because of real authority, it can be from soft power or influence, or any of a large number of other forms of power or influence. These factors are so basic that I came across them at uni, in a Change Management course, but there is another factor. Who can shout the loudest or take up the most time.
In my experience, being annoying and never letting up works best if it takes time to deal with you chasing them, if they can’t brush you off without drawing more attention to an issue than they want, and if they dislike conflict less than you do. If you have no real power, and if you have no other source of influence, this is often your best bet.
Resources and support always get assigned in such a way as to make the lives of those handing them out the easiest. If you can’t have an impact, then you won’t get the support you need to get your job done.
If you have no official power, and if you have no unofficial influence, being a nice guy is a losing strategy. You need to be the person they don’t want to have to deal with. You need to make sure your projects and your requirements become their priority too. Even if it is only because they hate the sound of your voice.
