Winning Without Authority

Cultivating internal allies and building bridges

Across my career, I’ve been fortunate to hold roles that came with a lot of responsibility: VP of Sales, Head of Revenue Strategy, General Manager. On paper, I had control. But even then, most of the work still came down to influence.

I’ve had to convince founders who saw things differently. I’ve had to work with new CFOs who didn’t understand the business yet but were eager to assert control. And in those moments, I realised that authority only gets you so far.

RevOps is not about forcing your way through. It’s about navigating people, systems, and priorities that are constantly moving. If you can’t build trust, nothing moves, no matter your title.

This edition is about how to build that trust. Because in RevOps, your ability to influence is what determines whether the work you do sticks.

Why Internal Allies Matter

RevOps sounds like operations, but it’s really alignment work. You’re dealing with systems, sure, but you’re also dealing with people who don’t report to you. People with different goals, metrics, and incentives.

You’ll often recommend changes to how Sales sells, how Marketing qualifies leads, how CS engages accounts. But none of those teams work for you.

That means success comes down to relationships.

If you don’t build the right ones, you’ll spend all your time pushing rocks uphill. If you do, the same projects that once stalled suddenly move faster.

The Five Relationships That Shape Your Success

There’s a short list of roles that, if you get right, everything else becomes easier. Here's how I approach each one.

1. The Sales Leader

They care about closing revenue and protecting their team’s focus. That’s it.

Build trust by:

• Connecting every ops initiative to the pipeline or forecast

• Making lead routing, territory planning, or CRM hygiene simpler

• Helping them spend more time selling

Avoid:

• Leading with process

• Adding extra steps with no clear upside

• Getting between them and their targets

2. The Founder or CEO

They care about speed, margin, growth, and making sure everything ladders up to the big vision.

Build trust by:

• Framing every recommendation in terms of business impact

• Making decisions easier, not more complex

• Respecting their time and urgency

Avoid:

• Waiting until everything is perfect before sharing

• Offering data with no context

• Assuming your ops priorities are theirs

3. The Ops Partner

They run the engine room: payroll, commissions, tools, admin. They care about what works and what breaks.

Build trust by:

• Giving them a heads-up on anything that touches systems

• Respecting edge cases they’ve seen go wrong before

• Collaborating early so rollouts are smooth

Avoid:

• Surprising them with last-minute asks

• Assuming implementation is just clicking a few buttons

4. The Finance Lead

They hold the purse strings and the board-facing numbers.

Build trust by:

• Aligning your metrics with theirs

• Explaining how your changes affect CAC, runway, or margins

• Being accurate, not just fast

Avoid:

• Talking about ROI without evidence

• Defining terms like bookings or pipeline differently than they do

5. The Product or Engineering Lead

They own the roadmap. Every tool, every integration, every field in the CRM runs through them.

Build trust by:

• Keeping requests scoped and focused

• Framing changes as part of a bigger user experience

• Showing the business case, not just a wish list

Avoid:

• Assuming speed means importance

• Treating them like a help desk

How to Build Influence

There’s no playbook, but a few things have worked for me consistently:

• Lead with curiosity. Start by understanding what they care about and how they measure success

• Offer value before asking. Whether it's sharing an insight or unblocking something, start with a win

• Show up consistently. Trust builds over time, not in one meeting

• Speak their language. Don’t talk NRR to someone who cares about lead flow

• Make them look good. If your work helps them succeed, they’ll make space for more of it

What to Avoid

Here’s what I’ve learned to avoid — sometimes the hard way:

• Assuming shared goals without confirming them

• Leading with systems when people need outcomes

• Expecting alignment because your plan makes sense

Influence isn’t about logic. It’s about showing people how your work helps them win.

Final Thought

Even when you have authority, it doesn’t guarantee alignment. And when you don’t have authority, which is where most RevOps people start, the work depends on trust.

You don’t need a big title or a huge team to drive impact. You need to listen well, solve the right problems, and stay focused on business outcomes.

Because at the end of the day, systems don’t move the business. People do.

And people follow those they trust.

— Tayo