Leadership and Influence Go Hand in Hand


John Hancock put it brilliantly:
“The greatest ability in business is to get along with others and to influence their actions.”
As the business world is changing, companies are breaking down the departmental silos.
The work is now done in cross-functional teams without the traditional reporting lines. As titles become irrelevant, leadership is now dependent on the ability to influence outside the formal structure. You can be a manager without the ability to influence, but you can never be a leader.
In today’s world, INFLUENCE = POWER
Here’s how you can cultivate influence in the workplace.

Build Trust

If you assign a task to someone, but you do not have the authority, is he likely to carry it out?
You are unlikely to influence people who do not trust you. In order to work effectively, you need to have healthy relationship with your team.
If you’ve built an environment of trust around you, by being honest and open, stating your opinions and concerns, people are likely to trust you.

Be Assertive

If you want your ideas to get noticed in a competitive environment, you need to be assertive. You need to have just the right degree of confidence to put your ideas forward; otherwise you can be mistaken as arrogant. If you are perceived as arrogant, it will greatly hamper your ability to influence positively.
Assertiveness needs to extend to all business interactions, regardless of the communication channels or the audience.  However, you also need to be careful when you are engaged with people who have more expertise or with people you are unfamiliar with.

Use Action rather than Words

You can’t just be influential with words and arguments alone. You need actions to back you up. You have to have a history of consistent action and results.

Be Flexible

Although you need to be assertive with your ideas, you also need to be flexible. You must be open to new ideas and hear other people out. Respect their opinions.

Get Personal

This is really important if you are in a higher position. If you isolate yourself from your subordinates to show authority, you will garner resentment.
You need to have some personal connection with your employees, so that they consider you as part of the team and be more receptive to your ideas. The key here is to make yourself approachable.
Influence is crucial for the workplace today and goes hand in hand with leadership. In order to develop yourself into a successful business leader, you will need to develop these qualities. Choose leadership training programs that focus more on influence.
Check out Marshall Sylver’s Irresistible Influence training program and learn from the very about on how to become a successful influential leader. 

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