I’ve been talking about influencing without authority in the last couple of posts. We also discussed it in the last BRODY monthly newsletter. My “mini book” on this topic will soon be published, too — People, Projects & Progress: Influence Without Authority.
Obviously, it’s an increasingly important topic in our rapidly changing business environment.
Three of the building blocks of effective influencing are competence, clarity and relationships.
Let’s take a closer look at each one.
Competence
It goes without saying that to influence others, competence in the ordinary sense of the word isn’t enough. If the most your peers can say about you is, “Yeah, he’s competent,” you will not wield a lot of influence. You need to strive for excellence and expertise. And, in addition to being an expert in your field, you need to know your strengths and your weaknesses. After all, no one is perfect, and never will be, no matter how many professional development trainings or self-help books they ingest.
Perhaps technical skills are your brilliance, but speaking about your work flummoxes you. You can always work to strengthen your weak areas, but you can also learn to delegate and collaborate with others who have the strengths you lack.
This is time-tested and proven advice: Work to your strengths; collaborate with those who can compensate for your weaknesses.
Transparency is also a factor in learning to influence others, because openness and honesty never fail to impress, and we are all influenced by those who impress us. The more honest you are about your weaknesses, the more credibility you will have with teammates. The more you enlist others and allow them to contribute by playing to their own strengths, the more influence you will have. Just don’t forget to share the credit. Please. Always.
Clarity
Clarity has two parts -— being clear with yourself about your objectives and priorities, where you are going, what you are and are not willing to do, and what you need to accomplish your goals.
In other words, know thyself in business and everywhere else in life.
The second aspect of clarity speaks to your communications skills. Be clear on what you want from others, and learn to communicate it clearly, and in a way that creates agreement. Communicating clearly in the style of the listener will reduce confusion and improve your influence. Listening and responding with statements showing you have heard and understood what the other party is trying to convey, along with asking engaged questions, goes a huge way toward building clarity of communication, rapport, and mutual understanding and agreement — and, of course, influence. We all want to work with those we respect and feel respected by. Make sure respect comes across in your communication style, and your influence will rapidly rise.
We’ll get to relationships in my next post. In the meantime, if you are interested in learning more about Influencing Without Authority, you can find more information here about the training program of the same name.