Leading Through Influence

Influence and authority are two different characteristics, often confused as the same thing!

Understanding the value of getting people emotionally vested in your idea is central. Because, when it comes down to it, leading through influence rather than by authority is profoundly more powerful.

Today we'll check out what it takes to guide from the front and sway others to march to the beat of your drum - because they want to, not because they have to.

Build and Nurture a Basis of Trust

Without trust, you might perhaps lead as a manager or authority figure because people have no choice but to comply. However, that situation isn't close to ideal. A US survey found that employees at businesses with high trust levels were 74% less stressed than their counterparts and achieved a staggering 50% higher productivity.

Those figures say it all - build trust, and people will put their best work behind you.

You create respect by being honest, vulnerable, supportive, and showing your peers the way through the storm.

Leadership has never been about infallibility. Fostering trust means knowingly exposing yourself to the risk of failure and doing it with bravery - so others feel empowered to follow suit.

Create a Vision and Never Stop Pursuing it

In its rawest form, influence means you demonstrate the behaviors that inspire others or crush barriers and enhance the aspirations of people around you.  A shared vision is crucial, particularly when it's a co-created vision that embraces your differences and creates a real sense of purpose.

Think about this:

·       What does the future look like if you lead your peers to your intended destination?

·       How will you all benefit if you can turn your vision into reality?

As an influential leader, you make the space to allow everyone to collaborate and prioritize the time required to engage in the important work as an equal partner with the rest of your team. If you all buy into the vision, your team becomes stronger than the sum of its parts, and your chances of success increase dramatically.

Facilitate Collaborations - Without Dictating

The final golden rule to leading through influence is to be the person who makes it possible to share and learn across all divides. An exceptional leader cultivates skills and wants everybody to feel secure in voicing their ideas, whether those suggestions turn out to be good or not.

Facilitating collaborations is about adopting a communication style that invites other people to speak - perhaps think of it as throwing your ideas out there, and see what those brilliant minds around you create from the dust!  THIS is leading through influence, placing down the markers in the sand, creating opportunities, and showing people how they play just as important a part as anybody else in achieving your collective goals.

Influence wins because it inspires others to achieve, grow, and contribute alongside you in making it to the next step, as a team, not an individual.