Influencing Without Positional Power

Posted on June 04, 2015 by Tricia Ryan, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.

One thing you learn quickly as an entrepreneur when you run your own business is that positional power doesn’t actually carry the weight you think it should sometimes. When you need to mobilize resources from across your organization to achieve your business objectives, you can’t just be “the boss”—you must have influence. Influence can be defined as: “the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself.”

Chances are you rely on others for some aspect of your work. Whether it’s relying on your coworkers for data or ideas to complete a program’s implementation, or relying on the accountant or bookkeeper to provide you with sales information or even if it’s relying on your customers to buy your product or service, it’s unlikely that you can achieve personal or organizational success on your own. Understanding influence and the complex interactions that underlie this subtle process of persuasion can be the key to successful entrepreneurial business.

According to Brian Tracy, your ability to persuade and influence people to help you get the things you want in life is one of the most important skills you can develop as a leader. By learning how to persuade and influence people, you can achieve greater personal power and get more of the things you want faster than through anything else you do. It can mean the difference between success and failure. The question is can the skill of influence be learned or is it innate for many natural born leaders?

We tend to see people with personal power as persuasion experts who often seem to exert this influence indirectly. When probed however, research has confirmed that they do give a lot of thought to how they can get other people to help them. They often plan and strategize before they act. They are clear on their goals and then they know who to choose as members of their team to achieve their goals. They also think about what they will have to do in return to get the other people to help them.

People have two major motivations: the desire for gain, and the fear of loss. The desire for gain motivates people to want more of the things they value in life. The key to persuasion is motivation. In order to learn and consciously persuade others, leaders must find out what motivates other people and then provide that specific motivation.

To be successful, you must learn how to persuade others so you can develop your personal power. In leadership, one must remember that there are only two ways to get the things you want in life- you can do it all yourself, or you can get most of it done by others. Your ability to communicate, persuade, negotiate, influence, delegate and interact effectively with other people will enable you to become powerful, successful and influential within your organization and community. By learning how to persuade and influence people, doors will open up for you in every area of your life. However, it’s important to understand the line between influence and manipulation. The main difference between the two lies not in the techniques we use, but in how and why we use them.

The following six principles have been identified as key to helping you persuade rather than manipulate….

1. Intent
What is your intention and why do you want to influence someone. Clearly define how your desired outcome would benefit the other party, as well as your organization and yourself.

2. Empathy
When you consider the issue or opportunity you are trying to guide the team or individual to consider, think about it from the other party’s perspective. What are their needs? What drives them? Considering the perspective of the other party is not only crucial to successful influencing, it also leads to trust and confidence that you have other people’s best interests at heart.

3. Trust
Trust is a key differentiator between influence and manipulation. Building trust by being respectful and honest in each interaction creates cumulative goodwill, which makes it easier to exert your influence going forward as others will have confidence in you and know that you have their best interests at heart.

4. Authenticity
People can tell when you’re being disingenuous or flattering without sincerity. Consistently acting from a place of authenticity makes you more honouring and credible. It also establishes you as having the capacity to compliment and be generous.

5. Reciprocity
The principle of reciprocity fits in nicely with the idea of strong ongoing relationships; you often have to give as much as you take. Reciprocity can play out over time especially with those that you work with on an ongoing basis. People are more likely to do something for you now if they feel confident that you may support them at a later date.

6. Try the alternative to the Golden Rule – the Platinum Rule
According to Dr. Tony Alessandra: “Treat others the way they want to be treated.” Ah hah! What a difference. The Platinum Rule accommodates the feelings of others. The focus of relationships shifts from “this is what I want, so I’ll give everyone the same thing” to “let me first understand what they want and then I’ll give it to them.”

As powerful as it is, influence comes down to how people see us as individuals, how well our ideas resonate with others and how well we frame our ideas in terms of others’ needs and problems. Strong influence can give you access to people’s hearts and minds in the form of commitment and trust—these can be the ultimate resource in becoming effective as a leader in your organization while empowering others to execute your vision in a trusting and supportive environment.

To understand and obtain the resources you need to enhance the Law of Compensation in your life, consider the FocalPoint Business Coaching Model. It will deliver progressive action by taking a proactive “one step at a time approach”, unique to you, and build on your incremental success. TRyan@FocalPointCoaching.com www.TriciaRyanFocalPointCoaching.com