IMPACT THROUGH INFLUENCE| INFLUENCE TO BRING CHANGE|

Leadership and management are primarily driven by your influencing abilities. Every department has an innate need for influencing skills starting with Sales -Marketing -Strategy to Human Resources, Learning, Finance, and other functions. We are negotiators, persuaders, conciliators, and maybe intermediaries and mediators at various times in our life journey. Organizations today realize this as one of the key competencies to thrive-survive and revive.

As organizational hierarchies and layers diminish, developing personal effectiveness and influencing skills is essential in today’s workplace. Being able to influence without formal authority is an essential skill, and this can be achieved through confidence, clarity, and communication skills. And as leaders, our roles require that we draw on who we are, as well as what we do to inspire and engage our people. This new IQ=Influencing Quotient can be one of the most effective skills to have in your leadership repertoire.

Personal influence at work and its impact on your relationships, career, and organizational success have a far-reaching impact that we all aspire for. Talent development and Human capital professionals have a tremendous opportunity to influence at a deeper level—with learners, SMEs, and stakeholders—to achieve business and learning results.

The influence could be for dealing with dynamics, self-expression & branding, building trust, and networking. However one needs to be clear on the larger goal of influence and not manipulate. The context in every act of influence is critical for the outcomes.

Effective, ethical leaders use different approaches in different situations, choosing carefully when and how to influence people using influencing tactics that appeal to the head, heart, or hands. While creating buy-in for project approval, hiring, or client value creation one needs to have a unanimous approach towards certain executions, where influence plays a crucial role.

Some of the common questions to think of while influencing are –

1. Who to influence?
2. What is the outcome desired?
3. How can the idea or decision gain through the participation of others?
4. What tactics can be used?
5. Why would someone be interested in the proposition? 
6. How to keep it optimistic while closing irrespective of decision?

6 Ways to culture influencing skills –

1. Communication Pointers (Observation & Interpretation, Analysis, Feedback, Rapport building) -Paying attention to body language, non-verbal behavior – what is not said, your thoughts, feelings, hunches, and intuitions. Also analyzing and interpreting body signs, changes in skin color, breathing, demeanor, etc. Communication is more than words and what’s being said. Communication is the medium and also the way to progress towards influencing goals. You can ask, request, create a rationale for the need or idea while working on your journey of influence.
2. Awareness & Choices – Be aware of yourself, moment by moment, particularly of counter-productive behaviors, your limiting thoughts, beliefs, and reactions; recognize at any moment that, if how you are behaving is unproductive, you can change your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
3. Self-confidence – to feel confident about yourself in the face of resistance or conflict. This confidence should be based on acceptance of self and not on feeling superiority to the other person.
4. Timing – Be able to get the timing right such as when to give feedback and when not to, when to use choice ‘A’ or ‘B’, when to retreat or be persistent and when to let go completely.
5. Intuition – Trust your feelings or hunches about the likely patterns of the other person’s behavior, to listen to your positive, inner voice.
6. Work on a win-win – To Balance, a win-win for all stakeholders can be an effective mode to work on the subject to be influenced. You cannot control or order them to agree, so decide what’s in it for them, sell them the benefits, consider their feelings and be adaptable to change.

One of the best things I learned from the BNI(Business Networking International) forum is VCP -Visibility -Credibility and Profitability. Dr. Ivan Misner and his team across the world have coined this wonderful concept that supports not only business owners but also professionals to build and nurture their brands, by way of subtle influence. Your visible work that builds credibility eventually creates profitability for you. Thus being visible first in an ocean of talents, executing work credibly are two pillars for long-term profitability and infuence.

Today’s working environment depends on relationships and influencing skills – both working with and through other people. Influence in current times is reciprocal giving and taking from others that creates opportunities for your growth and effectiveness.

How well do you influence your stakeholders? What are the practices that help you influence better? Are you willing to flex in the journey of influence? Do share with us your inputs for Influencing skills development. To master these skills register for a workshop on Influencing Skills.