The ability to influence people and move decisions and solutions forward is a key part of business success. The inability to form the right approach, make the right points, or stall in process minutiae can mean the difference for a major deal being won or lost. At an individual level influence can mean the same difference in how a career progresses.
As you look at your accomplishments in 2011, what key decisions did you influence others on that demonstrated your ability to drive direction as well as made you feel powerful and purposeful? What did you learn from your attempts to move ideas or initiatives forward? What will be important for you to influence in the coming year?
To understand the importance of influence I asked some questions to Lucy Freedman, CEO of Silicon Valley based Syntax Communication, a firm that specializes in organization development and communication effectiveness.
What is influence?
Influence is a differentiator of outstanding performers– who is able to get the results they want? Who is able to bring together the wisdom of team members so that good decisions get made and implemented? Who can communicate to get results up, down, and across organizational boundaries, even when they don’t have direct authority? Influence is the result of a set of interpersonal skills that are learned over the course of a career.
How does influence apply in a corporate setting?
Influence is the companion to position power. How one uses authority depends on one’s influencing skills. In corporate life today, much influence is done without direct authority. Successful leaders and professionals in corporations build relationships through how they get things done. If you are not good at this, your projects and career will stall.
What does influence look like when done well?
Influence looks much like a dance. There is give and take, artistry, and a graceful conclusion. The partners look forward to the next dance.
How can you tell when you lack influence?
No one completely lacks influence. One of the positive things about influence is that it can be learned and anyone can increase their influence. Just by showing up you have some influence - whether you are conscious of what you are doing or not. One of the benefits of learning the skills of influence is that you can much more consciously direct your energy. A clear signal that you need to increase your influence is that you have great ideas which do not get implemented.
Is there one best way to gain influence?
There are many good ways. If we distill them down to the most important, you gain influence by learning from the results you get. People who don’t pay attention to results, or take responsibility for them, vary their behavior, and don’t try something new, won’t grow their influence. A close second is to create connections with people. The more connected you are, the greater the impact you can have and the more resources you have to support you.
What has your experience been in how successful people influence?
One observation is that they don’t work alone or isolate themselves. Getting out there, moving in a direction and enrolling others as they move in that direction, and recognizing that it’s a team effort, are all components of what they do. When I work with executives and managers to improve their influence both within their teams and across organizational lines, we draw from studies of what outstanding communicators do.
What is different about your approach to influence that will really benefit people?
We work from the underlying structure of successful influence, rather than from recipes or formulas. The structure reveals five qualitatively different kinds of skills that outstanding communicators demonstrate. Participants in our programs come away with all five sets of skills “in the muscle” so they easily and naturally incorporate them into their thinking and actions.
Thank you Lucy for your thoughts on influence.
It’s clear that influence is something that can be learned by anyone and isn’t just a matter of position. When you are frustrated or want to make a bigger difference than you have so far, you can consciously practice influencing skills and expand them throughout your career. The first step is to take a hard look at your results and take responsibility for what you have and have not been able to accomplish. Then apply yourself to learning the skills of people who are excellent at influencing others and see how much more successful you can be.
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