Influence is the domain of the trusted guide and the voice of wisdom. Find out what it is, how it works, and how to get more of it.
Everyone wants influence at work. Influence up, down, and across the organization increases your impact and visibility, making promotion more likely.
But what is influence? What does influence do for you? And how do you get more of it? I’ll address these questions here.
What is Influence?
Influence is the ability to get others to see you as a trusted advisor. You grow your influence when you master the subtle art of nudging people in directions that turn out to be beneficial to them and the organization. As a skill, influence is a combination of several skills. First, it requires deep technical knowledge. Additionally, you need a few emotional intelligence skills to get people to listen to you.
Ironically, the more you demand to be listened to, the less influence you will have. You are most likely to influence someone only after you have listened to them. You have to gain their trust first by taking the time to fully understand and analyze their situation. Then, you can drop a wise hint. If they trust you and see the wisdom of your suggestion, you get influence. You didn’t tell them what to do, and you certainly didn’t demand it.
Influence is the role of Merlin in the Lord of the Rings, or Yoda in Star Wars. When Luke comes to Yoda with his problems, all Yoda says is, “Feel the force around you.” As a result, Luke knows what to do. Clearly, Yoda is the master. Luke realizes that his self-doubt is getting in the way of his success. It’s a perfect allegory for anyone developing skills and maturing into leadership.
That sense of holding back is the essence of influence. The person influencing never takes over, never actually takes action themselves unless they are demonstrating much greater power. They spend most of their time reminding people of the best in themselves. In that way, they inspire people to be their best. Usually one gesture from them is enough to motivate the hero to put away whole armies.
What Does It Do for You?
In an organization, influence is an invaluable tool. It gets you noticed for promotions, increases team productivity, helps you navigate cross-functional teams, and increases your impact. Like any great power, you must use it carefully and guard it fiercely for it to remain potent.
When you succeed in influencing your team, they feel like you have empowered them to be better. If you make the right suggestion, at the right time, to the right person, they work smarter and harder. Again, you need the technical skill to know what to suggest. Furthermore, you need the people skills to know exactly when and how to drop your suggestion. Additionally, you need the restraint to drop the hint clearly and avoid trying to force their hand or dictate their actions. You always leave the decision up to them.
When the people above you in an organization see you as trusted advisor, they will certainly take notice. Organizations are always looking for people who have the technical and people skills to improve results at scale. When those above you turn to you for advice and consultation, you greatly increase your chances of a promotion.
The Heart of Leadership
Influence is at the very heart of leadership. To lead, you need people who will follow you. When your advice helps everyone around you be better, they will want to follow you and your leadership presence will rise.
As for your peers, they are always on the lookout for who is rising, and who can help them be their best. If you build trusted relationships across the organization and help others improve their results, they will naturally look to you for advice. Instead of competing with you, they are more likely to support your growth and have your back as you rise up.
How Do You Get Influence?
Influence results from a combination of skills. Here are the skills you need to become a trusted advisor in your organization.
Technical Skills
Influence has to be grounded in excellent technical skills. So, the first thing to do is to make sure you know what works and what doesn’t in your field and your organization. Read, study, try things, and test things to make sure your way is working for other people as well.
Trust
Beyond technical skill, trust forms the foundation for every kind of influence. It is rooted, like all people skills, in emotional intelligence. To build trust from the ground up, you have to be authentically yourself and stay true to your values. If you have a tendency to get angry or confused or you sometimes don’t show up, your trust will be compromised and trust in your advice will wane.
Authenticity or Self-Regard
To be truly authentic and secure, you need self-regard, which is like confidence but bigger. It means accepting yourself fully for who you are–the good, the bad, and everything in between. For a few people, this kind of security is easy, but for most people, it takes some work. So if you want influence, start with working to influence yourself and increase your confidence.
Self-Awareness
Trust also requires self-awareness, the ability to know how you are being perceived. This is the secret to knowing the right time and the right words to influence someone. When you can tell when someone needs to talk and be heard, and when someone is ready to listen, you have built sufficent self-awareness to have greater influence.
People with self-awareness are incredible observers, aware of how the actions of others are playing to the wider circle around them. Additionally, people with self-awareness know when to take ownership and responsibility. They can apologize and move forward with confidence again quickly. They empower others to recover from their mistakes, too, by believing in them. In short, self-awareness is key for gaining influence.
Consider a Coach or Guide
It’s not easy to understand these subtle skills or see how they play out in a workplace unless you have some help. People who have mentors can learn up to 20% more than people who don’t because you need to learn certain skills from another person. You will make more progress faster if you get an assessment and find out how you score. The report will also give you tips for how to increase these emotional intelligence skills. I’ve seen people gain significant skills in both self-regard and self-awareness just six months.
Also: check out my case studies on self-regard and self-awareness to see how these skills increase influence for others.
So, if you want more influence, start building your skills from the ground up. Work every day to master these skills and pretty soon, you will find others turning to you more and more.
