On asking if they have ever had influence on someone, a student of mine said –“in hisprevious job he had an influence on one of his team members. He saw that they were shy, and struggled to express their ideas in team meetings. At the same time, following them in work, he realized they were brilliant and had a huge potential in marketing. For some reason, however, they struggled to sell their skills, and stagnated in their career. He decided to do something about it. Anytime he had a chance, he praised them for the good work. He purposely asked them to talk in front of the team. Little by little, they gained more confidence and eventually managed to show their skills in the meetings with the other managers, and were promoted to the position of a creative director in the company.”

Leading by influence is a management style that involves impacting the opinions, attitudes, choices and behaviours of your team members. Influencing others in a positive way focuses on empowering, developing and serving the people who work for you. Helping employees achieve their goals and bringing out the best in them are hallmarks of an influential leader.

Being able to convince people through logical, emotional, or cooperative appeals is a component of being an inspiring, effective leader. Influence is quite different from manipulation, and it needs to be done authentically and transparently. It requires emotional intelligence and trust-building.

The Best Leaders have theseKey Influencing Skills –

1. Organizational Intelligence: They understand how to get things done and embrace the reality of working within organizational politics to move teams and important initiatives forward.
2. Team Promotion: Leaders cut through the noise to authentically and credibly promote themselves — while also promoting what’s good for the entire organization.
3. Trust: Because leadership often involves guiding people through risk and change, trust is essential.
4. Leveraging Networks: No leader is an island. They are empowered by their connections with others.
5. Balance Autonomy & Authority:Autonomy encourages your team to work individually and as a group and to be creative which can be highly motivating and encouraging.
6. Know Your Team:Spend some time getting to know the people who work for you. It may make it easier for them to understand and agree with your vision as a leader.

Influence is a subtle yet incredibly powerful tool. Although you can demand of someone to carry out a task, you cannot order them to deliver their best work. But when you have truly become an influential leader, you will often find that not only do employees routinely give you their best work, they will offer it up without you even needing to ask.