Leaders that Influence!
That’s something that everyone wants. For ourselves. For our teams and the leaders in our organization.
Skilled influencers can open doors, get support for new ideas, and network to find solutions. Sometimes it seems like they have a magic wand and get whatever they want!
How important is the ability to be a strong influencer?
In early 2022 Forbes published that ‘business leaders across the globe will need to showcase their ability to be adaptable, agile, innovative, collaborative and customer-centric if they want to be successful.” (May 2022)
#Influence is one of the skills that’s required to hit those abilities mentioned. And, it’s influencing in new ways post pandemic.
The central underpinning of all of these successful behaviors is….being good at #change. Adaptable, innovative, collaborative, agile are all about change.
So, to be good at change you need to be good at influencing as discussed in a recent LinkedIn post.
According to that same Forbes article, there’s a global shortage of talent who have a proven ability to lead change, with demonstrated ability to be adaptable, agile and innovative.
Hiring for it will be a long and expensive process. As a leader, it’s about investing in the #development of your talent to be better at influencing.
Do I need a Degree in People?
You might be a leader who feels your team needs to up their ability to influence but you also have a team of deep experts. Those in a #STEM field.
Experts are wonderful in their vertical, or area of expertise. As a leader cultivating and nurturing that depth of expertise is critical to your business success.
Influencing skills for these deep vertical experts can be frustrating. It feels like just another thing.
More importantly, one they weren’t trained for. And something they aren’t good at. For experts, it’s hard to not be good at something.
The development conversation that ensues is often too ambiguous for either person to feel like there’s a clear path forward. As much as we all like challenges, business is more efficient if we are clear on where we’re going.
I recently spoke at the Business Development and Management division of the Americal Chemical Society on how to have greater impact.
Here are some simple strategies to get started. A comprehensive approach is best if you are interested in making a big impact with your team in a focused period of time. These are ways to get moving now!
Influencing starts with a relationship.
A real genuine relationship is the place to start.
Not one that is short term and only for the purposes of the project at hand and then forgotten.
Not like in high school when someone is only my friend because I have a car. Once the car goes away, so does the friend.
Leaders who take the time to listen and care are key.
Connection and belonging are some of the top needs in today’s workplace. It’s often the difference between whether people stay or leave.
Experts will need time to spend away from their labs, computer, equipment, or flow charts in order to work on building strong influencing skills.
Instead of providing ‘days of play’, encourage and model something similar to ‘coffee with colleagues’, ‘network at work’, or start meetings with ‘get to know you questions’.
Use these opportunities to call out connections between your team or members of your team with others.
A shift of approach can make all the difference in impact.
The saying ‘Proudly Borrowed!” is one of my favorites.
Everyone is your customer – a best practice borrowed from the customer service industry.
A team of technical experts is probably not well versed in customer service or sales. They are really good at their industry expertise and are expected to share that expertise.
Ask that group to make the shift in perspective and begin to think of everyone as their customer.
Every single person they interact with.
The conversation moves from “I’m the expert and let me share my expertise with you’ to ‘that person is my customer in some way, how should we interact’.
I used to tell my team that everyone was their customer. They were an R&D team of industry experts, not customer service or sales. But that slight shift of approach made all the difference.
The relationship was at the forefront and how the interaction was led.
Ask your team to try this perspective shift out for a month. Reinforce it in your conversations with them.
Their influence and #impact will grow!
Work to L.E.A.R.N.
Projects that create #change in the organization are great opportunities to elevate your team’s influence skills. It gives them something to work on that directly connects to their goals.
All too often a project implementation follows these lines.
Change initiative is prioritized and the timeline is created. It’s aggressive given the priority.
When the project is pushed through, there are a lot of problems. People in the organization feel as though they expected to do something they aren’t prepared for, not trained.
Turmoil runs within the company and extends to what the customer or client is experiencing.
If any of this sounds familiar, one of the techniques you can use to shift the team’s perspective follows the LEARN acronym.
L = Listen to where the other person is coming from and their perspective. How they do their work best.
E = Empathize with what their experiencing.
A = Authentic conversations. Non-scripted with a programmed answer for everyone. It’s not complicated, just be human.
R = React if you can. Take a follow up. And follow through on it. Raise the issue if it needs to be.
N = Nurture the relationship with this person. Check back with them. Identify collaboration opportunities for future projects.
Leaders that influence well have unlimited potential.
Network in their Node
The concept of an ecosystem illustrates that different nodes are interconnected though distinctly separate bridges or points.
Each of us represents a ‘Node’ that includes our connections, friends, social circles, and business relationships.
A next level influence technique is to understand the person or group you’d like to influence and then network in their node.
Learn about their interests.
What conferences or meetings to they attend? What factors are important for success in their part of the world?
Read about the topics in this space.
Connect with or follow the experts with key ideas. Does it make sense to #collaborate directly?
Honestly, it’s the same path that deep vertical experts use when learning a new ‘technical area’. The new science, engineering, theory, best practices.
Those well-honed ‘expert’ skills can be applied towards obtaining the best people influencing skills.
Where's the WHY?
Too often details are the only element that gets focus in business and on projects. The devils in the details and it’s important to have an eye on them. What gets measured get’s done!
Organizations often get consumed with What’s going to happen and When it’s going to happen.
Schedules, processes and logistics are critical to move a timeline along and get your products and services into the hands that need them.
So many..
Details.
Specifics.
Numbers.
To keep track of and coordinate.
It’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture….The Why.
The purpose for doing all this stuff and tracking all the details.
The benefit and impact the product or service is having.
Reframing your conversations and #communication strategies to always include and be grounded in the Why is like pushing the Easy Button.
Start with something as simple as adding it to the top of every meeting agenda or on the footer of every slide.
It crystalizes and clarifies.
It aligns teams and cross functional groups.
It's the ultimate influencer!
Whether you focus on one of these strategies to move you and your team forward or set the intention to get your team influencing at a whole new level, a reframe may be all that’s needed.
Start with Relationship.
Everyone is a Customer.
Work to L.E.A.R.N.
Network in their Node.
Align with WHY in communication.
Connect your teams development objectives of increasing their influence to their business goals.
Interested in furthering the discussion on ways to increase the influencing skills of your team Let’s connect
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