Improving your leadership with Powerful Influencing Skills

One of the key competencies of great leadership is influence. Having powerful influencing skills is crucial many aspects of our lives.

Powerful influencing skill is defined as wielding effective tactics for persuasion. It should not, however, be confused with manipulation. Manipulation, by definition, is using other people to your advantage alone. Influence, on the other hand, is about motivating people to achieve a common goal.

To help you hone your influencing skill, here are some tips for you to develop this competency and to help you take your leadership skills to the next level:

Develop a culture of trust.

Influence is based on trust. If you don’t have trust, none of your actions and words, no matter how great they are, will be accepted by your team. The higher the level of trust you have with your people, the stronger your influence will be. Therefore, it is really important to develop a culture of trust in your organisation.

Lead by example.

This is the most effective way to influence the people around you. People always follow a leader who walks the talk. Become a role model to your people by being on time, performing your tasks with great quality, and treating other people with respect and equality. By doing these, you can establish good credibility and be able to influence your team to do better, just like what you’re doing.

Build a connection. 

An organisation is nothing without its people. Keep in mind that you cannot do everything by yourself. If you want to influence your people, get them involved. Keep an open communication with them by creating a space where they can openly share their ideas to you or the things that are hindering them from performing better.

 Listen to them. Acknowledge what they have in mind and you will be surprised at how many ideas they have in order to improve your organisation. Once they see that you’re listening to them and value their thoughts, they will be strongly influenced by you.

Be open to reciprocity

In order to influence, you should also welcome influence. Look at the people around you, listen to their ideas, and observe their skills and knowledge. When you do this, they can also influence you to do better.

Influence is a powerful competency that a person or a leader should have. Misuse of this power could lead to the downfall of the organisation. Develop powerful influencing skills and influence others to become effective members of the team especially in this time of COVID-19 wherein great leadership is severely needed.

At People Builders we have a team of expert trainers and coaches who can help you and your team develop Powerful Influencing Skills. Contact us today for a quick chat to see how we can partner with you to train and coach you and your team.