There are four patterns among the exemplary people who succeed in position of influence. There was a strong positive correlation found between the individual being exemplary and excellent at all four patterns and being successful at influencing. These four capabilities can be acquired through hard work, that anyone who wants to have greater influence can learn.
Context: These individuals are remarkably astute at reading the environment around them. As the saying goes, they knew their audience deeply. They were eager to learn about the people and settings in which they wated to have influence so that they could adapt themselves and their ideas accordingly. The unsuccessful leaders started by assuming that they already had an answer or idea that everyone else needed, but the successful leader started by first learning about the world that they wanted to have an impact in. To learn to read context well you need to cultivate curiosity, they put themselves in unfamiliar environments where they had to learn. To be influential with context start by learning about those who you want to influence. Their strengths, weaknesses, environments they are most productive in, etc.
Breadth: This is when leaders have the capacity to see how all the pieces and parts of their organisations fit together. They knew that those they wanted to influence fit into a bigger story and that it is common for people in organisations to be fragmented from one another. Unsuccessful leaders ignore this fragmentation and target their influence exclusively on one group at the expense of others and sometimes made the division worse. But the successful leaders knew that they had to build coalition among those that were disconnected from each other. Breadth is learned by cultivating the ability to build bridges between people.
Choice: This is having the courage to make hard decisions even if it means disappointing people. It is being aware that sometimes you must focus people on just a few things for them to have lasting impact. The unsuccessful leaders focus more on pleasing people, so they said yes too often which led to confusion. The best leaders know when, who and how to include people in their decisions. Choice means narrowing down your focus on a few things so that you can do them with excellence. You learn how to make good choices by cultivating courage.
Connection: Leaders who thrive are people that everyone wanted to be around. They were respected, had deep trusting relationship and they were genuinely perceived as wanting to help others succeed. The unsuccessful leaders focused on connections with those from whom they wanted something. Their relationships were more political than they were genuine. Successful leaders focused on developing relationships with those who relied on them. This is a capability that is learned through cultivating empathy. They genuinely wanted to see others succeed and asked for feedback on how they can improve in those relationships.
Before listening to the TEDx Talk I understood being influential as having positive characteristics, such as a hard work ethic, which your colleagues could notice within you which they want in a good team member. Through them noticing these positive characteristics in you they would be more willing to cooperate and collaborate with you to ensure that project objectives are successfully met. After this TEDx Talk I realised that influence is a delicate balance between what people care about and understanding your team members and having good decision-making skills.
Link to TEDx Talk by Ron Carucci, The Secret To Having Influence
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