How to grow your personal influence
Hi everyone,
Before I get into this week’s advice on building your personal influence, I have something interesting to mention.
I’ve really enjoyed writing these newsletters on career growth and success over the last few months and it’s made me think about how I can take it further.
After some thought, I’m considering starting a podcast and creating a space for discussion on how we can succeed in the workplace.
If that’s something that might be useful to you, could you fill this short survey for me to understand how I can help you better?
I will keep you updated over the next few weeks, thank you.
A couple of months ago, someone reached out to me on Linkedin, recounting a leadership challenge that she was facing and asked for my advice. In a nutshell, she was struggling to align her team members with the vision of the management team. The issue was compounded by the fact that all her team members have been in the company longer than she has and, presumably, older than her.
As I shared my views with her, it set me thinking as well. I have gone through similar experiences in the early part of my career. One of the best leadership advice I have ever got was this, “you are only as good as the team that you lead”. To put it simply, as a leader, you succeed only when your team succeeds. You can read more here.
This mindset has formed the basis of the way I have gone about my leadership role. For me to succeed, the team had to succeed as well. Its a win-win for both of us. To achieve that, I needed to get the team aligned with my thoughts and deliver results. This was easier said than done, though. But I managed to figure out how to go about it.
This is where building up personal influence and credibility comes in. With personal influence, people will collaborate with you and listen to you, no matter what your title or grade is. People will do things for you because of how you carry yourself and what you stand for as a person. You can use it effectively to influence others to produce greater work and achieve the organisation’s objectives.
But what does “influencing others” really entail? How can one person have influence on others? My experience has been that you can influence others through your own behaviour to achieve their best without having to resort to control, threat or fear.
Here are 3 things that will work for you:
Proactively act and solve problems for the company, for your team members and your peers. Through your actions, send a strong signal that you are willing to support anyone in the company to achieve the overall company’s goals. You will come across as someone who doesn’t work in silos and has the larger picture in focus.
Keep identifying opportunities that will help your team to become better and smarter. Suggest specific changes that could be positive for employees, customers or partners. When employees see that you are genuine about improving things and it isn’t about you, they will warm up to you.
Be seen as doer and manage your team by walking around. If you say you will do something, do it. If you see something that has to get done, make it happen today. People will see that you are leading from the front and not just giving instructions over emails from your office. This will increase their respect for you and your personal influence will grow.
Final thoughts
When you exhibit certain behaviours, people will construe and interpret those behaviours. These interpretations influence their own thoughts, feelings and behaviours. When your team sees you walk the talk, they will follow you and your personal influence will grow.
That’s all from me today, If you found this useful, do consider sharing it with others who might need to hear this too.
About me
My name is Jayaraj, I am a C-level business leader with over 30 years of experience in the aviation business. I am very passionate about teaching and guiding young executives to grow in their careers by sharing with them unique and practical insights. Whilst education and training is essential, I believe that sharing my life experiences will help middle management successfully transition into top management.