Influencing: A Key Leadership Skill Everyone Can Develop

I’m delighted to feature this guest blog post from Ania Peczalska that I know you will enjoy.

You might consider leadership a skill you get when starting to supervise others. Nothing can be farther than the truth. We can all be leaders and you can start practicing leadership no matter your place in your organization.

Influencing is a leadership skill that can be done even at an entry level position. Influencing is motivating others to work towards desired goals or outcomes. For example, you can ask your boss or colleagues to help you or give extra time to work on a project to get more funding for your office.

True leaders know that influencing is more important than authority. You can ask a direct report to do a task. However, influencing creates buy-in from others and gets them more interested and involved in the project. The end results tend to be of higher quality as contributors put more thought and energy into the product. Influencing is also useful for women as we may be more collaborative and relationship oriented than male leaders.

How can you start working on developing your influencing skills? Before working on relationships with others think about your behavior and actions. People want to follow others they perceive as trustworthy and with integrity. Here are some suggestions to consider.

• Be a role model. A role model in the workplace includes the following characteristics:
• Be truthful and share accurate information. It is all right if you don’t know everything. You can say “that is a good question” and follow up with others as needed.
• Respect others. Respect is foundational for relationships. Treat everyone fairly and be a good listener. Gossiping about others is counterproductive and can often hurt you in the long run.
• Keeping your word. When you say you will deliver a project or get back to someone do it. Trust can be quickly reduced by being stood up by someone or not getting the information you need. If you cannot deliver results on time let others know the results will be late and the reason why.

After your self-reflection you can consider how to work with others. Think about using one or more of the following tips:

• Build relationships over time. Find ways to expand your network inside and outside the workplace before asking for help. Have coffee or find time to meet and chat with colleagues outside your immediate team. These relationships help you learn what is going on at your organization and can assist in future influencing.
• Give back and help others. Influencing is not a one-way street. To build your reputation and get help from others you need to help others first. Showing that you are a team player and able to help others allows you to further develop relationships and get more buy in.
• Utilize data to back up ideas. Data helps you pitch ideas and provide evidence why your ideas will help your workplace. Data that shows that clients like your idea or that the idea will generate revenue makes influencing much easier than simple anecdotal evidence. Collecting and reporting on data also assists in advocating for others, strategic thinking, and oral and written interpersonal communication. You can find more information in my article about how assessment helps with career advancement.

Overall, influencing is a two-way street. You should be a role model, build trust, and help others to get future buy-in from others. Influencing can be done in any position and benefits your career. Try one or more of these suggestions and see where they take you.

Ania Peczalska is the Director of Student Affairs Assessment, Research, and Planning at University of North Carolina Wilmington. She has been a leader in various roles since 2014 and enjoys encouraging others to lead and grow in their career. Ania has researched and published on leadership and is working on a book chapter on leadership in assessment. She has a Ph.D. in Higher Education and a Master of Library Science and Master of Arts in Folklore and Ethnomusicology, all from Indiana University. Ania additionally has a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Asian Studies from Saint Olaf College. You can find more information and contact Ania on her LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/aniapeczalska/.