Photo by Kampus Production
Every year Father’s Day reminds me of my dad’s impact on my leadership journey. Dad is my stepfather. He and Mom married when I was fourteen years old. I was happy Mom found someone to share her life with. I was not happy to add another authority figure to mine. But, Dad rarely told me what to do. His authority and effectiveness depended on his relationship with me. He was an influencer. He still is.
Being an influencer at work, even if you don’t have a formal leadership role, can significantly impact your team’s dynamics and the outcomes of your projects. Here are three ways you can become one.
Communicate
Taking a page from Dad’s playbook, accelerate your influence through active listening. For example, you notice your coworker, Rhonda, is struggling. Use 3P listening to help her.
- Ponder: Ask open-ended questions that prompt Rhonda to articulate her struggle.
- Posture: Make direct eye contact, uncross your arms and legs, and nod your head. These non-verbals are signals to Rhonda that you hear and understand.
- Point: Repeat back to Rhonda what you heard her say. You saying it out loud helps Rhonda put her thoughts in order. Finally, ask Rhonda if you heard her correctly. She now has new options to explore and you to thank for them.
When asked to be a resource, be generous in sharing your knowledge, skills, and experiences. You influence your team through effective communication to foster understanding, collaboration, and trust.
Build Relationships
Speaking of trust, business moves at the speed of trust. Being inclusive is good for you both professionally and personally.
- Recruit coworkers to your team who look, think, and act differently than you. In meetings, encourage everyone to contribute to the conversation. Recognize and appreciate them when they do. Provide teammates opportunities to showcase their abilities.
- Facilitate collaboration across departments. For example, would it be useful for your team to have an ask-me-anything meeting with someone from Compliance?
- When conflict arises, (notice I said when and not if) throw water on the fire instead of gasoline. For example, let’s say your team’s last three projects were precariously close to missing their deadlines. As diplomatically as possible, ask your teammates Rodney, Rhonda, Randy, and Ramona why. You discover problems like: Rhonda couldn’t create the PowerPoint for the client presentation until Rodney wrote the report. Rodney couldn’t write the report until Randy gave him the statistics. Randy couldn’t submit the statistics until Ramona pulled the data. This new information allows the team to adjust the flow so it works for everyone.
Your ability to handle adversity and maintain your composure influences your coworkers to cultivate a cooperative environment.
Change Agent
Exercise your emotional intelligence and lead by example. What behaviors do you want your coworkers to exhibit? Professionalism? Enthusiasm? Follow up? Do you exhibit those qualities? Influencers are dedicated, honest, and optimistic. If you show up and convey these qualities every day, you inspire others to follow suit. For example, at the end of each project, do you have a follow-up meeting for continuous improvement? Do you ask your team, what went well? What didn’t? What do we wish we would’ve done instead? How can we do that instead-thing next time? Offering to streamline processes, suggesting innovative ideas, or encouraging low-risk experiments influence your team to confidently present their ideas to the group.
Leadership is not exclusive to designated positions within your organization. If you influence people, they will follow you. If people follow you, you are a leader regardless of your title.
What do you do to positively influence your work team? Please share in the comments.