Today’s organizations are increasing characterized by cross functional teams or a matrix structure. In this environment, leaders can rarely achieve their goals by relying on the individuals that are part of their own reporting group. In nearly every case, a leader’s ability to do their job and deliver on the promises they make is dependent on the cooperation of individuals that they have no authority over. Not to mention the fact that often we need to collaborate with vendors and partners outside the company we work for.
In fact, your formal title and the authority that comes with it will only take you so far in today’s workplace. Without question the most relevant skill to address this challenge is the skill of Influence.
At The Oxley Group define we define the amount of influence you have as the inverse of the amount of positional power required to get anything done. The challenge for most leaders is that it is very hard to assess the amount of influence you have with another person. That is at least unless you know how.
Warning Signs
Here are a few warning signs that perhaps the your ‘influence’ muscle could use some work:
You find your work is sometimes stalled because of your reliance on the response from individuals that do not report to you.
It is hard to get people to return calls and emails.
You are not invited to meetings where you perceive your input would have been helpful, or your would have desired your input to be heard.
People rarely ask for your input.
You rarely receive candid negative feedback – even when it is solicited.
Even the most capable leader needs to constantly monitor their current level of influence if they want to ensure maximum contribution and effectiveness.
The Influence Audit
In order to assess the amount of influence you have with the individuals that are critical to your success, perform the following audit:
List the individuals that have the most impact on your ability to get work completed.
Assign a score from ‘0’ to ’10’ to each contact based on how critical they are to your success.
Assign a score from ‘0’ to ’10’ to each contact based on how much value they provide to you. Value includes support, timeliness, and accessibility. Do not assess your perception of their ‘skill’ as part of this equation.
Now take each individual and assign a score from ‘0’ to ’10’ based on how much value you provide to them.
As you look at the scores you may see some immediate areas you need to address. Here are a few Challenges you may recognize in your scores:
Challenge #1: You have individuals that are critical to your success (question #2) however you rated them low on value they provide (question #3)
This a red flag that you may have an issue with Influence with these individuals. Consider how you can build your influence through the value you provide to them. Is the only time they hear from you when you need something? What skill do you have, or that you could develop, that you could proactively utilize to provide value to them. Have you spent time getting to know them as a person? Do you know what is important to them?
If you rated their value low and you suspect that they lack the skill for what you are asked them to do, that is a perfect opportunity to build influence by assisting them develop that skill. Remember that they may not be particularly trusting of you at first, and you may have to spend some time building trust before they feel able to open up about the challenges they are facing.
Challenge #2: You have individuals that are critical to your success and provide great value (question 2 & 3), however you rated the value you provide low (question #4)
The good news here is that you do not have a short term problem. The bad news is that you have a long term problem: this type situation is not sustainable. If you do not address this imbalance, you will eventually find that not only will your current relationships suffer, you will gain a reputation as a person that is a ‘user’. While I have never met a leader that feels they fit this term, I know of many leaders that other people would describe this way. The solution is simple: How can you start to provide value to others? Consider projects that are outside of your formal role that you do not have to be involved in. In this way your peers will start to view you as a contributor to the success of others, even when there is not a direct benefit to you.
At some point in very leader’s career there comes a point when your success will be less dependent on your personal skill and ability than it will be on the relationships that you have created that allow you to play at a higher level.
