My philosophy on leadership is that everyone has the ability to lead. If you do not believe it, at the next social event consider talking negatively or positively about something with your group of friends. Your influence may have changed the entire tone of the party.
We talk about competencies, performance appraisals and high potentials, yet sometimes this makes leadership more complicated than necessary. Our day is filled with influences ranging from social media, television, movies and our boss.
Here are a few thoughts from Twitter on how to positively influence people:
Influence Starts With Knowing Yourself
I loved Stan Slap’s recent Tweet – A leader must know who they are first to have the greatest impact on others. You have been around leaders that are devoid of heart, life, business acumen and competence. They are able to speak corporate-ese at will, but have little ability to truly connect with others.
What is your cause? What gets you up in the morning? And what do you stand for?
What first separates a leader from a normal human being? A leader knows who they are as a human being.
— StanSlap (@stanslap) July 11, 2015
Influence By Building Trust
A leader’s job is to create connectedness and to help individuals feel a part of the tribe. Trust is strengthened through vulnerability. Trust is strengthened through strong communication. Trust is built by doing what you said you would do.
Trust is enhanced on teams when members become vulnerable with each other
— Chris Bittinger (@c_bittinger) August 19, 2015
Influence By Avoiding Micromanagement
Additionally, a leader hinders their positive influence when they micromanage. A micromanager is the antithesis of a positive influencer. Influence your team by empowering them to success by asking the question – “What is important to you?”
I am not micromanaging you. I am simply removing your burden of having a free will. There's a difference.
— Ted Goff (@bizcartoons) August 28, 2015
Influence Through Generosity
I think generosity is infectious. Just the other day, I was with a capital campaign cabinet full of givers. We were preparing to launch a massive fund-raising effort. The influence of collective generosity caused me to want to give more of my time, talent and treasure.
Adam Grant posted this Tweet that the key to being healthy is being generous with others. Influence your team by being generous with them.
A simple way to be healthy: be generous. http://t.co/GJ1rdIkP7x
— Adam Grant (@AdamMGrant) August 26, 2015
Influence by Pushing Past Comfort
You have probably seen the concentric circles of growth. Growth starts with the inner circle called the comfort zone. Here you influence by doing what you know how to do and it creates regularly repeated or predictable results.
The next circle is the growth zone. It is here where you take risks and the outcomes are not as predictable. If you want to see your team grow, then model taking risks and pushing past comfort.
“I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow.” – Marissa Mayer pic.twitter.com/X0aS5JvskI
— INSEAD Knowledge (@INSEADKnowledge) July 1, 2015
Influence By Focusing On Your Essential
Greg McKeown has become one of my favorite authors. In his book “Essentialism”, he shares the belief that humans are focusing on too many things and this dilutes our ability to impact others. Instead, McKeown suggests that we focus on the essential items in our lives that generate enthusiasm, focus and match up with our skills to generate exceptional outcomes.
What are your essentials? What do you need to say ‘No’ to?
While we may not always have control over our options, we ALWAYS have control over how we choose among them. #Essentialism
— Greg McKeown (@GregoryMcKeown) August 29, 2015
You have the opportunity to influence in a meaningful way. Everyone of us can influence because we interact with people every day. The choice is yours, hopefully one of these ideas for positive influence resonates with you.