Leadership Essentials: Building Your Influence as a Leader

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Overview/Description

 

Why is it so hard to get people to agree to a good idea? Why are some leaders constantly faced with challenges and objections? Reaching agreement as a leader does not mean you should manipulate or force people to accept your ideas and accomplish your objectives; there are ethical ways for leaders to successfully build influence. Leaders attempting to influence and persuade others are faced with the challenges of navigating through organizational politics. An effective leader recognizes that organizational politics can provide positive ways to influence others in order to accomplish goals. In this course, you will be guided through numerous methods and strategies for effectively influencing a team to accept your ideas. You'll be introduced to the importance of political awareness and the essential skills involved in using positive politics and avoiding negative politics when persuading others. You'll also have an opportunity to practice methods for influencing effectively and ethically.

 

 

Lesson Objectives:

 

Personal and Political Influence

 

• recognize and classify examples of techniques for influencing people
• recognize actions that use politics to influence others in a positive way
• use influence techniques to persuade others while avoiding the negative use of politics, in a given scenario

The Process of Influencing Others Purpose: Use this job aid to guide you through the process of preparing and making a persuasive case to influence stakeholders.

 

 

 

Follow these four steps when persuading stakeholders using your influence and political power.

 

Step 1: Prepare your case

• Clarify your purpose, position, and objective.
• Identify stakeholders.
• Anticipate potential points of resistance for each stakeholder.

Step 2: Ask for what you want

• Define what you want.
• Create a unifying goal or objective.

Step 3: Make your case

•  Customizing the message
• Identify stakeholders' interests.
• Use the "what's in it for them" technique to customize your message.
• Choose the right media and format to package the message in a way that appeals to the stakeholder.  
• Using questions 
• Use open-ended questions to elicit information. 
• Use closed-ended questions to focus discussions or obtain agreement.
• Acknowledging opposing perspectives and then moving on 
• Acknowledge the truth in the opposing perspective. 
• Move on by offering an alternative way to think about your perspective. 
• Using logic and evidence 
• Use logic to support your position. 
• Provide evidence to support your position. 
• Providing options that people can agree to without compromising their position or dignity 
• Determine what the stakeholder can agree to and offer a solution.

Step 4: Ask for commitment and finalize

•  Assess readiness and ask for commitment when appropriate. 
• If not ready, ask what you can do to get commitment and continue to make your case. 
• If ready, ask for commitment.