When You Lack Control, Use Influence

There are many ways to get your team to do things. The type of power you use to get results is all-important. But we rarely think about it.

Some types of power are more sustainable than others, so be careful to wield your leadership power deliberately, not just let it flow subconsciously, based on your mood of the day

The accepted wisdom on power dynamics identifies 5 primary types of power (and this is courtesy of research by French and Raven, which is older than me…)

1. Reward power motivates most people, and it’s a normal part of any work environment.
2. Coercive power can achieve short-term results, but if you force people to do something they don’t want to, they’ll resent you for it (and they’ll usually find a way to get even with you, even though you’ll never know how and when they’ve done it).
3. Expert power is grounded in your technical competence and knowledge — you have to be careful wielding this type of power as a leader. You’re not the expert–you lead experts!
4. Legitimate power is founded in the authority of your position… it’s always there in the background, and that’s where it’s best left.
5. And then, there’s Referent power — the power of influence that rallies people around you… they do what you want them to do because it makes sense, they see the value, and they’re motivated to perform

Many leaders are quite one-dimensional in their use of power, because they simply use the type that most suits their personality, and that they feel most comfortable with.

For example, a leader with decades of deep experience as a legal practitioner who has never let go of the detail might end up relying mainly on her expert power – and disabling her team in the process.

Or a conflict averse leader may rely too much on his reward power, trying to bribe and placate his team to do what he wants… this is often punctuated by brief bursts of legitimate power, when he has to wave the “boss card” to get something important delivered.

How you use power is foundational. Once you’re aware of that, If you’re really committed to learning how to wield greater influence, there are a few prerequisites that you should probably check off.

These are valuable in any relationship, but especially when we talk about the collaborative nature of influencing the people you don’t control, but are nonetheless critical to your success. Here are 5 essential action you need to take, if you want to build the foundations of influence:

1. Build trust. Trust is essential for any relationship and, without it, you have absolutely no chance that one of your peers will risk their own KPIs to help you deliver yours. Establishing trust and reciprocity in the relationship is vital.
2. Work out what drives them. What are the most important, pressing, urgent and difficult things that occupy their time, and how are they motivated to deal with them? If you know that, every conversation will have a feel of “we”, not “me”.
3. Plan resources for their involvement. Don’t expect someone to drop everything, or expand their work program just because you need them to do something for you. Find a way to help them resource the work, so that it’s no additional impost on their team. There’s no substitute for good planning, up front.
4. Check strategic alignment. If you’re deeply knowledgeable of the company’s strategic objectives, and how it maximizes value for its stakeholders, you will be able to guide any conversations towards the greater good. If not, it’s likely to become a zero-sum game of trading deliverables.
5. Gain their personal commitment. Always ask people to commit, verbally, to any agreements they make with you. If they look you in the eye and tell you they’re going to do something, it’s much more likely that they will!