Video Transcript (watch here): After over 15 years of working in the field of influence, helping a lot of people to become far more influential, it’s understandable that I come a little bit complacent about why it is worth doing, and why people should aspire to ever greater levels of influence.
This showed up in an interview recently when I was asked, “Colin, okay, so what are the big personal benefits that people can gain by becoming more influential?” After all, it does take time, energy, learning, investment to be able to become more influential.
So, is it worth it? And particularly for busy people. Here’s my response, the three big benefits that I believe people get when they become more influential.
Self-Determination
The first one is about a greater degree of self determination, self empowerment if you like. People who have very high levels of influence are able determine what’s going on around them, what’s happening to them, to a far greater extent.
If there is something in their environment that they’re not comfortable with, and they make a decision “I want to do something about it,” they have the capability, they have the toolkit, they have the experience and confidence to go and do something about it, without breaking sweat.
If something’s going on that they feel needs to change, needs to move in a different direction, or is affecting them at a personal level, they know what to do to actually start to resolve it.
People who are highly influential are a lot more in control of what is going on around them, what is happening to them, and where they’re going.
More Opportunities
If you’re out there being highly influential, that means you are very well networked. You have a great deal of understanding about what’s going on in the organisation. And the organisation knows you. The powerful people will know you.
This means more opportunities are going to come to you. You’re not going to have to go working so hard to find them, they’ll just be there. Not only will they be there, but you will be known as somebody who is probably going to be able to make a big contribution towards that opportunity.
“Would you like to come and work on my team?” “Would you like to come and do this new role?”
Being influential means you’re really well-connected, but it’s also a key requirement of just about every senior-level or middle-level job specification that there is on the planet at the moment. It’s usually in the top three, four, or five key requirements for the new hire to be extremely influential, to be able to manage those stakeholder relationships. To gain buy-in.
Particularly in large organisations that are spread around the world, you’ve got to be really, really good at influencing to get those opportunities, because that’s what it requires to be successful. It’s a highly prized skill to have, and it is well rewarded for those that are extremely influential.
Happiness
The third big personal benefit – and I think this is really important and not to be underestimated – you can get from high levels of influence is happiness, contentment.
Because you’ve got things under control, because you’re not having to work so hard to find new opportunities, you’re not worried about your job, your existence. You’ve got plenty of other irons in the fire. You’ve got all of those bases covered, therefore you can relax. You don’t get stressed. When you’ve got high levels of influence, if something’s not right, you can do something about it.
So, a lot of the stress disappears, even time stress. You can influence people to come and help you. You can influence the right levels of support. You can influence the deadlines so that you can craft a happy life. Be happy, be contented, and allow this to spread to others as well.
I think those are the three really big benefits that people can gain at a personal level. And of course, this is not to forget that you can be more productive, you can get a lot more results, you can achieve your goals, and all of that fine stuff. But for me, at a personal level, high levels of influence helps you to become very self-determined, in control of your environment. You’ll have a lot more opportunities that you can choose which to accept. And also be very happy and content.
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