At the beginning of this series of articles, I set out to provoke your thinking and stretch your action towards becoming a more influential leader. My final act in this episode of your learning and development is to share with you some personal thoughts about what I believe it takes to become exceptional.
The previous article (Are You an Influential Leader?) outlined the make-up of someone who I believe to be good. Now, in closing, I’m going to raise the bar. I hope you will too.
In my opinion, to be an exceptional influential leader, you should make sure that you adhere to each of these sixstandards:
- Become an intelligence gatherer. The more you can learn about the world around you, and the people and their agendas, the better you will fare. Even small details can prove invaluable, so make sure to collect it all and store it away.
- Make objective assessments and give emotive responses. Become a cool-headed analyst who can calmly put the pieces together, recognise gaps and spot patterns. Although intelligent guesswork is often necessary, clear facts are much better. Once you have made a decision, unleash your passion in the pursuit of your objective. People will be moved more by your emotion than your analysis.
- Commitment and consensus are always preferred, but sometimes, compliance is expedient. While you can aim to get everyone on-board, actually achieving 100% is unrealistic, especially in large and complex organisations. Influencing people to be willing to do what you need them to do is sufficient, although wanting to do it gains maximum marks.
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- Get others to do the influencing for you. You are busy and, therefore, the more you can enlist the help of others the better you will do. This magnifies your influence and allows you to attend to the most-critical influencing work. Others shouting on your behalf is often much more effective too.
- Don’t rely too much on your own thinking. Be sure to get others involved in assessing the intelligence, data and insights. This will minimise your blind spots and help others get more involved too. Then make sure they join you in the decision-making. You may well take the final decision, but their involvement will increase commitment and also, protect you from falling foul of your biased way of thinking.
- Have fun and enjoy the journey. If you cannot find a way to enjoy being a strategic influencer (including when things are not going your way) then you may as well stop right now. Find something else to do. Learning to relish and thrive in the pursuit of influence will help you do it even more effectively and get even bigger results.
A final point which I consider to be desirable rather than essential is to attend carefully to the ethical side of influence. You can influence a great deal (strategically) under the maxim of the ends justify the means. However, just because you can influence, doesn’t mean you should.
My own value set raises this from desirable to essential, for me. I need to be content that what I have done has helped without harm. As a result of diligently applying what has been covered within this series, I also hope you have learned that pursuing a high-integrity influencing approach will get you even greater results that you can feel truly proud of.
The Gautrey Influence Blog
Ever felt overlooked, unheard, or stuck in office politics? You’re not alone. The Gautrey Influence Blog breaks down the real-world strategies behind leadership, influence, and power—giving you the tools to be heard, respected, and successful. Join 35,000+ professionals getting ahead the smart way—subscribe now..
💡 Benchmark your Influence: Take the Master of Influence Assessment (Free for Subscribers!)
👉 [Subscribe & Take the Assessment]