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5 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
The hard part isn’t doing the work, it’s getting buy-in from others.
To do well at work, you need people on your side. People who trust you, listen to your ideas, value your experience and those who want to help you succeed.
Anyone can come up with a great idea, a better solution or different choices to make an optimal decision. The hard part isn’t doing the work, it’s getting buy-in from others.
If you can’t sway people in your direction, if you can’t persuade them to see it your way, all the time and effort you have put into something can go to waste. Not getting the alignment you seek can also leave you feeling frustrated, angry and annoyed because once your mind is stuck on a certain possibility, it’s hard to erase it and let it go.
Why don’t they get me?
Why won’t they listen to me?
Why would they choose an inferior option?
The ability to influence others is an essential skill to practice and master because the impact you create at work is directly tied to it. Influence not only increases your impact by enabling you to get more done, getting others to support your initiatives and adopt your ideas can build the confidence to try unconventional methods, explore unique possibilities and challenge the status quo.
Influence also plays a key role in resolving conflicts, handling negotiations and inspiring others to take action. De-escalating tension, creating win/win situations and uplifting others by encouraging them to take ownership of their responsibilities are highly valued skills that can draw attention from higher-ups and make you stand out at work.
“Persuasion skills exert a far greater influence over others’ behaviors than formal power structure do.”
— Robert B. Cialdini
Build your own path to influence using these 5 practices:
State your intentions
When you don’t state your intentions explicitly, others are bound to create a story around it — that’s just how the human mind works.
“Intentions are…
