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Leadership Involves Influence

johnquincyadamsLeadership_If youractions

Influence is the indispensable, fundamental ingredient required for leadership to occur. Without influence, leadership could not exist (Northouse, 2013). Webster’s Dictionary defines influence as, ‘the power to change or affect someone (or something) in an important way without using force’.

According to Hughes and Beatty (2005), leaders use influence   to:

  • Get people on the same page regarding goals
  • To win people’s commitment to an effort, not just their compliance
  • Prioritize the way resources (staff, talent, time, money, materials, etc.) are used and invested
  • Share insights and observations that will enhance the quality of interactions and increase the probability of achieving desired results

Bacon (2012) states that positive effects of influencing are compliance, commitment or leadership. Compliance is usually a result of success in logical persuading, legitimizing or offering exchanges or incentives, while commitment is typically garnered through socialization of a matter, using power of relationships, building alliances or consulting.

Leadership, cited as the height of positive influence outcomes, results in others carrying out the influencers’ aims – achieving feats well beyond what an individual influencer could accomplish alone. To achieve this, influencers appeal to individual, team or organizational values or establish themselves as the models for the behaviors they want to see in others (Bacon, 2012).

As leaders who want to influence effectively, we must confidently live and act according to reasoned, well-informed, strong  values and be the examples, and models for the actions we want to see in others. The most effective place to lead is from the front!

References:

Bacon, T. (2012). Elements of Influence: The Art of Getting Others To Follow Your Lead. New York: American Management Association.

Hughes, R. L. & Beatty, K. C. (2005). Becoming a Strategic Leader: Your Role In Your Organization’s Enduring Success. San Francisco, CA:   Jossey-Bass.

Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, Inc.