Building commitment and getting results​
Contributed by Center for Creative Leadership

Influencing: The skill of persuasion

Influencing others down, up, and across in the organization is a critical leadership skill at all levels of the organization. By convincing or persuading others, a leader can create direction, alignment, and commitment and make his or her vision or ideas happen.

Effective leaders leverage the informal or formal powers they have. They combine a variety of tactics (logical, emotional, and cooperative appeals). And they have political savvy, create visibility, build and maintain personal trustworthiness, leverage networks, communicate clearly, and motivate others.

Three influencing tactics: The Head, The Heart, The Hands
Leaders use influence to implement decisions and to gain support for ideas and their vision. There are different ways that a leader can influence the behaviors and opinions of others: through facts and logic, through appeals to values and beliefs, or through support of them.

1. Logical influencing tactics (the Head) address people in a rational or intellectual way. Arguments and information such as facts and figures are brought forward in the best interest of the organization, the team, or the person.

2. Emotional influencing tactics (the Heart) connect the communication or decision to a person’s feelings of well-being or sense of belonging. The leader appeals to attitudes, values, a common purpose, ideals, and beliefs through inspiration or enthusiasm.

3. Cooperative influencing tactics (the Hands) involve seeking advice and offering assistance. The leader reinforces the connection that he or she has with the others. Collaborating to accomplish a mutually important goal extends a hand to others.

Each person has a preference for how he or she would like to be influenced. Selecting the best influence tactic is important to achieve the desired outcome with a person or group. Effective leaders understand the way others want to be influenced and apply the right tactics to build alignment and commitment. Leaders who combine the three tactics are likely to be evaluated as better performers.

Six essential influencing skills
Effectively engaging the Head, the Heart, and the Hands across the many people and situations that a leader encounters requires using a diverse set of skills. To shape direction, alignment, and commitment through interactions with others, leaders must be skilled in six areas:

1. Understanding and navigating organizational politics
Organizations have formal and informal structures. Understanding and effectively navigating through complex political situations require political insight. Leaders adjust to the reality of corporate politics and are sensitive to how the organization functions.

2. Creating visibility
To create new opportunities, effective leaders stand out and get noticed by others while staying authentic. They are careful to allow their team members to shine while not over- promoting themselves.

3. Building and maintaining personal trustworthiness
Leaders ask others to take risks along with them. Therefore people must believe in the leader and his or her leadership. Leaders must show integrity and be widely trusted.

4. Leveraging networks
Forming and nurturing a network of relationships is invaluable in today’s interconnected world. Networking allows leaders to generate new experiences and to tap into the skills and vision of others.

5. Clear communication
Writing and speaking clearly and briefly and applying a variety of communication styles helps leaders to get the message across and to ensure the right impact.
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6. Motivating others
By motivating others leaders create a climate in which people become engaged and empowered. Leaders understand the needs, styles, and motivators of others. People will like working with and for those leaders and will be more receptive to their influencing.