Which is a more effective leadership strategy: influence or control?
As business leaders, we can control our teams through fear, threats and constant criticism. However, this will only work for so long. Plus, you may win your team’s compliance, but not their hearts. To win their hearts, you must use influence instead.
Why is winning hearts so important? Because it creates a more sustainable, positive and high-performing culture.
Influence Drives Real Growth
Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of winning hearts (using influence) rather than relying on control:
- It earns trust. People follow leaders they respect, not those they fear.
- It motivates from within. When you influence someone, you’re appealing to their values and purpose, which (hopefully) leads to their buy-in. You can’t do this by giving commands.
- It empowers ownership. Employees who are influenced rather than controlled feel more engaged and motivated to do well.
- It attracts talent. Great people want to work for leaders who inspire, not dictate. Influence helps you build a loyal, motivated team.
- It fosters innovation. Control stifles risk-taking. Influence creates space for creative thinking and collaboration.
Control might win short-term obedience, but influence wins hearts, minds, and loyalty, which drives real growth.
5 Ways to Improve Your Influence
So how do you improve your influence both inside and outside your organization? Here are five steps:
1. Develop great communication skills.
Develop your communication skills, both written and verbal. Other skills, such as presentation and public speaking, help as well. Not a natural public speaker or presenter? That’s OK! There are lots of resources to help.
2. Clearly state the vision or goal and personalize it.
Your team cannot move in a new direction if they don’t know what it is or how to get there. Clearly state your vision, the reasoning behind it, and what it will mean to your team to succeed. If your team understands how each of them, personally, benefits from the change, this increases their motivation to do something new.
3. Get their buy-in.
Once you lay out the vision or goal, you must create a plan for achieving it. Invite your team into the process. Describe the plan step by step, then ask for feedback. If you have a large team, you might break it up into smaller groups.
When you involve your team up front, they gain an emotional investment in the outcome. Once your team is emotionally invested, you are more able to influence their thinking and move them in the direction you want to go.
As a bonus, you might uncover some great insights, too.
4. Be quick to say, “Thank you.“
There is nothing like a “thank you” to make people feel appreciated and needed. By thanking people often for their work, you earn emotional capital. Over time, this emotional capital opens doors to influence them on new directions and goals for the future.
5. Remember, everyone is a volunteer.
I learned this from a blog post by Michael Hyatt. We should remember that no one has to work for you, nor do they have to move in the direction you want them to go.
Team members always have a choice to work for us or not. People want to work on a winning team where they are respected and appreciated for what they contribute. Make your organization the place they want to be.
The Fastest Way Forward
To grow our effectiveness as business leaders, we need to develop influencing skills. This will move our goals forward faster than trying to control.
How have you used influence to move others in a direction in line with your vision?
Bill Prettyman is CEO of Wise, Alpharetta, GA. Wise manufacturers industrial/prime labels and tags, traditional forms, and digitally printed products and services for resale only. For more information, visit www.wbf.com or email Bill at [email protected].
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