Tips on Influencing Others

We all have ideas. Some of these ideas, if acted upon could improve company culture, profits and morale. Having a good idea isn’t enough. You need to get other people on board and influence them to follow your lead to bring ideas into fruition. Oftentimes, these mean persuading others even when you’re not a manager.

Exerting influence can be an indicator of leadership potential. If you start to seamlessly get your ideas across to others and get them executed this can help you work your way up to a managerial position.

People who can influence others can win support for their ideas, inspire others to follow them, create collaboration and bring about results.

Here are some tips on how to influence others in the workplace.

Practice Influencing people

Influencing people and being a leader are soft skills that take practice and time to hone. Even the most natural born leaders have consciously worked on developing their skills over time.

One of the best ways to influence others is through social interaction. We often imagine leaders standing at the podium or delivering keynote speeches when really most influencing is done in an experiential or social setting.

Being a good leader starts with being trustworthy. Trust is something anyone can build. Meet deadlines. When you say you are going to do something, do it. Become someone who keeps his word and is trustworthy in the workplace. People are way more likely to be influenced by you, if they know you are trustworthy.

Practice asking questions and being a good listener. Make it a point to take a personal interest with those around you. Ask questions about their lives and how they are doing. Try to listen. Any work you put into developing relationships and getting to know people in the workplace will help you become a leader. People are more likely to be influenced by someone they have a relationship with as opposed to a charismatic stranger.

Building trust, creating relationships and then sharing ideas are the stepping stones to someday being a great leader. These are things anyone can start practicing today.

Develop emotional intelligence

Soft skills include social intelligence, communication, empathy and awareness of others mental and emotional state.

Emotional intelligence can be defined as the awareness of and ability to regulate one’s own emotions and tune in to others. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report emotional intelligence is one of the top 10 job skills of 2020.

An emotionally intelligent employee can handle pressure, interact with others skillfully, listen and respond well and set an example.

You can develop social intelligence by making it a point to pay attention to the reactions of others. When bad news is delivered how do various employees respond? Do they rise to challenge or get depressed? When something positive occurs, who gets excited and why? What sort of occurrences produce emotional reactions in the workplace. By simply making it a priority to observe mental and emotional changes in others, you can start to develop an emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence can be used to gauge the best ways to gain cooperation and communicate ideas with the best positive response possible.

Conclusion

If you are an emerging leader and aspire for a management position, you don’t have to wait for a promotion. You can start working on your soft skills, emotional intelligence and start practicing getting your ideas executed now. Start testing things. Learn what works. See what positively fails and get better.

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