Hisham Sarwar
Today you need the influence to be effective in organizations that you work because your title isn’t alone enough to sway others. So, influence is the best way to position as an informal leader. When you have influence, you are more likely to be noticed, get promoted, and receive raises. It helps you to advance the projects you are concerned about and are responsible for.
But gaining influence in the modern workplace is difficult because people are more than every distracted. The digital connectedness and the information overload has resulted in short attention span because of which it has become important than ever to command influence. Following are the few tips you can gain influence:
Build trust among the co-workers:
You will be able to gain influence once you develop trust among the people you work with. Cultivating trust will help you to build a healthy and influential working relationship regardless of the position you are at. For this purpose, be open and honest, state your opinions, disclose your apprehensions, and simply don’t keep secrets.
Remain consistent:
You will have a better reputation when you remain consistent in getting your work done on time and execute a consistent leadership style. This will make you reliable in the eyes of the people. They will trust your ideas because it indicates a degree of dedication on your part.
Being assertive:
Assertiveness is the core communication skill and helps you express yourself effectively. It makes you stand up for your point of view and respect the rights and beliefs of other people. You can gain trust and respect by being assertive for getting your ideas noticed when you are competing with others for visibility.
Remain flexible:
For gaining influence, flexibility is really important regarding your opinion. If you do not believe in anyone other than yourself, people will regard you as stubborn. It will decrease the respect that you have in the minds of people. Therefore, work actively to show your flexibility and find a mutually acceptable solution when you are working with people who have rigid beliefs.
Do not engage in an argument:
You cannot build influence by using words. Speak through your actions to build influence and remain consistent. When you work hard consistently and get good results, it shows people that you know your work and ultimately gain influence over others.
Listen to others:
For building influence, you will have to believe in the people around you and incorporate their ideas into your vision. This will make others believe in your ideas and incorporating them into their own vision. You need to respect and acknowledge opinion of others to create an atmosphere of mutual trust. Once you do that, your opinions will naturally be heard and people will acknowledge you as a leader.
