Influence at Work
I have long thought about how I can maximize my skills and abilities to best serve the organizations I work for. I feel my ability to influence others and provide advice to motivate action and move forward are my best attributes. I have often been asked how I do what I do. Here’s how…
In any situation I set my sights on action. “What can we do?” This is my question.
I am, in general, impatient; but I am especially impatient when I know that a decision should be made. I see what will happen if we don’t act. I see around the corner, and so it burns me to think about what inaction will cause.
Others see me as persuasive. I engage with them directly and they are convinced by me. All of my relationships have this quality to them–I move others to act.
I am driven by the feeling of progress, and am acutely sensitive to momentum. I sense when it’s building, when it’s peaking, and when it’s gone.
I listen well, but I listen for a reason; either so that the person can talk him/herself into a place where he/she is psychologically ready to act, or so that I hear which triggers to pull in order to propel the person to make a decision.
Listening, for me, is a precursor to action.
I can be charming, and am good at winning people over so that they like me. I do this because I know that people are willing to do more for those they like. Liking is a powerful (though not the only) precondition for getting the other person to make a decision.
I can be very direct.
I feel strongly that problems are solved only when they are confronted head on. I am not interested in dancing around a subject. Instead I use conflict as my preferred method of resolution. When I meet resistance I become energized. I know I get better when people give me reasons why they can’t act. Each reason is something for me to engage with, something I can grab onto and use to get them to see why making a decision is so necessary.
People sense my desire to move forward, and it comes across as self-assurance.
People realize that I have an agenda. And people like me most, indeed trust me most, when my agenda is clear.
