Influence more powerful than authority
Influence more powerful than authority

Influence more powerful than authority

Influence is not authority. Authority is not leadership. Leadership does not guarantee influence. Though we often use these terms interchangeably, I am confident they are separate entities. These reflections were prompted by three unrelated, serendipitous “nudges” this week and knowledge of that Obama cleaner-fist-bump photograph.

A social media post that demonstrated the strength of influence over authority as well as the shrewd thinking on the part of one interviewee.

I was in a job interview today when the manager handed me his laptop and said “I want you to try and sell this to me.”

So I put it under my arm, walked out of the building and went home. Eventually he called my mobile and said, “Bring it back here right now!”

I said, “$200 and it’s yours.”

The second, another excellent post of Leadership Freak which highlights that “respectful treatment of all employees at all levels is the #1 contributor to job satisfaction.” Compensation, trust, and relationships matter, but respect tops the list.

The third, not too dissimilar to the first, the “sell me this pen,” scene from Wolf on Wall Street (includes profanity), again demonstrating influence trumps authority. Sitting in a local diner, Mr. Belfort demands that one of his co-diners Brad “Sells him this pen.” [handing over his pen].

Brad takes the pen and tells Mr. Belfort to “Write me your name on this napkin.” Mr. Belfort replies that he can’t. “I don’t have a pen.” “There you go, it’s a matter of supply and demand.”

Of course, then there was the presidential fist bump. With leadership and influence there may be no need for authority.

These unrelated nudges were hard to shift and led me to conclude that you can influence without being a leader (interviewee and Brad).You can lead without influencing, but you can’t be an effective leader without influencing. That authority is not always beneficial. That where authority and leadership are often proscribed, being influenced is discretionary, born out or a relationships connections. At this point, I can not offer any empirical evidence. What I can say is that I have worked for one or two strong school leaders and yet for every stand-out-in-front-leader that has made an impression, I have been influenced by many, many, more brilliant colleagues. (Of course, statistically, there will always be far more teachers than leaders to be influenced by.)  In fact, more recently I have sought out experiences to watch or work with less experienced leaders and teachers, after listening to an interview with Liz Wiseman – Why Learning Beats Knowing.

Even with these reflections, it was clear I knew too little about influence, to be influential.

Influence

Aspiring leaders would do well to stop focusing on control and figure out how to expand their influence. – Michael Hyatt

The past few days, my thinking has been stuck on influence. So I dedicated some time to influence. At least I am now have a working understanding of what influence is in a leadership context.

Influence is, the power and ability to personally affect others’ actions, decisions, opinions or thinking across multiple constituencies and across boundaries. In schools, departments, houses, teams and so forth. Influence can be achieved logically, appealing to reason and intellect. Emotionally, connecting your message, goal or project with the individuals or groups. Lastly, cooperative, a shared or mutual aim, which it turns out is an extremely effective approach as it involves collaboration, consultation and building alliances.

As with almost all leadership enquiry, the starting point is yourself. What’s your dominant style? Unsurprisingly, there are gender, age, role, industry and cultural bias (Global Influence Trends).  Are you predisposed to approach situations logically, emotionally or cooperatively? Do you assert, convince (rationalise), negotiate, bridge or inspire?* This skill is knowing which approach to use, with whom and foresee the potential outcomes of each, for the given situation. Knowing and being are skilful leader are far from the same thing.

I thought I would conclude with this important point from Julie Battilana, of HBS, and Tiziana Casciaro, of the Rotman School of Management.

What matters most, isn’t where someone ranks within a company’s formal hierarchy but how well that person understands and mobilizes the informal networks needed to effect change.

Universally, the influence style with the strongest and most consistent preference is bridging, followed by rationalizing. people prefer asserting and negotiating the least.*

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