The art of influence and the degree of your influence as a leader.

Ways to influence human behaviour

There are many ways to influence human behaviour and leaders use variety methods to change the behaviour of subordinates in order to accomplish key goals and tasks. Many people often loosely use the term influence to refer to authority, power and leadership in organisations. Influence is an essential ingredient in authority, power and leadership.

Influence has been defined as the ability to personally affect other people's actions, decisions, opinions, or thinking and it includes virtually any interpersonal transaction which has psychological or behavioural effects. Influence means how you change minds, shape opinions, and move others to act.

Good leaders concentrate on things that they can influence. There are things that form the circle of  influence and these can be both directly and indirectly under a leader's control. A leader's circle of direct influence includes how he decide to behave toward his subordinates, how much and how well he decides to delegate authority etc. A leader can influence his subordinates' behaviour only indirectly.

The person with authority, power and leadership qualities has the capacity to influence others. To be an effective influencer, a leader needs both substance and style. A leader need to understand the interpersonal dynamics at play and can influence the beliefs and values of subordinates by:

1. setting the example,
2. rewarding behaviour that supports beliefs, values and norms,
3. planning and conducting individual and collective training,
4. respecting the subordinates and in return have their respect.

Tactics used to influence

 In addition, if you want to effectively influence people you need to use the following tactics:

1. Build trust through genuine and honest communication. There are many ways to build trust. One way is to live consistently with the values you profess. You have to walk the talk. Don't be like so many leaders who stumble the mumble by saying one thing and doing another. When you embody the values you profess, you become the kind of leader that others gladly follow. If you want to influence people, they need to know you and feel that you really understand their situation. Therefore define yourself by what you do, how you treat others, and how they see you. To be a leader the people you are leading must have confidence in you and give you their support and commitment.
2. Explain the task or goal to be achieved and show them how this could benefit them. Inspire them by showing them how the task fits into their overall frame meaning. Inspired people are motivated to achieve excellence. An effective leader will make sure people know what the goals are and doing everything possible to support, encourage, and coach them to accomplish those goals.
3. Make them feel important and wanted. Convey ideas that promote their sense of well being or sense of belonging  which has the chance of gaining their support. People usually feel comfortable being with leaders they admire, who make them feel good about themselves. Take interest in their problems and strive to solve them. This increases their self-esteem and helps to inspire them to greater commitment and involvement.
4. Create opportunities for them. Good leaders bring in new ideas and new values. Great leaders are able to convey to everyone a sense of adventure about their undertaking. They infuse that sense of journey and mission into their followers. Understand sentiments and aspirations of the people you are leading. Delegate certain responsibilities to them. This enhances creativity, learning and growth, thus mission accomplishment.
5. Give positive feedback to others and praise them when they have done a good job. People are motivated to do things that provide them with feedback on results. We all want to know how well we are doing. Positive feedback enhances subordinate's good feeling about themselves and it gives them confidence. Focusing on the negative often creates situations that demoralize people. When good performance is followed by a positive response, people naturally want to continue that behaviour.
6. Assert your authority as a leader. Establish boundaries and criticize in a constructive manner. Use your authority to influence behaviour and let them know that you will accept honest errors without punishment in return; teach from mistakes by critique and constructive guidance.
7. Evaluate your goals and refine the best methods of achieving them. Effective leadership requires creating systems that will help you to follow up on your good decisions. An effective leader must step back, look at the big picture, and make sure that important things are not being pushed out of the way. Evaluate each day by asking yourself, "Have I done what is really important today?"

Factors affecting the degree of influence

There are many tactics used to influence behaviour, but the degree of your influence depends on the following factors:

Your charisma and logic

Your speech should always be pleasant and interesting. No person can make money or a fortune in this world, without speaking well in public. If you will influence, you must first please, and if you will please, you must tune your voice to harmony. You should know how to give the right answers to everyone. Tap into people's reason and intellect. Present your argument for the best choice of action based on personal benefits and organisation benefits. Explain the reasons of your proposed actions objectively and logically. The force of your arguments will carry conviction only in the measure you have the other assets mentioned below. There should be sound reasons why you want to influence others. The people you are trying to influence have the right to know your reasons or purpose.

Credibility

Your credibility has to be built up by allowing yourself to be transformed into a honest leader. This means:

1. Attending to little things.
2. Keeping your promises.
3. Personal integrity.
4. Apologizing sincerely whenever you make mistakes.

Capacity to listen

This is your ability to listen to the words and the tone of voices. This means focusing your full attention on what others are saying.

1. Effective listening gives you accurate data to work with.
2. Listening improves human relationship.
3. Effective listening helps you gain appreciation for things around you.
4. Capacity to listen enables you to discriminate things.
5. Capacity to listen enables you to engage in critical evaluation of issues.

Capacity to observe

Your ability to read the body language and the message in the eyes. In  most situations there is usually more to see than meets the eye. Observe body language; the way they dress, the way they carry themselves and all other ways people go about trying to create a particular impression. People communicate with their eyes in situations when they cannot use words. Notice their eye contact with you and it will help you determine what they are thinking. People are, in general, what they are made, by education and company. Observe the difference there is between minds cultivated and minds uncultivated. A person's security quotient has a direct bearing on how they will behave in situations. The power of observation will allow you to see beyond the present and will give you the ability to predict the future.

Self-awareness

This means that you are conscious of what is happening in you and as far as possible in others. This awareness will enable you to control your emotions. It tells you that you may lose your temper and say things which you will regret later. Many conflict start from very innocent conversation. Something which you or he said provoked one of you and that triggered off a chain reaction of angry retorts.