Have you ever actually de-constructed the elements that it takes to influence others? Some believe you must be dynamic, attractive, a great communicator – and certainly, all of these qualities can play a part! But what elements actually align others to you and to your mission, beyond your title and into the difficult?
At FutureSYNC we believe that your own level of personal accountability establishes you as a high potential leader and will grow your credibility. Personal accountability lays the groundwork for influence. But it is your ability to both challenge and nurture those around you that grows and establishes your influence.
In FutureSYNC’s Igniting Employee Engagement Seminars, our facilitators identify and describe different types of leadership. We discuss how a leader can get stuck in a limiting leadership mode – never moving to impact-based influence. We explain that they can get stuck in the relational leadership mode when they nurture but don’t challenge. They want others to be happy and to like them all the time, so they don’t give the needed push that will take their team members to the next level. This limits their influence!
Likewise, leaders can get stuck in the results-driven leadership mode when they challenge and don’t nurture – forgetting about the feelings and motivations of their team members in an effort to execute their goals and objectives, or to ensure that they are right. With either scenario, true influence will die on the vine!
The simple acts of listening, hearing others, accepting input and feedback, connecting at the human level first in each interaction and knowing that you can learn from anyone on your team, establishes you as a nurturer. The vital efforts of assigning meaningful tasks during every professional interaction, asking for written solutions to problems, clarifying goals and objectives consistently, honoring others by speaking with them directly regarding their job performance and sharing the vision and mission of the organization regularly – are clear signs of a challenger. To learn more about this influential combination, contact FutureSYNC consultants at (406) 254-2326.