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As a business leader, the ability to influence people around you to support your goals is a valuable skill. Quite often the organisational authority you may have as a leader is not sufficient to ensure people will support your ideas and initiatives. Beyond influencing your direct employees, it is also often necessary to gain support from colleagues and decision makers in the organisation over whom you have no authority.

Influence and power are closely interrelated aspects of leadership. As influence implies being able to affect other people's thinking or actions, the power of our influence is exercised through relationships.  This tells us that building strong and effective relationships throughout the workplace will enhance your influence.  Your leadership qualities will also have an impact on your influence, with people more likely to support someone who has an engaging vision and who is credible and respected.

Three main styles of influence are generally identified; logical, emotional and cooperative^[1].

A logical influencing style involves appealing to reason and intellect. People who influence others using this style will clearly and logically explain their reasons, drawing upon detailed, factual evidence and identifying the benefits that will be delivered to convince their audience that it makes sense.

An emotional influencing style tries to link goals or direction to an emotional motivator, such as making someone feel positive or included, or providing a sense of contributing in a valuable way. A positive emotional response will be more likely if the proposal aligns with their values and goals. Emotional influencing may utilise the positive and enthusiastic presentation of an appealing vision which people feel able to support.

Cooperative influence involves building relationships and networks between a leader, people they are trying to influence and other stakeholders to gain their support. Willingness to support people's efforts and work on their behalf may be demonstrated by actions such as making resources available and addressing roadblock issues. Encouraging and appreciating people's inputs and encouraging participation in defining actions generates alignment and builds their commitment to your goals. Strategically developing coalitions and alliances with other stakeholders and respected figures may be used to broaden your influence and support and leverage the influence of others. Developing cooperative support requires patience and commitment.

Another important aspect of influencing people is the principle of Reciprocity, which characterises influence as a form of exchange, whereby it is necessary to provide a benefit in some form to receive one back. More specifically, the writer Cialdini has proposed that people feel a strong reciprocal obligation to return a favour that has been offered to them, hence suggesting that providing support to others, either employees, colleagues or leaders, may be well rewarded when you seek reciprocal support in return.

Effectively influencing people is a subtle skill developed through experience. Capable influencers will apply all of the above styles to suit different contexts and audiences. Opportunities to apply influence will be most effective if they are thoughtfully planned and carefully prepared for.

In today's business organisations where authority is less structured and workplace teams and relationships are increasingly fluid, the power of influence is an increasingly important leadership capability.

^{[1] Centre for Creative Leadership}