The keys to leveraging influence

Successful leaders need to build a level of trust to effectively lead an organization. This foundational trust helps create a level of influence over employees that is both healthy and liberating. In a recent Forbes article, contributor Kwame Christian discusses famous author and scholar Dr. Robert Cialdini’s key points behind building influence, credibility, and confidence.

In the article, Christian takes a deep dive into Dr. Cialdini’s work, which places a strong emphasis on the importance of maintaining a strong, ethical foundation in any work environment. This is key to building long-term relationships with others and creating a bond of trust that is impossible to mimic. In doing so, leaders can not only improve their network, but they can also bolster their own self-esteem in the process, according to Cialdini.

In addition, Cialdini discusses the “pre-suasion” theory, which helps set up a context to help you persuade yourself that you will be successful before you begin any type of decision-making process or negotiation. To pre-suade yourself, Dr. Cialdini recommends negotiators think back on all the times they have been successful in the past and then telling yourself, “I can do this.”

Cialdini also recommends that strategically giving compliments is an effective way to gain influence. For instance, rather than making a direct compliment to an employee in a meeting, telling someone on that person’s team a compliment and eventually the word will be passed to the desired subject. Through this strategy, you can make your employees feel good and they’re able to hear it from a more organic context.

 

continue reading »