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Writer's pictureAgnes Sopel

Power and Influence - leadership research


Political competence is not something that we are born with. It is a skill that we learn. It is the process of mapping the political territory, building coalition and getting others to get your idea adopted.


It is, however, a challenging tasks for today's leaders who believe that all should have their voice. These young managers have, therefore, difficulties to adopting to hierarchical structures, get their bosses to listen to them and subordinates follow them.

Many of them, first highly motivated and energetic face business impotence and become quickly discouraged.


Unfortunately many organisations still rely on status to get things done. Thus young managers need to develop skills to influence others if they want to make a difference. They need to develop the skills to speak up effectively.


Many American business leaders believe that power is critical for management success and that the use of influence is not negative. Instead of aggression, it can be seen as the state of personal efficacy, ability to mobilise resources and accomplish productive work.


People with power shape their environment, whereas the powerless are moulded by theirs.

We also, as leaders, make others feel powerful and help them accomplish exceptional tasks.

Powerful rules are filled with the feeling of their own greatness and importance but need to listen to the opinions of others. Otherwise we will be destroyed by the things that we cannot control.


We should, therefore be envious of the powerful until we see their endings.


There is many failed corporate executives due to ineffective use of power. Managers who use their powers to advance the goals of the organisation develop sustainable influence. Those who use their power for personal gain end in tragic legacy of the power abuser. Power revail our true motives. It has the capacity to both bring the best and the worst in us. Lack of power and abuse of power, on another side, are typically counterproductive.





The figure above represents the relationship between power and personal effectiveness. Lack of power and abuse of power are limiting. Empowerment, on the other side, results from personal power and the social responsibility. Through orientation to benefiting others.


We will explore in more derails on how to stay on top of that curve. We will look at the two fundamental skills:


* Gaining power , and

* Converting it into interpersonal influence and avoiding abuse.




Gaining power


We need to learn how to use power wisely. Leaders are expected to be mentors and coaches. Power comes from the ability to perform. Position titles are extremely important in a highly hierarchical systems, but personal power in nonhierarchical settings is even more influential. Therefore, developing both personal and positional power is vital for managerial success.


Personal power


To gain personal power we need expertise, personal attraction, effort and legitimacy.


Expertise


Expertise in an important source of power. It is the task relevant knowledge. These days what we know is more important to who we know in getting a job. Expertise comes from formal education, self-learning and on-job experience. It can be important to someone with lower position to gain influence. We can develop expertise in particular aspects of organisational life. It requires a considerable time and effort. We should, however not focus our attention on the narrow aspects of the organisation. We need to broad our knowledge about wide variety of organisational activities to attract sustainable advancements.


Interpersonal attraction


Charisma, agreeable behaviour and physical characteristics allow for interpersonal attraction.


Charisma means "grace from God" It comes from an exceptional communication and interpersonal skills - skills that can only be learned - it is a behavioural quality that anyone can develop. Charismatic people have high self-esteem, self-confidence, inner calm, self-reliance and independence. This conveys confidence and authority. Charismatic people are genuinely interested, they ask open questions, understand the feelings and emotions of others that is an effective way of getting people on their side. Sincere smile, eye contact, being polite allows to influence people. Charismatic people are good in insinuating conversations, they are intelligent with up-to-date knowledge of current affairs as well as have the expert knowledge is some areas. They use their skills to gain trust through their words and encourage optimism and confidence. They communicate dynamically with passion and enthusiasm. Their presence is powerful and messages always sound good.

Leaders are more likely to be considered charismatic if they:


* express a vision that is inspiring,

* incur personal sacrifice or well-being in pursuing their vision,

* recommend the use of nontraditional approaches to achieve shared goals,

* demonstrates sensitivity to others needs and concerns,

* have a feeling that everything is possible.


Agreeable behaviour comes from being friendly. They support open, loyal and honest relationship. They are emotionally accessible, provide regard and acceptance, provide sympathy and empathy and engage in social interactions to sustain relationships. We do not necessarily have to become good friends with our coworkers, as it is often inappropriate to relationships with people with whom we work, but if we express agreeable behaviour we are more likeable and make others feel empowered. Likeable individuals are more trustworthy and more influential.


Personal attractiveness also plays an important role. People with attractive appearances are deemed to lead highly successful lives, hold prestigious jobs and are successful partners. Attractive individuals are judged to pursue their own goals and in some respect they are also more successful.


Effort


A high level of effort is one of the most highly prized characteristics as it means that they are dependable. If those who can stay a little bit longer at work to finish a project, take evening class to learn new skills then they earn trust of their coworkers. Doing whatever it takes to do a job is a valuable asset. By working hard, we also tend to increase our knowledge on the subject.


We also need to understand our bosses perspective. We are to make sure that we understand his/her goals and objectives, their pressures, strengths, weaknesses and their preferred work style.

We are, of course to assess ourselves as well. We need to be aware of our own strengths and weaknesses, our own personal style and our own predispositions for depending on an authority figure.

We need to work on the relationships that fits both styles, mutual expectations, keeping the boss informed, honest exchange. We are to use our bosses time and resources selectively.

We are to produce a real value for the organisation and not only improve our image. Knowledge of these principles will help us to improve our performance.


Legitimacy


Legitimacy is achieved when our actions are congruent with the organisational value system. It influence our acceptance in the business. It is true that those who contribute to the strategic goals of the organisation are likely to succeed. We need to be vigilant to the organisational values and adjust our thinking and acting. We must understand the organisation's unique culture.

The values are important both strategically and historically. Organisations want to be perceived as an unique player in the market and strive to develop distinctiveness. This may involve placing emphasis on quality, economy, service or some other value. Businesses want to pride themselves with something unique to become viewed as excellent choice for their customers.


Leaders use the culture to define the values and why as well as how things should be done. We need to be aware what is the business pride and who are the heros.

It does not mean, however, that we are to compromise our ethical values for an organisation. Evidence suggests that successful organisations have members that are capable of gaining power and using that power to challenge prevailing beliefs. Unchallenged beliefs often stop businesses from necessary adaptation to changing regulatory and competitive conditions. But challenges are most successful if we are proven loyal. Legitimacy is prerequisite for a constructive criticism.


All these ingredients are based on trust. We need to be trustworthy to gain power. Organisations putting proven performance in the positions of power.



Sources of power


But not all power comes from personal characteristics. We also need to take into consideration: centrality, flexibility, visibility and relevance.


Centrality


Centrality means access to information in the communication network. By occupying the position of centrality it is easier to gain power. The networks and relationships are critical for an effective performance. We must understand that no one has all the information and resources to accomplish their tasks. By establishing informal relationships we can gather the information, resources and personal support to accomplish our tasks. We are to become more central in our communications and not understand power in the hierarchical position.


We cannot complain about not having institutional power, but can built it on our own through the centralised relationships. We can then convey the influence widely in the business. We also need to understand the informal power created in a business. The most influential networks are the ones who have many structural holes. That's where we can become a bridge between those two. You then provide an unique value to both parties. It means interacting with people and bring information into the structural holes thus having more opportunity to influence. Having a diverse network allows to gain more power.


We cannot become isolated. Getting ahead in a department is not enough to get ahead in the organisation. We cannot get all our attention to accomplish our own narrow work and building strong relationships only with immediate coworkers. It is important to become the central actor in the organisation's broad communication.

Go for lunch with people from other departments, read annual report for all divisions and seek multi-functional roles to gain insights from all departments.


Flexibility


Flexibility means the freedom to express our judgement. Flexibility means that we do not need to seek other's approvals to make decisions. We need to try and be the participants from the beginnings and take on new roles and new tasks.


Generally people with proactive personality can create their own sense of flexibility. They have tendency to effect change in their environment. Proactive people focus on finding new opportunities, taking initiative in making a positive change happen. Striving for flexibility by taking personal initiative to add value and solve problems will increase the power.


Visibility


The degree to which task performance is seen by influential people in the organisation is visibility. But highly visible poor performance will not lead to power and promotion. However, developing power does require a degree of visibility so that people can recognise you and see your contributions.

One way to achieve it is by fostering frequent contact and communication with senior executives. Presentations can be rather helpful to impress someone important. Face-to-face meetings cannot be underestimated. Don't assume that you will get credit for writing an excellent report. People seem more impressed by what they see at the meetings then what the read.

Another way of increasing visibility is participation in the problem-solving meetings particularly when successfully handling change or crisis.


Relevance


Relevance means the alignment of the assigned tasks and organisational priorities. If we are associated with tasks directly connected to the strategic priorities for vital concerns that need to be dealt with. We need to recognise in the business the competitive issue as the business depends on it. The employees that attach themselves to the dominant comparative issue are more likely to develop power.

We must be sensitive to the relevance of our departments activity for the company.




The power and the influence


There is a difference between the power and the influence. We are not gaining power for its own sake. We help people to achieve exceptional tasks and gaining the commitment from others. We can achieve it through Retribution, Reciprocity and Reason.


Retribution


Retribution is based on personal threat and forcing others to do what we say. We gain it through intimidation. We often hear "If you don't do X, you will regret it!", "If you don't comply, I will punish you", "Others in your group agreed, what's your decision?", "If you don't act now, you will loose the opportunity and cause problems for others". We impose sanctions and intimidate. Publicly criticising reports, ignoring others during meetings or handling out impossible tasks are one form of these intimidations.

Retribution strategies ignore the rights of others and the norm of fairness. It produces immediate action but it comes with high costs as it is most likely to engender resistance. We should use it sparingly in crisis and the sanctions should be rather severe.


Reciprocity


We reciprocate when we help others to want to do what we say through bargaining. We say " If you do X, you will receive Y", " If you comply, I will reward you", "People will value you more if you do this", "I will do it for you if you do X for me", "I have lower my price and now I expect you to reciprocate".

Reciprocity operates on the principle of satisfying the self-interest of both parties in which both parties gain something in exchange. They are aware of the costs and benefits.

In more subtle approach we use friendliness and favour to incur social obligations as a remedy of a debt. In contrast to retribution, reciprocity recognises the value and strengthening the inter-dependance between people.

This approach allows the manager to gain compliance without causing resentment but still the organisational performance may suffer. It also requires some element of trust. But used too often may allow people to expect that every decision is up for negotiation and commitment may be affected. By the end of the day, we are working to achieve organisational goals and not personal gains.


Reason


Through reason we show others that something makes sense to do. We present facts or needs and and appeal to personal values. We say "I want you to do X because it is consistent/good for/ necessary to ...", "These facts/ experts opinion demonstrate the merits of my request", "This is what I need, will you help me out?", "Compliance will enable you to reach a personally important objective", "This task would be enhanced if we can count of your experience", "Because we are minorities, will you do this?", "The group needs your support, so do it for the good of all of us".

We use inherent merits to influence others to choose compliance themselves. We appeal to other's personal values and it might include focusing on the others values.


Persuasion is direct and manipulation is indirect. The persuader respects the autonomy of the decision makers and trust their ability to judge the evidence effectively. A manipulator has low regard to the abilities of the decision makers and doesn't trust them to make good decisions.

The goal here is for the employee to comply as the commitment is internalised. We teach people correct principles and explaining legitimate needs and then trusting the judgement of the subordinates. Commitment and creativity increase. There is, however, time required to meet the trust and understanding. It may be difficult to implement when participants have competing philosophies or assigned conflicting responsibilities. But by the end of the day, when we give people explanation we are more likely to appear fair.




Upward influence


One method for managing upwards is called "issue selling". We draw the boss's attention to the problems that concern us the most and are most consequential. We need to convince them that the particular issue is important.


"If people are afraid to help their leaders lead, the leaders will fail" (Breen, 2001)


First, we have to speak up, especially if the leader issue a flawed order. Secondly, we work with allies and those who can add credibility to the argument. Thirdly, we disagree without arguing. We model support and open mind. Fourth, remember that we are not being everything to everyone and can't keep everyone happy.


Below are some strategies for upward influence:


  1. Congruence - the issue should be aligned with your role, in your area of expertise and department.

  2. Credibility - we should be honest, open, non self-serving and straightforward. We demonstrate that the issue is not brought up because of a personal gain.

  3. Communication - we should gain access to a broad communication network using written messages, face-to-face conversations, e-mails and so on.

  4. Compatibility - the issue should be compatible with the organisation and do not compromise the company culture.

  5. Solvability - the problem should be solvable and alternatives exist.

  6. Payoff - the long-term pay-off should be clear as it will more likely to be addressed.

  7. Expertise - the expertise needs to residue with the organisation.

  8. Responsibility - it should be pointed out that the leader have the responsibility to address the issue and negative consequences from ignoring it should be highlighted.

  9. Presentation - present the issue sufficiently and in emotionally positive terms with supporting data and information. Complex matters does not capture attention and the problem should be explained in simple terms.

  10. Bundling - the problem can be bundled with other issues that bother the leaders and relationship can be pointed out.

  11. Coalitions - built coalitions to make the issue hard to ignore.

  12. Visibility - present the issue in the public forum rather then private message. When more people hear about it it is more likely to catch leaders attention.

Assertiveness


There are situation when others want to influence our actions as well. And we need a protection. We need to be skilful in resisting unwanted influence.

There are many types of toxic managers. For example:


* Micromanager - obsessed with details and perfection,

* Inexplicit direction with decisive delivery - treats everything as priority and require attention,

* Obsessed with loyalty for them

* Criticise subordinates in public

* Exercises power for personal gain


Others may use all the same methods: Retribution, Reciprocity and Reason. Let's find out on how we can neutralise them.


Intimidating actions (retribution) intend to create power imbalance. We can use several approaches. As least direct one, the use of countervailing power to shift the dependancy to interdependency. Bosses take advantage of the power imbalance, so we need to focus their attention on mutual dependance. We may need to explain the negative consequences for failing to respect our rights and working on more appropriate means of satisfying their demands.

The second, more direct approach, asks to confront the individual directly to protect our personal rights as an intelligent and mature adult. We describe the problem in terms of behaviours, consequences, feelings then making specific suggestions. It might involve advising on taking action, for example suggesting on making a formal compliant.

The last and the strongest method is to "fighting fire with fire". Disobedience or reporting concerns to senior managers may be needed.


Reciprocity is often a sales tactic and we try to avoid of being manipulated. We could:


* Examine the intend of a gift or favour - we look at the motives, appropriateness and consequences of accepting. If the person is likely to profit from this, or the transaction is unethical or illegal or it simply would feel better if the gift is not accepted that is probably the right thing to do. If there are doubts about the motives, its safer to decline the gift.


* Confront those who use manipulative tactics - this will enhance our power in the relationships if we address those manipulations directly. We state that we do not approve this manipulative strategy and propose alternative solution. We focus on the true value of the product and not on the methods of the negotiations.


* Refuse to negotiate - if above has failed, we refuse the negotiations until those high-pressure tactics are dropped. We need to ask ourselves whether we would be interested in the product or service if the time was not an issue or supply was not an issue. We shift the attention from content to process thus establish fair terms of the exchange.


Reason requests can also create the state of inequality. We can try the following:


* Explain the adverse effects of compliance - if, for example, a request is reasonable but timing is bad we need to discuss other concerns. We acknowledge the other persons needs, explain personal consequences and find alternative solution.


* Defend personal rights - if the previous tactic fails, we refocus the conversation to our personal rights. If someone needs help because their mismanaged their own time or resources we call for fairness.


* Refuse to comply - if the explanation efforts did not work we should refuse and terminate the discussion. As a last resort, we seen help from higher authority.



Summary


We must develop to know how to gain power. We must establish a power base to get work accomplished. But it not need to be abusive but used effectively.


We can:


  1. Develop our knowledge and skills to become an expert,

  2. Enhancing our attractiveness to others - being friendly, accepting, validating our own worth, tolerant and caring for our professional appearance,

  3. Becoming dependable and putting more effort where expected,

  4. Aligning decisions and actions with the organisational values,

  5. Expanding our network and communications contact,

  6. Staying up to date with relevant information,

  7. Being the source of information for others,

  8. Reducing percentage of routine activities,

  9. Expanding task variety and novelty,

  10. Initiate new ideas,

  11. Getting involved in new projects,

  12. Participating in the early stages in decision-making process,

  13. Seeking design-oriented jobs as opposed to repetitive tasks,

  14. Expanding number of contacts we have with senior people,

  15. Making oral presentations of written work,

  16. Participating in problem-solving discussions,

  17. Inviting senior management to recognise accomplishments,

  18. Sending personal notes of appreciation and congratulations,

  19. Become an internal coordinator in external networks,

  20. Provide service or information to other units,

  21. Monitoring and evaluating activities within our own units,

  22. Involving in work central to business activities,

  23. Becoming a mentor or trainer for new employees,

  24. Matching your influence strategies to specific situations,

  25. Use reason strategies: when no time constraints, when initiative is high, trust is high, relationship is long term, little conflicts exist, explain on why the request is being made,

  26. Use reciprocity when: parties are mutually dependent, rules of transactions are clearly specified, long-term commitment is not important and there is sufficient time to reach the agreement,

  27. Use retribution when: there is a substantial imbalance of power, commitment is not critical, quality and innovation are not important, opposition is acceptable or no other alternatives exist,

  28. To neutralise reason influence explain the negative consequences of compliance, defend your rights, and firmly refuse to comply.

  29. To neutralise reciprocity examine the motives, confront individuals on the manipulative tactics, and refuse to negotiate if necessary

  30. To neutralise retribution use countervailing power to shift the dependance, confront the individual directly or actively resist.

  31. To sell issue: select those that are congruent with your role, present it honestly and without personal gain, communicate broadly, select problem compatible with the culture, select solvable issue, clarify the payoff, point out their responsibility, find supporters.
















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