Larry on Business: Business Leadership 10: 2nd Trait of a Leader

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Business Leadership 10: 2nd Trait of a Leader—Effective Influencer

This continues our series about traits of an effective leader to improve your business

We’ve discussed influencing people in your business in previous posts. We explored its role as a part of business strategy, role of leadership, and in your career. We introduced our readers to experts on change like Jim Collins, Kerry Patterson and the authors at VitalSmarts, Stephen R. Covey, and Clayton Christensen. Leaders must influence their staff and others to change.

Necessary to Be An Influencer

The University of Nebraska published Influence: The Essence of Leadership. They wrote “To be an effective leader, it is necessary to influence others to support and implement decisions that the leader and group members perceive are necessary. Without influence, leadership does not occur. In other words, leadership is the act of influencing outcomes.

Influence can be with people, things or events. Strength and effectiveness of influence can vary. The process the leader uses to influence someone can take a variety of forms.

Influence is defined as “a force one person (the agent) exerts on someone else (the target) to induce a change in the target, including changes in behaviors, opinions, attitudes, goals, needs and values” and “the ability to affect the behavior of others in a particular direction.” To influence, “a leader uses strategies or tactics, actual behaviors designed to change another person’s attitudes, beliefs, values or actions.”

Trait of an Influencer

Glenn Llopis outlined 6 Personal Traits Will Accelerate Your Influence at Work on Forbes: