People influence others at work or home every day, but do they know how they do it? According to researchers at the Center for Creative Leadership, most people use influencing styles that are a combination of logical, emotional, or cooperative appeals.
Influencing Styles
Logical influencing is about appealing to people’s reason and intellect by:
- Clearly and logically explaining what one is trying to achieve and why.
- Offering specific evidence that one's goal is realistic and achievable.
Emotional influencing is about linking one's message to an emotional motivator by:
- Showing one trusts the person’s capability.
- Explaining individual benefits to the person one is trying to influence, such as becoming more visible in the organization, learning new skills, or increasing their chances for promotion.
Cooperative influencing is about building a connection between the influencer, the person they are trying to influence and others. This can be achieved by:
- Involving others in the decision-making process.
- Asking for support from other people who can directly or indirectly help one influence their audience.
Assess One's Influencing Style
To become an effective influencer, one first needs to identify and understand their own influencing approach. What tactics do they engage in? Do they rely mostly on one approach or do they use all three equally well? Do they adapt their style to the person they are dealing with? In other words, if they are dealing with someone who relies mostly on logical, factual details, do they use that to their advantage by making logical appeals?
7 Easy Steps to Follow to Improve Influencing Skills
- Create an action plan. Who needs to be influenced? What is the goal? What is the deadline? What happens if one fails to influence? What happens if one succeeds?
- Pick the right time & place. Timing is key! So is finding the right place and ensuring there are no interruptions.
- Identify the easy and the challenging aspects to sell to the other person. Which things will be easy to present, and which ones will take more convincing? Prepare for both but start with the easy ones.
- Review influencing tactics. Identify which approaches feel comfortable versus which will be most effective in the respective situation.
- Build rapport and create a positive atmosphere. Non-verbal communication, such as body language and tone of voice, is as important as verbal communication.
- Anticipate responses and resistance. What will the other people say? What are some possible questions they may raise? Addressing them should make use of all three influencing styles.
- Obtain final agreement. Agree on next steps and timelines, and express appreciation for their cooperation and support.
Whatever one's style is, the important thing to remember is that influencing is a skill and, like many other skills, it can be developed and improved with regular practice. Learning to influence may not happen overnight, but the best way to learn is by doing.
“Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after.” (Anne Morrow Lindbergh)
Iulia Mihai - Iulia Mihai is a Vancouver-based Human Resources Manager, management coach and freelance writer. Originally from Romania, her passion for ...
