View or download the printable version of the Quick Guide to Influencing (PDF).
What is Influencing?
“Influence is the ability to personally affect the actions, decisions, opinions, or thinking of others. Ultimately, influence allows you to get things done and achieve desired outcomes.” Source: Center for Creative Leadership.
Who Benefits?
As a supervisor at the University of Minnesota, using influence in an effective, ethical manner means achieving outcomes that benefit your team or department, the University of Minnesota, and you.
How Do I Influence?
Key Influencing Skills for Supervisors
These four skills are the most effective, especially when the audience is highly interested in the outcome. Combining these skills increases your chance of success.
Other Common Tactics
Although common, these are usually much less effective and can even backfire.
- Legitimacy: Relying on your authority position or policies and rules
- Exchange: Rewarding support with benefits or favors
- Personal appeals: Asking for support based on friendship or loyalty
- Ingratiation: Flattery and praise
- Pressure: Warnings, threats, repeated demands (this really only works with those of lower status and it often backfires)
Principles of Influence
When creating your strategy and message, you’ll be more effective if you incorporate these research-supported principles of influence:
- Reciprocity: People repay in kind, so give what you want to receive
- Example: Manager of another team needed help with an interview process. Helping this manager out will make it more likely they will help you and say yes to a request in the future.
- Scarcity: People want more of what they can have less of, so highlight unique benefits and exclusive information
- Example: Strategy of “piloting” to make something seem new, exciting, interesting– and for those “in the know” (i.e., in the pilot), they get something exclusive. This can turn a “push” into a “pull” and make it much easier to gain support.
- Authority: People defer to experts, so expose your expertise; don’t assume it’s self-evident
- Example: Have others vouch for your expertise and thought leadership (vouching for yourself can come across as defensive and backfire).
- Consistency: People align with their clear commitments, so make their commitments active, public, and voluntary
- Example: Get people to commit, follow up in writing/email, remind people of their commitments.
- Liking: People like those who like them, so uncover real similarities and offer genuine praise
- Example: Find something in common – can be an interest, a goal, a vision, a hobby, having kids, it doesn’t matter.
- Consensus: People follow the lead of similar others, so use peer power when it’s available
- Example: When launching a program for physicians, the only way you’ll get buy-in is for other physicians to vouch for it. This also helps with senior leaders, specialists (e.g., IT, Finance, etc.)