Influencing

Crucial Skills

Managers need two skills to do their jobs and to train other people. First, they must be strong communicators and, second, they have to know how to influence other people. Influence is the ability to change another person’s beliefs or behaviors. It is not the same as manipulation, which frequently involves deceit, ignoring another person’s opinions or forcing someone else to suffer a negative outcome. Persuasion is related to influence, but it involves getting other people to disregard their own preferences.

The way people see you affects their willingness to let you influence them, so a large part of your ability to exert influence stems from their knowledge of and reaction to your strengths. The pivotal characteristics of a strong influencer include: good communication and listening skills, confidence, an aptitude for understanding others, knowledge about the topic under discussion, and the facility to formulate good arguments and address objections with calm expertise.

Influencing others is critical for career advancement. It is increasingly important as companies become more global and managers must work with more culturally diverse employees...