Shownotes
Today, we're tackling a crucial yet often unspoken topic: influence. Building influence across an organization is vital for any manager and becomes even more essential as you climb the career ladder.
Influence is about changing the thoughts, behaviors, and actions of others through persuasion, inspiration, and relationship-building—not through authority or control.
In This Episode:
- What is Influence?: Understand the true meaning of influence and its importance in leadership.
- My First Attempt: Learn from my initial experience of pitching an idea to the executive team and the lessons I gained.
- Effective Strategies: Discover practical tips for building influence, including asking the right questions, personalizing your approach, and showing genuine care.
Key Takeaways:
- Build Rapport: Start meetings by breaking the ice and making connections on a personal level.
- Ask Questions: Understand what truly matters to your colleagues.
- Tailor Your Message: Link your ideas to what is important to them.
- Show You Care: Demonstrate genuine concern for their well-being.
These steps will help you influence others effectively, making you a more impactful leader.
Subscribe for daily leadership tips and insights. If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave a review and share it with other emerging leaders.
For more leadership tips: visit my blog.
Until next time, keep striving, growing, and leading with purpose!
Transcripts
Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-10:
Good morning.
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:My name is Bianca Cardinez and
welcome to next gen leaders.
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:Today, I'm going to be talking
about something that's unspoken,
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:but important and that is influence.
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:How do you build influence
across the organization?
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-11:
This is important as a manager, but
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:once you start climbing up that ladder,
it's going to be even more important.
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:You're going to want to learn how
to influence without trying way
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:too hard . Today, I'll tell you
a story about my first attempt.
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:Hopefully we can learn a thing
or two through my mistakes.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-13:
But before we get into that, let's
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:define what influence actually is
because we've all heard this word.
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:But what does it need?
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:Basically influences your
ability to change the thoughts,
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:behaviors, and actions of others.
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:It involves guiding people to change
their thinking or take certain actions.
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:Influence it's not about having
authority or control over people and
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:manipulating them towards a certain end.
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:It's all about persuasion, inspiration
and building relationships.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-25:
About six months ago, I noticed that we
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:weren't having the impact that we wanted
to have after our coaching process.
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:So I did a lot of research and figured
out an amazing idea that could help
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:prove our value to our clients.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-27: I
took my idea to the CEO and she loved it.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-26: She
told me to prepare a very high level
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:presentation so I can pitch it to the
executive team and the consultants.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-28:
That next week.
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:I meet with everyone
and I pitched my idea.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-26:
Then towards the end, I hear crickets.
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:I was so confused.
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:I was thinking aren't they getting it?
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:I presented the data and the
reasons why we should do this.
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:But it wasn't clicking in their mind.
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:Once that meeting ended, I felt.
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:Crushed.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-14: I
spent so many hours researching this idea.
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:I've built this very elaborate deck
along with actual demo of my idea.
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:And it didn't land.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-30: If
anything, it made the executives even
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:more skeptical about what I was offering.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-14:
What I did after that was I took
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:the time to schedule one-on-ones
with each executive And I asked
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:them, okay, what are your thoughts?
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:And each told me a different version
based on their unique needs at the moment.
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:It wasn't until then that
it clicked in my brain.
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:I should have scheduled time
with each one individually asked
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:about what their needs were.
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:And then found a way to fit
my idea into their needs.
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:So that way they naturally bought into it.
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:Because us humans are very
much focused on ourselves.
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:We're focused on how do
we get our needs met?
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:Why is this important to me?
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:And.
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:How does this benefit me?
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:As long as you understand that, You can
take steps to make sure that your tying
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:what's in it for them, with your goal.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-15:
I'll tell you a story of a
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:leader who did this beautifully.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-16:
This happened during one of my
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:role plays and in this simulation.
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:The leader was supposed to
convince me to stay because I
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:was unhappy with the company and
I wanted more professional growth.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-15:
This leader came in and asked a lot of
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:questions about what I really cared about.
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:Where I saw myself in five
years and what I really wanted
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:out of this role that I was in.
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:With each of my answers, they
were building a business case
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:of why I should buy into their
ideas, using my own answers.
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:At the end of the meeting, He
actually influenced me to stay with
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:the company because he highlighted.
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:Why I should stay based on what I needed.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-17:
I noticed four key things
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:that he did to influence me.
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:The first was, he took time to
build a rapport before diving
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:into the meeting by asking about
what I like to do on my free time.
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:I remember this other leader
asked me a great icebreaker
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:question that I'll never forget.
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:He asked me.
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:What is one thing that no one knows about.
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:He went first just to break dyes.
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:He said that he liked to go ballroom
dancing with his wife on the weekends.
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:When it was my turn to go.
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:I told him that I really
like little mammals.
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:I used to have chinchillas.
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:Rats.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-18: And
right now I have the little bunny..
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:That's why you can sometimes hear her,
something around in the background
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:every now and then, sorry about that.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-20:
The second thing that he did was he
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:shifted the entire focus of the meeting
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-19: Instead
of just driving his agenda, he took time
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:to learn more about who I was as a person.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-21:
He asked questions to figure out
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:what I really cared about and what
I hope to see in his leadership.
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:he also asked what I cared about in
terms of professional development.
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:Like, did I need a mentor?
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:Did I need training that
I need other resources?
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:And he made sure to summarize
everything I was saying.
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:So that I understood that he
was truly listening to me.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-31:
The third thing he did was
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:explain what was in it for me.
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:He made everything he was saying
really relevant to my own progress
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:and future with the company.
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:This approach is all about
showing why people should care
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:about what you're proposing.
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:By linking it directly
to what they care about.
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:In order to do this, you need to ask a lot
of questions upfront to really understand
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:what the other person truly cares about.
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:Once, you know, two or three
things that matter to them.
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:Tailor your message around those points.
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:That way your recommendation feels
personalized and important to them.
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:Making it much more persuasive.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-23:
The last thing that he did was he made
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:sure to communicate how much he cared.
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:Sometimes we forget to do this, even
with our own personal relationships.
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:But people really want
to know that you care.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-33:
Maya Angelou once said.
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:Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-32:
People don't care how much, you know,
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:until they know how much you care.
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:This holds true in all aspects
of our lives, including
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:our personal relationships.
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:Being able to show the other
person how much you cares.
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:Ties everything together
and enhance your influence.
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:This applies at every single
level within an organization.
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:Up down left, right.
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:It really doesn't matter.
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:By following these four steps,
you can influence others.
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:Number one.
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:Begin by building rapport before
diving into a meeting by asking what
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:they like to do on their free time.
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:How long they've been
with the organization.
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:How are they liking their jobs so far?
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:What this does is breaks down
those walls going into a meeting.
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:And it makes everything feel more
personal, like, okay, this is
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:just another person I can talk to.
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:Too.
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:Ask plenty of questions to understand
what truly matters to them and
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:be sure to take note of each
nugget as you go along the way.
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:Three.
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:Tailor your message to
address what's in it for them.
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:And for.
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:Show that you care and that you're
concerned about their wellbeing.
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:By putting your heart into
it, you can influence anyone.
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:Speaker: Make sure to subscribe
and LinkedIn for daily tips.
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:If you enjoyed today's episode,
leave us a review and share it
146
:with other emerging leaders.
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:Until next time, keep striving,
growing, and leading with purpose.
