three steps to exert your affect
If you have no positional power in a situation, or if you do not want to use your positional power, which is almost always the wise choice, then you need to use your influence.
What is influence?
Influence is the ability to influence or change how a person thinks, feels, or acts. Since communication at its finest is about getting others to act in order to change people's behavior, you must first change the way they think.
To change people's behavior, you must first change the way they think.
It could be a colleague, someone on your team but part of a matrix, or someone older than you.
Here are the 3 steps to getting someone to act where influence is needed:
1. First, identify what behavior you need to change. Ask yourself: what do you need to do to prevent it from happening? Be as specific as possible.
2. Then think about where your audience is coming from on this topic. Get into their heads and think like them. Think about their motivations so you can help the other person answer two questions in a way that they can understand:
- Is it worth it?
- Can that actually be done?
3. Then bring your messages to life through experience – Ideally a personal experience. Tell a story to illustrate your point.
Like any effective communication, influence requires planning so that you can be intentional and get the result you want.
How do you need to use your influence today and how can the three steps help you?
– David Grossman
If you want to use your influence, you should communicate more effectively with the help of this free tool. Click below to download the Take 5 ™ Planning Template today!
