3 Powers To Help You Influence People

3 Powers To Help You Influence People This is a quick “in the moment” interview with Leadership Academy speaker, Anne Miller, about influencing people and outcomes. May:Hi, it’s May Busch here, and I’m here with Anne Miller, a good friend of mine. We just got out of this training that Anne did for us for this Leadership Academy that we’re running in Arizona. Anne, you just did this fabulous session about leading through influence and persuasion; you know those times when you can’t just order people around, like most of life, right? Anne:Right. Yes, okay. Well, thank you very much. One of the things I think we talked about that seemed to really hit the group well was that influence is a function of power. It’s not power over people, but rather it’s three areas of power.   One is what you might call ‘positional’, if you have authority in your job, but it’s also authority in position in a lot of different areas, which include being an expert, for example, in a particular area, or being legitimised by (expertise) May:So you’ve got expert power. Anne:Expert power, or your position. May:Position power, yes. Anne:Then you’ve got what’s called relational power, which is really about your network and who you know. So many of us forget that building a network when we’re trying to influence is so important, and often it can be a strategy for getting to those people who are very difficult, through people that they know, that we know. May:So we’re talking about really difficult people, and if you’ve got a relationship with somebody else that they’ve got a relationship with, you can do this “connection doctor” kind of effect? Anne:Right, exactly. May:Okay. What’s the third one? What’s a third power? Anne:The third one is personal power. All of this I actually think you could wrap up into personal power, but personal power is your ability to structure your world so that you have the capability and the capacity to deliver on what you’re asking for. And a lot of it comes with your ability to mobilise others, to get other people to actually come with you and follow you. May:How do you do that? Anne:Well, a lot of it, there is research that’s been done that says, “Is it better to be loved or feared?” And a lot about May:What’s the answer? Anne:Well, the answer is to be loved first, and then you can be feared. To be loved first is the warmth and the empathy that you would show others, how well you actually can connect with them, that your intentions are things that are actually going to be important for them, and that you can actually then execute on those intentions. May:You know, I find that really interesting because a lot of people â€" I don’t know if you’re like this â€" but feel like personal power is about this, you know, showing up as the über power and a driver. What they’re saying is it’s the fear piece, trying to instil fear, but you’re actually saying the opposite. Anne:Right. It’s something that comes actually from within, this is the kind of power that comes from within. Again, it’s not power over people, it really comes with building your world so that you have the capacity and capability to deliver on what you are offering the world, and that’s a different thing. May:So, to summarise then, influencing is about power, and there’s three kinds. Anne:Yes, it’s a function of power, and there are three kinds; there is the personal power, the relational power and the positional power. And by the way, all of those are inside a context of institutional power or social power that legitimises the use of any of them. May:So, get out there and influence through your power: positional power, relational power and your personal power, and wrap all those up (in a coherent way), and go out and be successful and happy today.