The essence of leadership at any level is to elicit cooperation. Cooperation is a two-way street and influence is a kind of exchange. The goal to achieving your objectives is helping others achieve theirs.

External barriers to influence typically include a power gap between you and those you seek to influence. You share no common ground and thus no common currency.

Steps to gain Influence

1. Consider everyone as a friend and ally
2. Clearly identify and define your objectives and priorities
3. See the world through the eyes of those you seek to influence
4. Find out what other people value and what you can offer in exchange. Know also what you value and what you will accept.
5. Understand your relationship with those you want to influence
6. Exercise influence through a process of mutual exchange and benefit

Influence as an Exchange

Identify the currencies. The valuable resources you can swap for cooperation with others. These currencies typically fall into five categories.

1. Inspiration
2. Task
3. Position
4. Relationship
5. Personal

Inspirational currencies give work meaning. For instance, a stirring vision of the future, or a chance to do great work.

Task Currencies: Make someone’s work better, more efficient or more satisfactory. They could include an opportunity to get additional resources, or a challenge that makes a job more interesting.

Position currencies: These give a person more status. They could include visibility, glory, reputation, broader contacts, or a sense of being an important insider.

Relationship Currencies are based on personal relationships, such as making someone feel accepted or understood.

Personal Currencies address a person’s sense of self, and include gratefulness, a sense of ownership, self-esteem, and even peace and quiet.

Relationship Building: Steps to Success

Influence requires good relationships which depend on and foster communication and cooperation.

To build good relationships, you may need to adapt your style to match the style of the people you want to influence. Sometimes, you may even want to influence someone whose relationship with you is marred by suspicion, hostility or enmity.

1. Look in the mirror. Examine yourself to see if you’re the problem. If you’ve done something wrong. Correct it!
2. Examine their organizational context. When you understand the causes of behavior, you may be able to replace your indignation with sympathy and patience.
3. If the problem persist, stay focused on the task at hand. What are you trying to achieve? Sometimes, staying focused on the work can eclipse the relationship problems.

Trading Strategies

The influence model uses four basic trading strategies.

1. Straight Swap: This works when each party has values that are about equal.
2. The Conversion: Converts perspective allies by making it clear how cooperating with you will help them achieve their goals.
3. The Discovery: Finds hidden values, such as a way to increase revenues.
4. Cost Compensation: You negotiate value.

The currencies of influence have a time dimension just as other currencies do. You might do someone a favor now in order to receive a favor later; however, sticky problems might arise.

Sometimes people may not recognize that you have made a deposit in their favor account, or they may be unwilling to admit that they have a debt to you.

Other times, people may undervalue favors that cost you a great deal of time and effort. There are many potential pitfalls in influence trading strategies, but I’ve listed a few below.

1. Failure to plan ahead
2. An unreasonable attachment to your opinions
3. An attempt to bluff those whose power far outweighs your own.

Timidity can also prevent you from using your influence currencies because you fear an angry or hostile reaction.

The influence model is almost universally applicable. The consistent key to influence is to understand the position and worldview of the person you’re trying to influence, and to develop a strategy that responds to that person’s values and needs.

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