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Eight Simple Ways to Influence People and
Get Results
Regardless of your position in your organization your
level of results and success depend on your ability to influence
others.
When you can influence others to your ideas, thoughts,
or actions, you have the amazing powers to persuade, negotiate and
get things done with a win/win fashion.
If you want to influence your boss, your employees,
or even your whole organization, understanding and applying the
Eight Pillars of Influence will get you the results you want.
What are the Eight Pillars of Influence?
If
you look at the most influential people of our time you will notice
that their influence is built upon eight pillars.
Think of influence as a Greek Temple with eight supporting
pillars. The strength and balance of the pillars determine the strength
and stability of the temple.
Just as pillars in a temple add support, strength and height to
the whole temple, each Influence Pillar adds support, strength and
elevation to your overall ability to influence others.
Eight Pillars of Influence*
1. Personal Pillar
Your likeability and approachability
2. Relational Pillar
Your social and professional network, who you know and who knows
you
3. Flexibility Pillar
Your ability with coming up with win/win choices
4. Visibility Pillar
Your visibility and impact-fullness of your previous work
5. Expertise Pillar
Your specific knowledge or and specific degrees
6. Resources Pillar
Your resources that you bring to the table
7. Relevance Pillar
Your works’ significance to today’s market and economy
8. Position Pillar
Your title and position within your networks
* Adapted from Power Dynamics in Organizations. Harvard
Business School. March 22, 1995
Pillar Strength
We can assume that the stronger your pillars the stronger your temple.
If you want strong influential ability that can withstand time and
external forces, then you need to build the strength of your pillars
regularly.
Just like you can exercise to build physical strength
and power, you can exercise to build your influential strength and
power. A temple with weak pillars can easily tumble with the slightest
disturbance.
Pillar Balance
Just as weak pillars make temples crumble, so do unbalanced pillars.
An unleveled, skewed temple is not stable. Unbalanced pillars lead
to an unstable temple of influence.
Look into history and you will see that leaders like Hitler gained
tremendous amounts of influence through a skewed temple yet came
crashing to ruins.
Hitler managed to build a very strong Position Pillar, which he
used effectively until the neglected other pillars like Relational,
Personal and Flexibility Pillars gave in to the weight of the whole
temple.
Your ability to influence is determined by the strength and balance
of your pillars. Weak pillars need strengthening and unbalanced
pillars need leveling to maintain, stabilize and elevate the whole
temple.
The Secret of Top Persuaders
The great persuaders in our society work very hard and long to maintain,
strengthen and balance their pillars.
Think of Oprah Winfrey and her power to influence. The simple mention
of a book, product or a person on her show can quickly launch that
book, product, or person into the orbit of success.
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah, one of many modern day persuaders, understands how to use
the pillars to influence people and get great results. Oprah works
on a daily basis to maximize the height, strength and balance of
her pillars. For example, let’s look at Oprah’s
Relevance Pillar. Oprah is as relevant today as she was five, ten
and twenty years ago!
She takes conscious and consistent action in every single appearance
to strengthen and balance her Relevance Pillar by staying current
with the needs of her audience. She continues to provide fresh and
meaningful information, making her continuously relevant.
Recently, she started an Internet show with Marcus Buckingham (the
author of Now Discover Your Strength) strengthening her relevance
with both message and medium. The topic covered by Buckingham is
relevant to today’s workers and the use of Internet as a medium
is relevant to today’s society.
In addition, the mere association of Oprah to Buckingham adds
strength to her Relational Pillar. Each pillar can work on it’s
own and often time strengthens other pillars simultaneously!
Next Newsletters
In the next few newsletters I will share with you the details of
each pillar. We will explore the definition of each pillar, its
uses, and give you concrete steps on how to build, enhance and strengthen
your influence to get the results you want.
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