Understand Your Influence 

Can you influence without authority? A question often asked in interviews, discussed in performance reviews, and a highly sought after skill for those who need to get anything done. Whether you have a title that denotes your level of influence within an organization or not, this is something everyone can build. With the rise of matrixed organizations and the need for collaboration across teams, leaders, and external vendors, the ability to shape perspectives, behaviors, and decisions transcends formal titles and roles.

Great, but what does it all actually mean, and how do you do it? That’s what we’ll unpack in this post.

Influence is Inspiring Action

At its core, influence is the ability to shape opinions, behaviors, and decisions. Said another way, it inspires action.

It allows people to drive change, foster innovation, and achieve goals, even when they are not the subject matter experts or in a formal leadership position. 

Why do you need this?

Because you won’t always have the title to back you up when you need to get something done. It’s even more powerful when you can do it without that title. For instance, if you’re a chief of staff, a project manager, or anyone that works at the intersection of a whole lot of teams, this is one of the best muscles to build.

As someone who has learned by trial and fire, this is something that comes with time, failure, and iteration. Most people want to see you succeed, however, not everyone wants to help you in that success because they have a day job, too. Your ability to get those people to buy into your success by translating it into their success, therefore, the collective success of whatever you’re working on, is when you’ve hit bullseye. 

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the responsibility part. This is important to do with integrity (every stereotyped a car salesman? Let’s avoid that).

Alright, now that we’ve got the disclaimer out of the way, let’s unpack how you can grow that influence muscle regardless of your level.

How to Inspire Yourself and Others to Take Action

Develop Relationships

Get to know people for who they are, not just what they do. Prioritizing people over process will allow you to build relational collateral, and you might be surprised at what you learn. (There will be a time for process, don’t worry).

Understanding people for who they are gives you unique insight into what they care about, how they lead their teams, and what speaks to them. This will allow you to better communicate with them (a point we’ll get to later).

Make notes on what they value, what keeps them up at night, and what their perspectives are on key topics within the organization or even within an industry. This is all context that will help you work with this person, their teams, and be an asset as fast as possible.  

Getting to know them goes beyond their title and their area of responsibility. For example, if your SVP is sitting in a meeting with their direct reports but says nothing the whole time, what would you think? Either they don’t care (very possible), or, more than likely, they want their teams to be empowered to make decisions. By getting to know the SVP in this example will allow you to engage with them appropriately in and out of these meetings.

Influence thrives on the strength of strategic relationships with people who can get things done. To drive impact without formal authority, it is crucial to identify key stakeholders and decision-makers within your organization. Observe who speaks up the most and when results happen based on who is speaking. Some people talk a lot, but nothing happens. Some people speak infrequently but have impact when they say something. 

Get to know how these leaders interact with one another, their relationships, and even the politics between their teams. This will help you navigate choppy waters, create buy-in when needed, and create an atmosphere of decision making (instead of finger pointing).

Build Credibility and Trust

It’s hard to talk specifically about something you haven’t done, so start with what you do know. Don’t judge yourself, your experience, or your knowledge at this point. Yes, you know a lot. Everyone starts somewhere to go elsewhere.

This is what you are the go-to source in, so be proud of that. Offer that to others even if you want to be an expert (or need to become an expert fast) in something else. 

These are the foundations for influence. To use influence effectively, it is essential to establish yourself as a credible and trustworthy in what you know. Then, you can defer to the experts in what you don’t know. Not only does this allow others to take the mic, it shows you have humility (another way to develop trust). No one knows everything, so don’t put pressure on yourself to know it all. (Although I do admire that you want to know it all). 

If you want to know more – you can. But establish your expertise within your organization as a starting place. 

Many times, what got you to where you are today will need to change to get you to where you want to go. That’s great news because it means you can keep learning, growing, and experimenting. People will believe in you that you are growing in credibility in other areas because you are humble enough to admit what you do – and don’t – know. 

Master Communication

This one is a lifelong journey. 

Finessing your communication goes back to our first point about developing relationships. Know who you’re talking to, and if you don’t have relationships, find someone who does. They can give you the context you might need for an important conversation. (I wrote a blog on why context is key in communicating if you want a deep dive.)

Know what people care about so you can tailor your message effectively. A CEO is going to need a different level of detail than a manager who is more involved in the day to day. Your customers may not need the technical details of how your product works but they want to know if it will solve their problem. 

Don’t be afraid to use elements of storytelling. To help you with a framework, I wrote a short LinkedIn post on the Storybrand Brandscript. This is a tried, true, and simple way to frame your messaging.

Using a story arch is very powerful because it helps our brains follow a structure that makes sense. It makes concepts easy to understand without having to think harder. Your narrative should make sense to whoever you’re talking to regardless of whether you’re talking to your leaders, your team, or your customers.

Make your communications and messaging matter to them, and your influence will rise. You will be seen as a go-to source if you can effectively translate complex concepts and data insights into common language anyone can understand. 

Keep it simple and to the point. Have your context and details ready, but you don’t need to start in the weeds. Start with the forest, and narrow down as needed. 

Crafting compelling narratives and presenting ideas effectively is an art form. Practice, ask for feedback, and practice more. 

Start Leading, Regardless of the Titles in the Room

Have you ever been in a meeting and no one makes a decision? This is your moment. Step in and start putting insights on paper, ask clarifying questions, and call out the decision that is being made (even though no one wants to commit to it). See what type of engagement happens.

Yes, you’ll fluster some people, maybe even offend others, but the majority will thank you for taking charge. No one wants more work, but even less people want to waste their time. We need less useless meetings and more decision forward, results oriented meetings. Whether you have a leadership title or not, if you want to see results, you’ll have to take charge. 

This doesn’t mean the dynamic is now a dictatorship. It means that now there is accountability to one another. There are still opportunities to promote collaboration and inclusive decision-making processes, especially if you’re not the expert. That’s where your clarifying questions come in to play.

Empowering others to contribute their unique perspectives and expertise allows you to garner influence. Your ability to step in, redirect a meeting, team, or roadmap to something more productive is going to bring relief (and maybe some frustration) because someone is finally doing something.

Recognize the contributions of team members and celebrate their successes, fostering a culture of ownership and commitment.

Navigating organizational politics with emotional intelligence is crucial. Understand the interpersonal dynamics at play, connect and share context often, and enlist support from advocates who share your vision. Adapt as needed, but don’t wait for a title before you start taking action.

Bonus: Seek Mentorship

You don’t have to do this alone, and you shouldn’t. Sometimes the best way to grow in this space is to talk with mentors. Mentors aren’t always your boss. They might be someone you respect from an event you attended, a previous colleague from another company, or a peer in the industry. An outsider’s perspective can be the refresh that’s needed to take your influence to the next level.

Overcoming Resistance and Obstacles

Influencing without authority is not without its challenges. Resistance and obstacles are inevitable, but they can be overcome with the right mindset and approach.

Anticipate potential objections and address them proactively. Do this by providing context for everything and partnering with your subject matter experts before meetings or sharing communications with others. That way, you and whoever you work with appear as a united front (reflecting broad credibility across the org). Have resources ready to go (like detailed documentation, FAQs, diagrams, etc.) and alignment with leadership that questions might get escalated (depending on your topic). There are many ways to prepare proactively beyond just the baseline material. 

Remain resilient if you get into sticky situations. You can always follow up or take detailed conversations offline. The key here is to actually follow up. A lot of people drop the ball because they get intimidated, don’t know who to ask, or just forget. Stand out and follow up. It will amplify your influence, especially when you’re not the expert in the room. 

Be open to adapting as you learn more – nothing needs to be rigid. 

You’re An Influencer

Things move fast, and waiting for someone to give you a title to get things done will hold you – and everyone – back. You don’t need the title – you already have what it takes to move the needle. Believe in yourself, and implement the points we talked about above.

In summary,

• Develop relationships
• Build credibility and trust
• Master communication
• Start leading
• Bonus: seek mentorship

If you practice these areas, you’ll move faster than you thought possible. You’re an influencer – you got this!