There are 5 Major Ways to Increase Your Influence as a New Manager
So, you have been promoted to management. Maybe you even attended new manager training. Now you are in charge. Or are you really?
To effectively lead and manage others to new heights, new managers need to be prepared to consistently influence – to inspire, persuade, and urge to action – those around them. As you can probably imagine, consistently motivating others to help you achieve your goals (without negatively impacting relationships) is easier said than done.
5 Major Ways to Increase Your Influence as a New Manager
The ability to consistently persuade and influence others relies on getting results AND improving relationships along the way. With flatter organizational hierarchies, heavily matrixed environments, and more team-based projects, your effectiveness as a new manager is directly correlated to your ability to get work dome through and with others. Based upon data form our people manager assessment center, here are 5 ways to increase your influence as a new manager:
- Limit Your Positional Power
With your new supervisory role, you have been “given” positional power over your team. But formal authority does not account for much when your success is dependent upon the success of your team and those around them. Do not use your management position to dominate interactions or mandate decisions.Actively involve those around you to harness wholesale commitment from your team and your key stakeholders to tackle agreed upon goals and accountabilities in a way that makes sense. This is especially true when you need to influence others over which you have no direct control.
- Make Your Depth of Knowledge and Expertise Visible
Your ability to influence those around you is directly related to your individual knowledge, experience, and success at work. Presumably, you were given a leadership role because you thrived as an individual contributor and have shown the new leadership skills that your superiors believe will allow you to lead others effectively.When a subject comes up in which you have real expertise, do not be afraid to teach and help others without coming across as a know-it-all. By the same token, recognize and heed the advice of team members who are experts in subjects you know less about.
- Show Your True Passion
When you as a new manager can share your emotion in a positive, appropriate way, your team members will sit up and take notice and be more willing to collaborate with you. This is where you have a chance to gain their hearts, not just their minds. What are your goals for the team? How will that change things for the better?Whenever appropriate and without being a Pollyanna, share your authentic excitement about the topic at hand and how your approach will brighten prospects for both the team and the organization.
- Hone Your Interpersonal Skills – The 3 P’s
Effective influence skills will help you to reduce conflict, get more done, and lift the performance of your team. Your ability to read others’ reactions and adjust your own behavior accordingly has a direct correlation to your ability to influence others. The more you know about the three P’s – their priorities, pressures, and personality – the better you can adjust to the person you are trying to influence, and the more convincing you can be.Invest the time required to get to know what matters most to those whom you wish to influence and hone your emotional intelligence to help navigate the situation.
- Be Flexible and Open-Minded
If you want to truly influence others, you must first be willing to be influenced. In a management role where you must count on others to succeed, it is more important than ever to approach each and ever interaction with an open mind, a willingness to be influenced, and a curiosity to learn.While influence requires a well-conceived plan that people buy into, it also requires a high level of flexibility to include the opinions of others.
The Bottom Line
Having positional power may seem like all you need to get work done as a new manager. But true and lasting influence requires much more. To be successful as a new manager, you have a mandate to mobilize your team and work together toward common team goals and accountabilities. That takes influence.
To learn more about how to get your team on the same page, download 7 Immediate Management Actions to Create Alignment with Goals