Jason Seiden - Take Risk. Fail Spectacularly. Repeat Often. Win Big
Influence vs. Power
This week, I am running a series of posts on influence as a follow up to a session at HRevolution 2010.
Monday, we waxed philosophical about influence and ethics. Tuesday, we got into the gritty details. Wednesday, I showed you how to tie a bowtie.
(Why not.)
Today, we look at influence and power.
Let me reiterate here the Moral Imperative: regardless of what form of influence you use, you have an obligation to yourself to use influence for the good of mankind. In other words, if you’re going to impose your will on others, at the very least, make sure it’s for the benefit of them as much as for yourself.
Now for that crash course on influence and power:
- Power is an extreme form of influence.
- Power can be very effective in the short term.
- Power gets used up. Drop a bomb, and you can’t drop another one until the replacement is manufactured. Throw a few punches, and you can’t throw any more until you catch your breath. Exert political power, and you box yourself in a corner because everyone sees your methods.
- Since people don’t like being made to feel weak, using power can cause others to feel frustrated, angry, and worst of all for you, vengeful.
For those of you not keeping score at home, I’ll recap: while ensuring a short term win, power weakens the victor relative to the loser and simultaneously makes the loser want to get revenge for being made to feel weak.
Can you see why power should be your option of last resort?
Now, if you have power and want to flex it, I suggest making a very specific, very credible threat, in a way that lessens the risk you might actually need to follow through on said threat.
Still, better than either of these options is influence through positive reinforcement. This comes in 2 flavors:
- Transactional—Straight quid pro quo. Do A for me, I do B for you.
- Transformational—I create, in your brain, a mental association between the behavior I want from you and some aspirational goal you have, thereby transforming the tasks I want you to engage in into steps along the your life’s story.
True, transactional arrangements are pretty uninspiring, and often break down when one side builds up sufficient enough power to lean on the other. Many people spend their whole lives under the illusion that this is as good as it gets.
Well, it’s not.
Transforming how others view their worlds is as good as it gets. Do this and you won’t need to work so hard to keep others motivated, nor will you need to fight to get them to change. In their eyes, you become an enabler to their goals, so when you speak, believe me, they’ll listen!
How you do this is through the use of those glitches I wrote about on Tuesday. For instance, pretend I want you to read Frank Roche’s blog, KnowHR. I can tell you to do it in an authoritative voice, thereby making your world seem safer and more structured. Or, I can tell you that’s one of the first blogs I myself started reading regularly, thereby giving you an “in group” to belong to, or that Frank is devoted to sustainability in a very practical way.
If the approach I take matches with your aspirational goal (safety, inclusion, responsible living), you’ll probably decide to check him out… Then, if you like what you see, I’ve earned trust and the right to make another suggestion later. If I rack up a string of hits long enough, I get a TV show, go by my first name, and give away cars to people in the studio audience.
And if, after a few hits, I mess up? Rather than seek revenge, you’ll find an excuse for me and start selling it to others on my behalf.
Now that’s power!
Let’s just not pretend that the goal here is any different from the goal of using power: I still am bending you to my will, getting you to do what I think is in your best interest. If you are not comfortable with using power, you will not be comfortable with transformational influence, either.
Because if you’re not imposing your will, you’re not really influencing anyone—you’re merely making friends.
Access Content Source: http://jasonseiden.com/influence-vs-power/
***********************************************************************
http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
No comments:
Post a Comment