Which is Best: Persuading or Influencing?
Are you persuading or influencing? (Image by Freepik)
Picture this
The organization you work for has a tricky challenge to solve. You have an idea for a solution that you’ve been researching and developing with your team.
You’re excited about the idea and there’s an opportunity coming up for you to propose it to stakeholders in your organization. You would love to make the most of this chance to bring people on board with your proposal.
But…You start feeling a bit nervous – you’re quite new to this role and you don’t feel established yet.
What if they don’t agree with you? Is your project doomed?
You wonder how you can persuade or influence them to your way of thinking. Then you realize, “Hey, I don’t really understand the difference between persuading and influencing – which do I use?” Let me help with that…
What is persuasion?
Persuasion enables you to present a case in such a way as to get others to agree with you, believe certain information, or prompt a decision. It occurs in the moment.
Because it happens in the moment, persuasion can take place without necessarily having to earn trust, which can lead to the perception that the person trying to persuade you is being manipulative, or worse, forceful or intimidating. This means that agreement may only be temporary.
What is influencing?
Influencing, on the other hand, is the ability to motivate and inspire others to take action in a way that inspires trust and long-term commitment.
Influencing enables you to motivate people to work together towards a common vision, without using force or coercion. People are inspired to take action or make a particular decision because the influencer is perceived as genuine and trustworthy. Agreement is likely to be sustained over time.
Which are you?
As you think about the stakeholders that you interact with, begin to objectively assess your actions. When do you use persuasion techniques? When do you use influencing techniques? What’s the success rate of each? How do you feel in each role? How do you think you are perceived by others in each role?
Want to quickly improve your influencing skills?
As a new(er) manager, you want to improve how you pitch, and to prove you’re an effective leader for your team.
I get it. I’ve been that new leader and had those same thoughts.
Over the two decades I spent first as a manager, then as a leadership and creative-thinking coach, I discovered the three essentials of influencing stakeholders.
That’s why I created the one-day, small group training and coaching deep dive "Getting the Green Light: Strategies to Successfully Influence Internal Stakeholders", which takes place on November 30th. This deep dive day will put you on the fast track to gaining approval for your projects and ideas. Info and application here.
PLEASE NOTE! There’s only a handful of places available to make sure each person who attends has individual support, and an application is required to make sure there’s a good fit. Info and application here. Deadline for applications is November 15th.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at Ellia@ThePotentialCenter.com.
I believe that, with the right support anyone can learn creative ways to solve problems. If you’d like to see what tapping into creative potential could look like at your place of work, contact me at Ellia@ThePotentialCenter.com to arrange a call.