Being able to influence people makes you more effective at work. If you work within a specific niche, it also helps if you are viewed as a subject matter expert in your field.
Even if you don’t hold formal power in a leadership role, you can position yourself as a source of innovative ideas and advice to become someone your colleagues and industry peers rely upon for inspiration and guidance: an influencer in your space.
Here, 12 associates of Forbes Coaches Council look at things you can do to increase your influence within whatever professional niche your work falls.
Forbes Coaches Council members share effective ways to gain influence within your niche.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Build Your Authentic Authority
By building your authentic authority, as opposed to your positional authority, you will elevate your influence and personal brand equity in a manner that can never be taken away from you, as it becomes an embedded part of you. Authenticity is a highly valuable asset, especially in a “fake news” environment, because it underpins trust, and trust in today’s business world is everything. - Jon Michail, Image Group International
2. Use Your Heart Before Your Head
Influence upon others passes through the heart before the brain. Therefore, show your empathy first, before demonstrating your competencies. Your skill is nothing if it does not resolve their pain, and that can only be achieved through empathy. Without empathy, you are blind to their needs. Then, how good you are is meaningless to them. Use your heart before your head to influence. - Duong Nguyen, CEMpartner
3. Improve Your Emotional Intelligence
By improving your EQ, your leadership skills and ability to influence others grow exponentially too. Leaders with high EQ connect authentically and with intellectual humility; they know how to ask the right questions that open others up to new possibilities. They positively impact team members and gain autonomy. Ultimately, others seek them out for effective collaboration. - Cheri Rainey, Rainey Leadership Learning
4. Give Voice To Your Talents And Skills
To increase your influence organically, give voice to your talents and skills that others can benefit from and be impacted by. By speaking from your authentic core and purpose, you will resonate with others who are struggling with similar experiences, about which you have firsthand knowledge to share. Knowing who you are is an attractive way to naturally invite and influence others. - Sheila Carmichael, Transitions D2D, LLC
5. Listen Actively And Empathetically
Listen. Listen actively. Listen empathically! Listening is the most powerful tool you have to gain more influence in your space. Through listening, you learn; you understand what matters to others. You sense the energy that moves and shifts the hearts and minds around you, and you gather all you need to engage in conversations that shift the room. - Luis Costa, Luis Costa - coach · facilitator · speaker
Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?
6. Write And Publish A Book
When you write and publish a book about your specific area of knowledge, it positions you as an expert. A published book serves as a marketing tool for you, your business and your products or services. Becoming a published author increases your visibility and sets you apart from those in your industry who have not written and published a book. - Dr. Sharon H. Porter, Perfect Time SHP LLC, Coaching, Consulting and Book Publishing Firm
7. Maintain Integrity In Everything You Do
Clients, and all leaders, need to maintain integrity in what they do and say. I see so many instances now of people who talk a good game, but have no real experience or context to draw upon. I have found that influence is gained and earned by those who have “been there and done that,” as opposed to those who approach things from an academic viewpoint. - Dan Ryan, ryan partners
8. Develop Your ‘Likeability’
Develop that remarkable quality called “likeability.” You exercise greater influence over people who like you. People listen to and follow people they like. Develop your likeability by getting feedback from people close to you in your space about two qualities that they like about you and two qualities they don’t like. Work on strengthening what they like about you and eliminating what they don’t. - Vinesh Sukumaran, Vinesh Sukumaran Consulting
9. Activate Reciprocity
Proactively find ways to offer help and resources to your ideal client and spend time nurturing the relationship. Offer a suggestion on exactly how they can solve their pressing issue, and there’s a chance they will return the favor in one way or another further down the line. This is a great way to showcase your expertise and build a personal brand. - Jay Rai, www.jayrai.com
10. Find Others Who Are Influential In Your Space
Trying to do it alone is a long path. Finding and connecting with others who have authority, credibility and expertise in your space will greatly accelerate your influence. Create meaningful partnerships that are win-win for everyone, and your influence will dramatically increase. It’s the Shark Tank approach. More experts coming together creates greater influence. - Purdeep Sangha, Sangha Worldwide
11. Create Meaningful Content
Establish a consistent routine to create meaningful content that will provide value to those within your sphere of influence. Over time, you will be able to expand the scope and scale of those contributions and enlarge the reach of your influence. We need to remember that gaining influence isn’t about us; it is about those we are striving to support. The personal attention will follow. - Jonathan H. Westover, Utah Valley University & Human Capital Innovations, LLC
12. Build Your Presence On One Social Network
Choose one social network and build your presence on it daily. Social media is a great way to build a strong reputation and stay top of mind with your audience. You don’t have to be everywhere. Just choose one social network and make it a point to post daily and participate. There are influencers on almost every social network. The key to success is a clear message and consistency. - Krista Neher, Boot Camp Digital
