How to Stop Drowning in Your Expertise and Scale Your Influence

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Yesterday, I held a Linkedin Live Event: How to transform fluency into influence. During this live session with 20+ aspiring Exec Leaders, it was clear that they were competent and very good at their jobs.

That's why this session was timely.

Check it out here

Their expertise has gotten them this far: experienced individual contributor/people leader

But it won't get them to Executive Leadership.

Hard work alone won't bring INFLUENCE and ADVANCEMENT.

You need to transform your FLUENCY.

April, why are you talking about fluency? We're not talking about languages. Well, are we?

Well, we are. Your expertise is a form of language. It's the ability to:

- Navigate complex systems without conscious thought

- Solve technical problems instinctively

- Speak your company's language effortlessly

- Know the answers before others see the questions

But here's the challenge: Just like being fluent in a language doesn't make you a great writer, being technically fluent doesn't automatically translate into influence.

You do it with ease because you've spent years in school and years gaining experience, so it's natural to lead with it.

-You jump in to do the work because "you can do it faster"

- You stay late to perfect a deliverable that your team could have handled

- You like that you're known as the person who gets things done

- You often get pulled into execution even when you're trying to be more strategic

Raise your hand, is that you? You're not alone.

Before we can transform your FLUENCY into INFLUENCE, you need to understand more about influence first.

What is Influence?

True influence means:

- Being sought out for perspective, not just solutions

- Shaping decisions before they're made

- Having your ideas referenced in your absence

- Creating frameworks others use to succeed

Here's what it looks like at work:

When People Seek Your Perspective, Not Just Solutions

- IN MEETINGS: "Before we finalize the Q2 strategy, we should get your thoughts on how this might impact team dynamics."

- IN PRACTICE: Getting calendar invites to strategic planning meetings before the execution phase

- IN ACTION: VPs pulling you aside after meetings to ask, "What's your read on this situation?"

When You Shape Decisions Before They're Made

- IN MEETINGS: "I've been thinking about our expansion plans, and there's an angle we might want to consider..."

- IN PRACTICE: Your frameworks being used in leadership meetings you don't even attend

- IN ACTION: Being asked to weigh in on initiatives while they're still in the ideation phase

When Your Ideas Live Beyond Your Presence

- IN MEETINGS: "As [your name] mentioned in last week's leadership meeting..."

- IN PRACTICE: Other managers adopting your team's processes as best practices

- IN ACTION: Hearing your strategic approach being cited in meetings you weren't even part of

When Your Frameworks Drive Organization-Wide Success

- IN MEETINGS: "Can we use the decision matrix [your name] developed for evaluating new projects?"

- IN PRACTICE: Your onboarding process being adopted across different departments

- IN ACTION: Teams implementing your approaches without needing your direct involvement

Raise your hand if you've personally experienced this or seen it in the comments.

Understanding influence is one thing - building it is another. Through my work with hundreds of technical leaders and rising executives, I've identified five fundamental shifts that accelerate the transition from respected expert to influential leader.

These pillars form the foundation of sustainable executive influence.

The Five Pillars of Influence

1. Master Strategic Delegation

Instead of: "I'll take care of that - it's faster"

Do This: "This is a growth opportunity for the team. Who wants to lead it?"

2. Position Yourself as a Peer to everyone

Instead of: Waiting for permission to contribute (no matter who is in the room executives, leaders, C-Suite)

Do This: "I've been analyzing our approach, and I'd like to offer a different perspective..."

3. Lead Through Questions, Not Solutions

Instead of: "Here's what we should do..."

Do This: "What criteria are we using to evaluate success?"

4. Create Space for Strategic Thinking

Instead of: Filling every moment with execution

Do This: Block "strategy time" and protect it like client meetings

5. Build Organizational Capability

Instead of: Being the knowledge bottleneck

Do This: Create systems that scale your expertise

There's more, I want to really show you how to BREAK FREE.

To FREEDOM: Fluency to Influence in ACTION.

1. Transform Status Updates

- From: Reporting task completion

- To: Sharing strategic implications

- Instead: "Before I share the numbers, let me highlight what these trends mean for our market position..."

2. Leverage Cross-Functional Leadership

- From: Staying in your technical lane

- To: Building bridges across departments

- Instead: "I noticed a pattern in our technical data that might impact our sales strategy..."

3. Scale Through Documentation

- From: Keeping expertise in your head

- To: Creating reusable frameworks

- Instead: "Let's build a decision tree together that will help the team navigate similar challenges..."

4. Shift Meeting Dynamics

- From: Being the note-taker or executor

- To: Being the strategic voice

- Instead: "Looking at this quarter's data, I'm seeing an opportunity we might want to consider..."

Let's put this into practice, shall we?

1. Choose Your Moment

Select one upcoming meeting where you typically provide updates. Instead of jumping straight to execution details, open with a strategic observation about market implications.

2. Create Your Framework

Pick one process you do repeatedly. Document your decision-making criteria and turn it into a tool others can use.

3. Empower Through Questions

The next time someone brings you a problem, resist solving it. Instead, ask: "What approaches have you considered, and what criteria are you using to evaluate them?"

Was this helpful? Drop a note in the comments.

Hi! I'm April Little. I am an Executive Career Coach, Promotion specialist, and Communication Strategist. I help high-achieving women leaders build executive-level influence and break through to Executive roles.

??I'm launching a new group coaching program in January 2025 for women people leaders and experienced individual contributors who want to build their executive-level influence and communication skills to land executive roles. If you're interested, DM me 'Exec Material.'

??Ready for your next promotion? For 1:1 coaching, book a discovery call.