Informal power and influence

The team at Business Women Australia love delving into diverse issues and have been looking at how informal power can be used to influence.

Utilising your informal power as an individual can manifest influence that produces tangible, beneficial outcomes and stronger relationships. Whether as part of a crowd who shares a united vision, an energetic team on a mission or an individual sewing seeds of change within the workplace.

Informal power exists outside of a formal title. We all have access to it. Together the strength of influence is magnified.

As the modern flow of work has migrated from specialised verticals and traditional jobs to the "white spaces between the verticals", we have seen an exciting rise of collaboration, crowdsourcing, and co-creation engaging with freelancers and third parties sitting outside the org structure. Influence and change is coming from different directions! So many business women in our community are thriving in this flexible and fluid world of leadership and transformation. It leads to innovation and disruption like never before! 

Informal Power can be measured to some extent, by using HBR's outline for a power audit. This is a handy self-check and I thought I'd share it with you. 

Step 1: List your top 10 contacts who enable you to get work done. They might be internal or external to your organisation.

Step 2: For each contact, assign a score from 1 to 10 indicating how much you depend on them. If a contact provides a lot of value and is also difficult to replace, assign a high score. Think broadly about the value your contacts offer. This includes career or business advice, emotional backing, support with daily activities, information, and access to resources or stakeholders.

Step 3: Do the same in reverse. Assign a score to yourself from others’ perspectives. Approximate how much value you offer your contacts and how difficult it would be to replace you. Be honest.

After you have completed these three steps, ask yourself;

1. Are all your contacts from the same place, industry, or company?  This can limit your access to a wide variety of skills, knowledge, and resources. You might be surrounding yourself with too many "like minded" and similar people and need to add a few diverse, disruptive and challenging people in your mix.
2. Is there an equal exchange of value? Relationships are only sustainable if both parties are gaining real value. To give and take (both ways) provides true balance and a healthy foundation for a relationship to continue to provide positive, long term value.
3. How many 'low' scores are there in your list? If the majority are low scores, this may indicate you are putting all your eggs in one basket. 

When leaders can consistently, and consciously tap into their influence they facilitate remarkable transformations in their organisations and their own personal lives.

If leadership and influence is an area of professional development that interests you, I recommend you check out the events designed and delivered by BUSINESS WOMEN AUSTRALIA. The calendar is loaded with opportunities to join the conversations in our various locations, participate in panel Q&A's and jump onto online masterminds no matter where you are in Australia.

Interested in getting more engaged with Business Women around the nation?

I'd love to see you involved with this national collective of women as we connect across states, industries and sectors, whether you're a business owner, executive, professional, board director or start up founder.

If you'd like to collaborate, sponsor or host a event, or have a question about membership, please don't hesitate to drop me a line or book a call in with me via my scheduler:

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We welcome new members. Join HERE.

Lyn Hawkins

Director - Business Women Australia

www.businesswomenaustralia.com.au

[email protected]