Leading with Little Authority: Ten Tips for Sustainability Leaders

A personal story

Early in my career I found myself working as a sustainability professional in a hierarchical local government organisation with 10,000 employees. To significantly influence policy, it was necessary to influence the Lord Mayor as he was a charismatic transformational leader with strong views on what the organisation should and shouldn’t do. This was a monumental challenge from my lowly team leader position, given there were three levels of management between me and the Lord Mayor. I soon learnt that using the formal channels to influence him was painfully slow, and often ineffective as proposals were translated, distorted and diluted as they filtered through the tiers of management.

After building knowledge of how the institution operated, I discovered a far more effective way of ‘influencing up’. The Lord Mayor had a full-time environmental advisor who, in retrospect, I now realise was playing the ‘trusted advisor’ leadership role whist I was playing the ‘project champion’ leadership role (see Taylor et al., 2015). This person shared my values, and we quickly formed a relationship that was based on trust and a shared vision for the initiatives we were working on. If I could influence this advisor, he could then influence the Lord Mayor. The leadership lesson for me was that partnering with other leaders, building institutional knowledge, and using a combination of formal and informal approaches can be highly effective when seeking to ‘influence up’ with little authority.?

What’s the problem?

As a leadership coach and educator, I get to see a wide variety of leadership challenges that my coachees and students are navigating. If I had to nominate the leadership challenge that is most frequently mentioned by emerging sustainability leaders it would be this: “How can I improve my ability to influence without much authority?”

Typically this challenge involves a sustainability leader who is seeking to influence people who do not report to them. Sometimes, the leader is seeking to ‘influence up’ (i.e. influence more senior leaders in their organisation). Alternatively, the leader is seeking to ‘influence across’ (i.e. influence people in other departments or organisations). Elements of this challenge typically include:

• Overcoming barriers relating to mindset (e.g. having an outdated view of ‘leadership’ that sees it as a position with authority, rather than a process of influence that delivers direction, alignment and personal commitment to collective success).
• Seeking to exert influence with little or no authority, which is also known as ‘position power’.
• Building trust and relationships with people we don’t work with on a day-to-day basis (e.g. a professional in another organisation).
• Navigating obstacles related to organisational culture and rules (e.g. an organisation may prevent an emerging leader from speaking directly with an executive leader).
• Cultivating the many abilities that are needed to excel at leadership in this context (e.g. emotional intelligence, confidence, social networking, communication skills, and the ability to plan an influence strategy).

An additional dimension of this challenge is that it is often encountered early in one’s career at a time when sustainability leaders are just starting to build their leadership identity and skill set. Not surprisingly, many emerging sustainability leaders struggle in this context, which can lead to a lack of confidence and frustration unless they seek help and support from others.

In this article I share 10 tips for exerting influence, or leading, without much authority as a sustainability leader. Although these tips are particularly relevant for sustainability practitioners given the multi-disciplinary, cross-boundary and complex nature of the context in which most of us work, they are generic enough to also be relevant to leaders working in other environments.

Ten tips

1. Adopt a suitable mindset

Adopting the right mindset is critical to many aspects of leadership, including leading without authority. To be effective in this context, leaders need to adopt the mindset that leadership is about influence not authority (see Flower, 1995; McCauley, 2014), and recognise that some of the most distinguished leaders, such as Dr Martin Luther King and Rachel Carson , have led with little, if any, authority.

Another dimension of this mindset is recognising that leadership happens through relationships, so that the quality of these relationships matters. As the respected leadership coach Marshall Goldsmith often says, ‘leadership is a contact sport’ (Goldsmith & Morgan, 2004).

A strategic mindset is also valuable in this context. This includes seeing the ‘big picture’, planning well ahead, being aware of ‘windows of opportunity’ that may open, being adaptive and resilient, and being prepared to persist over long periods of time.

Finally, a growth mindset is also valuable as the best leaders are lifelong ‘students of leadership’. In leadership development we learn the most through conscious practice when combined with feedback, support and reflection (see Lombardo & Eichinger, 2000; Porter, 2017; Van Velsor et al., 2010).

2. Build your bases of power in advance

Power is the potential for influence (Northouse, 2018) and leadership is a process of influence (McCauley, 2014), so all leaders need some form of power. Some forms of power are associated with one’s organisational position (i.e. ‘position power’ or authority), whilst other forms of power are not (i.e. ‘personal power’). When seeking to influence with little position power, we need to make sure that our ‘batteries’ of personal power are fully charged.

Forms of personal power we may be able to access and/or choose to build include:

• Credibility (e.g. establishing a track record of delivery, and being seen as an authentic leader who acts in accordance with their purpose and values).
• Expertise (e.g. having deep and/or broad knowledge).
• Relationships with key people (e.g. establishing and maintaining relationships that are characterised by trust and mutual benefit).
• Access to information / resources (e.g. having the capacity to secure funding for new projects).
• Institutional knowledge (e.g. knowing how the political system works).
• Skill (e.g. having advanced communication skills).
• Charisma (e.g. being seen as charming, attractive or famous).

Research by the Center for Creative Leadership has found “that the power of relationships, the power of information, and the power of expertise are most used by leaders” (Dellaert & Davydov, 2017, p. 8). All of these are types of personal power and are potentially available to emergent sustainability leaders without much authority.

A mistake I frequently see inexperienced leaders make is to seek to exert influence with very little power. Unfortunately, even the most well-designed influence strategy is likely to be ineffective if the leader has not done the work necessary to ‘charge their batteries’ when it comes to forms of personal power.

Unfortunately, it can take a significant length of time to build some types of personal power. Consider a sustainability leader with advanced leadership skills who moves to a new job in a new country. It may take them a year or more to build personal power in the form of establishing their credibility as a leader, building a network of trusting relationships, and acquiring institutional knowledge. The lesson here is clear - to lead without authority we need to adopt the Chinese proverb of ‘digging our well before we are thirsty’. Meaning, we need to invest the time to build different reservoirs of personal power well before we need to use them to exert influence.

3. Understand your influence environment

In order to design and execute an influence strategy we need to clearly understand the nature of the environment in which we are working. This involves understanding:

• The people we want to influence, including their needs and priorities.
• The strategic priorities of relevant organisations (e.g. to help us to strategically frame our initiative so that it is more likely to be supported).
• Potential partners / allies who could be united to form a coalition.
• Potential adversaries whose counterarguments may need to be neutralised.
• Potential ‘windows of opportunity’ that could help to exert influence (e.g. opportunities to seek seed funding for a pilot project).
• Institutional systems and processes (e.g. understanding the policy development process in government agencies).

It can take months or years to build this knowledge. The process can be accelerated, however, if a leader partners with others. For example, an experienced, recently retired executive with a high level of institutional knowledge and spare time could be engaged as a mentor.

?4. Carefully plan significant influence attempts

There are many factors to consider when planning a major influence attempt, such as the best strategic frame, the real influence target (who may not be immediately obvious), the best combination of influence tactics, and the timing of activities.?Consequently, savvy leaders take time and work with others to carefully plan their approach before executing influence tactics.?The importance of such planning was recognised by Sun Tzu , the influential Chinese military strategist and philosopher who wrote in circa 500BC: “All wars are won and lost before they are ever fought”.?

?5. Build partnerships and a shared vision early on

One of the central elements of leadership is to build a genuinely shared vision for an initiative, team or organisation (McCauley, 2014). This involves engaging partners and constituents early in the process, and encouraging them to buy-in to an initiative and develop a shared understanding of where we are going and why it is important.

Understanding the ‘why’ is particular important (see Sinek, 2009), as it offers the opportunity to engage partners at the level of personal values. Kelman’s Social Influence Theory (1958) argues that the deepest form of influence occurs when we are encouraging people to do something that is congruent with their value system. So, compelling shared visions connect with people at a values level. Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple emphasised this point when he stated: “If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.”

Engaging partners early in an influence initiative is also an influence tactic. For example, if a sustainability leader in a bureaucratic organisation was seeking to influence their CEO, the CEO would probably be more receptive if the initiative was visibly supported by a group of respected leaders from across the organisation. Forming an advocacy coalition also offers the opportunity to influence members of the coalition as it creates many opportunities to build trusting relationships and the exchange of ideas.

The value of a particular type of relationship has been highlighted by research involving champion-type leaders who operate at the project level (see Hamel, 2000; Taylor et al., 2011; Witte, 1977). Often, these champions need to ‘influence up’ to get their innovations endorsed or funded. A key to successful leadership in this context is the formation of a relationship between the project level leaders and leaders at the executive or political level. This relationship has been called the ‘tandem model of championship’ (Witte, 1977).?

6. Consider the best combination of tactics

When seeking to exert influence we need to select the best set of tactics for the situation. Drawing on the work of Gary Yukl (e.g. Yukl & Falbe, 1990), Scharlatt and Smith (2011) defined 11 different types of influence tactic. These are rational persuasion, consultation, inspirational appeals, collaboration, apprising, ingratiation, exchange, personal appeals, legitimating, pressure and coalition, with the first four of these being considered to be the most effective and the remainder being supplementary tactics.

There are a number of frameworks that we can use to help us choose the best tactic or set of tactics as part of an influence strategy. These frameworks include:

• Dellaert and Davydov’s (2017) ‘Head - Heart - Hands’ model.
• Hamel’s (2000) 7 steps for influencing up with little authority.
• Ashford and Detert’s (2015) 7 tactics to ‘influence up’ in bureaucratic organisations.
• Thwaites’ (2012, 2017) 10 ‘commandments’ for influencing politicians.
• Gardner’s (2004) 7 levers for changing minds.
• Cialdini’s (2001) 6 principles of persuasion.

Arguably the simplest and most powerful framework is the Head - Heart - Hands model (Dellaert & Davydov, 2017). This framework encourages leaders to consider using one or all of three tactics:

• Head (logical appeals): Appeal to people’s rational and intellectual positions (e.g. develop a business case or conduct a cost benefit analysis).
• Heart (emotional appeals): Connect your initiative to people’s values, emotions and goals (e.g. explain how an initiative is aligned with values that are held by the target audience).
• Hand (cooperative appeals): Use partnerships, alliances and consultation as opportunities to persuade (e.g. influence a sceptical organisation by partnering with them on a small trial project).

Using this model, sustainability leadership should consider which of these three types of tactic are most likely to resonate with the influence target. If the leader is not sure, or needs to influence a diverse group of people (e.g. a board of management), then they should consider using a combination of all three tactics (Dellaert & Davydov, 2017).

Some of these frameworks have been developed for a specific context. For example, Professor John Thwaites is a former politician who developed a set of guidelines for people to influence politicians in western democracies (see Thwaites 2012 and 2017). These guidelines are:

1. Know what you want to achieve.
2. Know what the government wants to achieve.
3. Understand your target politicians and the political life cycle.
4. Collaborate - come as a team.
5. Be prepared.
6. Be persistent.
7. Timing is everything: be an opportunist.
8. Send in your best players.
9. Say something new, clear and interesting.
10. Prioritise and compromise.

Another framework that is particularly relevant to sustainability leaders who are seeking to influence up or across their organisations without much authority is Gary Hamel’s (2000) seven step framework which originated from a case study involving IBM. The seven steps are:

1. Establish a point of view (i.e. a vision for a new way of doing something that is clear, credible and compelling).
2. Write a manifesto (i.e. a written description of why change is needed and what needs to be done).
3. Create a coalition.
4. Pick your (influence) targets.
5. Co-opt and neutralise (i.e. identify potential ‘blockers’ and seek to engage them and neutralise their opposing arguments).
6. Find a translator (e.g. a partner working at a more senior level).
7. Win small, win early, win often (e.g. start with a pilot project).

7. Use the most appropriate forms and styles of leadership

The most effective leaders are able to authentically use a wide variety of styles, and know when to switch to a more appropriate style (Goleman, 2000). One style that is suited to leading without authority is the transformational leadership style (Bass, 1985). Transformational leadership doesn’t rely on having position power, encourages individuals to put group needs ahead of individual needs, and if done well, generates extra effort from followers (Avolio et al., 2009).

Frameworks to understand transformational leadership include the Full Range Leadership Model (Bass & Avolio, 1994) and the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership framework (Kouzes & Posner, 2017; Kouzes et al., 2015). Both describe the behaviours that transformational leaders frequently use. For example, the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership framework includes the following sets of behaviours:

1. Model the way (e.g. find your voice by clarifying your personal values, and set the example by aligning actions with shared values).
2. Inspire a shared vision (e.g. envision the future by imagining exciting and ennobling possibilities, and enlist others in a common vision by appealing to shared aspirations).
3. Challenge the process (e.g. search for opportunities by seeking innovative ways to change, grow and improve, and experiment and take risks by constantly generating small wins and learning from mistakes).
4. Enable others to act (e.g. foster collaboration by promoting cooperative goals and building trust, and strengthen others by sharing power and discretion).
5. Encourage the heart (e.g. recognise contributions by showing appreciation for individual excellence, and celebrate the values and victories by creating a spirit of community).

Becoming an authentic leader is also a valuable form of leadership in this context (see George & Sims, 2007). Authentic leaders are self-aware (e.g. they know their life story, purpose and values), value honesty, integrity and doing the right thing, engage in relational transparency, and consistently act in accordance with their purpose and values. They also prioritise serving others, have a growth mindset (e.g. they look to expand their comfort zone), and are able to use a range of leadership styles. The primary benefit of this approach to leadership is that it results in high levels of trust, which fosters collaboration and creates opportunities for influence that do not rely on the leader having authority.

8. Prepare for resistance

As part of preparing a strategy to influence without authority, sustainability leaders would be wise to consider who is likely to provide opposition to the initiative, what arguments they are likely to use, and what countermeasures could be used to defuse these arguments. These countermeasures could include gathering data (e.g. costing information or customer feedback), or simply looking to communicate more effectively with people who could derail the initiative.

9. Start small and build from there

There are many benefits from starting a major initiative with a pilot project or a discrete first phase. These include the opportunity to demonstrate that the initiative is feasible, gather valuable information (e.g. costing data) that could be used to scale the project up, and provide something tangible for sceptical stakeholders to experience. Successful pilot projects also provide opportunities to engage important stakeholders (e.g. the media, executives and politicians), and cultivate one’s credibility as a sustainability leader (i.e. via social media).

10. Monitor, reflect, adjust, learn and persist

Major influence attempts really go as planned. This reflects that people and relationships are complex, and sustainability leaders typically work in a dynamic environment where many factors are beyond their control. Sustainability leaders would be wise to adopt a growth mindset, where attempts at influence are used as ‘practice fields’ for professional development. Getting into the habit of frequently reflecting as a sustainability practitioner is an important mechanism to accelerate the process of learning from experience (Porter, 2017).

Professor Angela Duckworth (2016) defines ‘grit’ as passion and sustained persistence when seeking to achieve long-term goals. The combination of grit, flexibility and resilience are valuable when seeking to influence without much authority. Sustainability leaders should expect some resistance to their attempts at exerting influence, occasional setbacks, and the need to adapt and persist.?

Closing thoughts

There is no escaping the fact that leading without much authority can be tough. The good news is that there are strategies that can be employed, such as those that have been shared in this article, that will increase your probability of success. The other bit of good news is that building the capacity to engage in this form of leadership will strengthen many of your most valuable ‘leadership muscles’ that will be needed for future leadership roles and experiences. My suggestion is to believe in your own ability to drive positive change, experiment with a broad range of strategies, frequently reflect, reframe any setbacks as learning experiences, and keep growing as a sustainability leader.

André Taylor, August 2021

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Dr André Taylor is a leadership development specialist and coach who teaches Masters students at several Australian universities, works closely with business, sustainability and water leaders, and manages his own consulting business. His professional purpose is to work with enthusiastic leaders to drive positive change and make the world a better place, whilst demonstrating values of integrity, enabling others, sustainability and continuous learning. In 2016 he co-developed a sustainability leadership course for Masters students at the Monash Sustainable Development Institute, and enjoys teaching this course each year.

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