Earning Influence & Power in the Workplace

Conversations about leadership, corporate culture, and management have revolved around the upheaval of command-and-control structures and approaches. It can be easy to forget that this upheaval comes with implicit assumptions that often condemn people’s intentions. 

For example, someone who is doing a job to wield influence may be seen as opportunistic, although she isn’t necessarily a bad manager or a bad leader. The ends do not justify the means we have often heard; they also don’t determine them.

In other words, there are many ways to accomplish a goal. 

Some Research into Power & Influence

Research reveals that there are three predominant reasons why people go into management or accept administrative roles. The first is social affiliation, or the need to identify with and/or be liked by a group; the second is the need for achievement; and the third is the desire for power, as in, power in a group.

Being Political and Moral

There is a misconception that thinking about power or acting politically is innately deceitful or fraught with disingenuousness. Certainly there are people who act in this way and do reprehensible things, but that isn’t a function of acting politically, it’s a function of sidestepping or stepping on people around you. It’s a function of prioritizing ulterior motives over group priorities.

All that being said, if you want to compete in an environment infested with people like that, you need to know how to play the game, no matter the sector. That’s why I have put together these tips.

It’s my attempt to arm you with the tools to compete and succeed in organizational environments.

The 9-step Plan

1. Let People Know About You

The people in managerial and administrative positions in your workplace are probably so preoccupied with their own work that they don’t have time to notice the finer points of your work. Don’t assume that your boss is aware of your progress. Sure, she will notice big achievements or when you complete an assigned task well, but much is lost in the day-to-day.

As such, the first order of business is to make sure that your boss notices your accomplishments and your effort. The easiest way to do this is to tell them. It’s a simple matter of mere exposure. 

Social psychologist Robert Zajonc studied the mere exposure effect at length and described it as the phenomenon that people prefer and choose what is familiar to them.

People like what they remember, and that includes you. 

2. Cultivate and Hold Onto Influence

People change over their lives. As you can change, you can develop qualities that help you cultivate power and eventually, hold on it. The first step to any self-improvement is the belief that you can indeed change. You must believe that you can better yourself in deliberate and predetermined ways. 

After that, you must assess your strengths and weaknesses dispassionately. Don’t zero-in on negative traits more than positive ones: consider them on a par and decide how to treat each one.

And, lastly, you must identify what traits are most important in your environment and work on harnessing those. Each space and culture will vary slightly so it’s up to you to make those evaluations.

3. Where You Start Affects Where You Will Go

Not all starting points are created equal, not all career paths are the same.

Some people have more advantages than others; some people create advantages for themselves; some people enjoy tremendous amounts of luck. The first and the last of these are largely out of your control, so there is little to no risk involved. The second is riddle with missed opportunities, risk, disappointments, and, alternatively, the satisfaction of a mission accomplished.

When looking to place yourself in a position to succeed, you don’t want to throw yourself into the shark tank immediately. You want to locate the places from where the shark tank draws its power and go there, or, identify niches where potential for growth exists that few people have stepped into.

4. Staying Silent Is Worse than Being Rejected

You may not have heard of Reginald Lewis, but he taught me a valuable lesson.

He was a successful African American corporate lawyer and founder of a buyout firm, TLC Group. Although his story isn’t consigned to the history books, it’s legendary.

He was the first black man to own a company with revenues over $1 billion back in the 1980s. He grew up in a downtrodden part of Baltimore, aspiring to study law at Harvard Law School. After he graduated from Virginia State University he was accepted into a Rockefeller Foundation-funded program where he discovered that those accepted were ineligible for admission to Harvard Law School. He defiantly approached the dean of admission, argued that his presence at the school would be mutually beneficial, and became the first person to gain admission to Harvard Law School before even applying.

Lewis understood that the worst that could happen from asking for something would be getting turned down. And if he were turned down, so what? People who ask and do not receive are no worse off than those who don’t ask in the first place. 

5. Networking Is about Relationships 

Ever since I read this definition of networking from Hans-Georg Wolff and Klaus Moser, I never forgot it:

“Behaviors that are aimed at building, maintaining and using informal relationships that possess the (potential) benefit of facilitating work-related activities of individuals by voluntarily gaining access to resources and maximizing advantages” 

This covers a broad array of behaviors. What I like is that it emphasizes intention, and the key verbs of “building, maintaining and using” informal relationships.

The focus should always be on cultivating relationships with others, not exploiting them. There must be some reciprocity there for it to work.

6. Safeguard Your Reputation

Your reputation is the highest capital you have, so you should be deliberate about how others perceive you. Don’t leave this to chance. Granted you cannot ever wield full control over the perception that others hold, but there is a large degree of influence you possess here. Let your actions, words, and outputs always align with a predetermined moral compass, wherever it may point. 

One way to safeguard your reputation is to not avoid conflict. Surely you don’t want to create it, but when it arises, be prepared to confront it with temperance.

A few things to remember is that a little tenderness can go a long way, and so too can leaving people a graceful out. Do not let your emotions get the best of you. It’s fine to feel them. It’s not fine to let them steer. Also, don’t take things personally.

7. Don’t Get Overconfident 

Studies have shown that those who believe that they wield influence tend to get overconfident, which results in greater risk-taking, less social regard, and stereotyping, and tendency to see others as means. I advise that any intimation of these feelings and beliefs be dispelled immediately. They only cause you—and others—harm.

8. Politics Aren’t Inescapably Nefarious

Many people have an aversion to politics. They like to think that there is some way of opting out of “office politics.” As almost any Ancient Greek philosopher would tell you, we are political animals. Everything we do is part of the body politic, whether we want it to be or not. There is nothing inherently undesirable about that.

Politics can take many forms. It’s up to you to decide what kind of political animal you want to be. Some politics can support general well being, job satisfaction, and career development, while others can prioritize influence over people engendering cut-throat workplaces where dissatisfaction is high.

9. Find the Right Place for You 

And last but not least, find the right place for you. To do this you must be brutally honest about your strengths, weaknesses and preferences. Your motive should be self-enhancement and you cannot do that if you aren’t happy at your workplace. Part of the reason some people express unhappiness about their job is because they feel confined. Don’t let others trap you or coerce you into behaviors you don’t condone. And always objectively analyze the workplace.

What opportunities are there, what room for growth is there, who will you work with and how can they further your career. These are objective questions that help guide your decision-making and put you in a position to succeed.