While there is no doubting the impact that talented leaders and individuals can have on culture and business performance, a great team has
Behaviour is at the core of organisational culture, so it should come as no surprise that influencing the behaviour of others is a critical component of a business’ culture journey. But how do you do that?
Understanding how to influence the behaviours of your team for the better is a key component of effective modern leadership. It helps achieve team synergy, encouraging each individual to buy into the work they are doing and support one another, as well as wider company goals. In this article, we will focus on equipping your leaders to use their influence to help increase team efficiency and employee engagement. Discover practical examples of how influence can shape a positive working environment.
Workplace influence is used to affect the actions and behaviours of team members. It is a vital aspect of effective leadership and helps build trust within the organisation. It is important that you do not confuse influence with manipulation. Influence is all about persuading and guiding others towards positive habits and behaviours, and is built on trust. It is about employees buying into the work they are doing and genuinely caring about making a change. Whereas, manipulation suggests deception and coercion.
Influence is important, as it helps to naturally drive your team towards positive outcomes, helping them realise their true potential. It also establishes trust between team members and their leadership, fostering a collaborative and open working environment.
Practical examples of influence in the workplace include:
Leaders are the key element in influencing and shaping employee behaviour. Most leaders are fully aware that they need to influence the behaviours of their direct reports as well as other staff if they want to lead a successful business. However, many feel ill-equipped to do this.
Leadership development and training activities are commonplace in most businesses, but they often focus on hard skills and much less on soft skills. When they do, they often deal with practical issues, such as managing conflict, giving feedback, or building consensus in a team. Whilst those are useful tools to have, they are not quite enough to start influencing behaviours at a deeper level.
Influencing behaviour is easy because you don’t need to learn new skills. At the same time it is tricky because it is something you need to do all the time. Not every morning, or at certain times, but on a continual basis.
Influencing behaviour is not about hard skills, but much more about understanding oneself and understanding one’s impact on the social dynamics at play in the organisation. Here are some of the things that you, as a leader, can start doing immediately to influence the behaviour of the people around you.
This is where it all starts. Role model the behaviours you want to see others adopt, and you will see a big difference. However, you need to do this consistently, over time. If you slip from time to time, or even just once on a key behaviour, you risk losing the result of all your hard work.
Symbols are all the little (or big) things you do and which send a strong message. For example, the language you use is one symbol that is easy to change. How you spend your time and what you spend your budget on sends a strong signal about what you value.
By reinforcing your messages with well-chosen symbols, you will speed up the adoption of certain behaviours. When selecting symbols, you should pay attention to the cultural context you operate in because it may change how people perceive them. For example, speaking up freely in Indonesia will be frowned upon unless you have made it clear that it is expected in the organisation.
Every decision you make sends a message about what is important. Where you focus your energy will focus the energy of others, so pay attention – and make wise decisions.
A client of mine wanted to increase accountability and empowerment and decided to abolish the Leadership Team as a decision-making body, pushing the decision-making down in the organisation. This was reinforced with clear communication explaining why the decision was made. This initiative sent shock waves through the business, and people started taking accountability.
Standards of behaviour are essential in helping people understand what the behaviour means and how to apply it. For example, for a behaviour such as “Dress appropriately”, you may establish a standard like “Always wear a suit and tie when meeting clients”.
Habits are behaviours that have become unconscious over time. Identify the habits that need to be changed around you and help people to adopt the new routine. For example, you may want to change meeting times, location, or agendas.
All the above actions need to be considered in the context of the environment that you operate in.
If so, you need to tweak/adapt/review your decisions, symbols, or standards.
If so, how can you take this into account and make sure that your message is still heard?
At the end of the day, what matters is not so much the messages that you send, but how they are received. For example, you may be wondering why you have been doing what you consider to be the right thing for 12 months, and your staff have not changed yet. This may mean that you need to adopt an outside-in view of your leadership. Essentially, you need to forget the leader you are. Instead, put yourself in the shoes of your direct reports or colleagues, and see the world through their eyes. How does the environment distort the messages you’ve been sending?
Ultimately, influencing behaviour is only possible when:
If you are still unsure about how to influence behaviour after reading this blog, we are here to help. We can help your leaders become effective pioneers of your desired behaviours.
For further insights, view our selection of case studies, ebooks, reports and white papers or contact us to learn how we can transform your culture.
