As more and more companies continue to flatten their organizational hierarchies and become more collaborative environments, we can expect to see more informal leaders rise up across every workplace.
Informal leaders are employees who don’t hold official leadership titles but have influence over other team members. They play a pivotal role in shaping an organization’s culture because their peers trust them to provide direction and often turn to them for guidance.
Anyone can be a leader and inspire and motivate others by building trust and genuine connections, so let’s explore what true leadership really means.
Here at The Center for Leadership Studies (CLS), we define leadership as influence.
Anyone has the power to influence others, change minds and enact new strategies that can help your company thrive, regardless of their role. These kinds of informal leaders are invaluable to organizations. They have the power to drive progress from any seat in the company, as they can build connections, drive change and shape culture.
While management and traditional leadership roles tend to prioritize workflow and operations, leaders in the truest sense are about influencing people. Whether that means encouraging someone to push for higher goals or mitigating conflicts between co-workers, leaders know how to make things happen and enact change for the better.
Every great leader has their own style and skills, but they all share a few key qualities that make them exceptional at building influence and making connections. Your best leaders are:
Building influence takes time, but the results are worth it. Whether you want to brush up on your skills or encourage others to do the same, these tips offer an excellent starting point for cultivating influence.
Anyone who wants to be a leader needs to have strong relationship-building skills. If you don’t know the people around you, you cannot effectively lead them or collaborate with them.
Start by connecting with the people in your vicinity. The ones who work closely with you can be your biggest supporters or your greatest challenges, so learning how to work effectively with them is crucial.
People value when leaders keep them informed. Develop a reputation as someone who shares information and communicates performance needs whenever possible, and you’ll grow to be a trustworthy professional who is dedicated to maintaining transparency.
It’s also important to deliver information in a clear, easy-to-understand way. You want to ensure the people you’re communicating with understand the “why” behind an update or directive. When they can connect your message to a greater purpose, they’ll feel more motivated to follow your lead.
Adaptability is perhaps the most important feature of a good leader. The ability to switch approaches or adjust to changes in the moment is critical, especially during times of transformation. The more agile and flexible you can be, the better you can grow your influence and effectively guide your team through challenging situations.
Building influence requires a proactive approach to performance, including addressing your performance needs as well as the needs of others.
Taking ownership of your own performance needs, regardless of your role, empowers you to become a trusted resource to others. This begins with an honest self-reflection and identifying areas where you need to develop new skills or overcome confidence-related roadblocks.
To address the performance needs of others, influential leaders take time to listen to team members and learn about their strengths and challenges they’re facing. You can influence others’ performance by helping them identify skills gaps so they know where to focus on developing new skills. You can also help them pinpoint psychological obstacles and coach them through these challenges.
By setting an example with your actions and words, you’ll help others establish a sense of trust in you. They’ll see that you live by the advice you share, which shows that you genuinely believe it.
Building trust is a key ingredient in effective leadership, whether formal or informal. The more you can lead by example, the more influential you can be.
At CLS, championing leaders is what we do. Our Situational Leadership® Model empowers individuals at every organizational level to take a proactive approach to their own development and sharpen their skills to become master influencers. Help your informal leaders grow by signing them up for our Situational Performance Ownership™ course. Here, they’ll learn how to maximize performance, boost efficiency and embrace accountability.
Explore our upcoming public workshops today or connect with our team to learn about private group opportunities for your leaders.
