You need both of these for leadership influence
Have you ever walked away from a leadership course thinking, “OK…now what?” You gained insights and deepened your skills, but at the end of the day you had no idea how to use them to actually create change.
Gaining skills, and learning how to apply them strategically, are different things. For example, you may learn to speak with clarity, confidence, and engagement. That’s a great skill. But unless you learn how to apply it to persuade an audience or influence decisions, it won’t take you far.
The combination of skill building and the strategic application of skills is central to the Leadership Strategies Series. In and of themselves, every skill learned or built upon is valuable. It’s the art of applying these skills that matters most to us though – because that’s where real change happens.
Skill building for leadership influence
We use the Venn diagram below to highlight the 3 skills critical to effective leadership at a senior executive level. They are also our core focus in the series, and essential for leadership influence:
As each skill overlaps, it develops another important skill, with the ultimate combination enabling you to be a future-focused leader who can drive meaningful change.
In acquiring these skills, and the wisdom to put them to work for yourself and your team, you are stepping beyond any traditional view of leadership.
You start to let go of impeding ideas, such as the need to be an ‘expert’ who has all the answers all the time. Instead, you embrace what it means to be an orchestrator – someone who draws on the right skills, at the right time, in the right way to make magic happen.
When we talk about the ‘wisdom to put the skills to work’, we’re not being abstract. In fact, we have very clear methodologies in place to help people achieve this. Activities such as a Credibility and Alignment Audit, which is a great way to measure leadership influence, is one example.
Skill application for leadership influence
A Credibility and Alignment Audit is an insightful activity to help you measure your current level of influence and chart a path for increasing it.
As the name suggests, it will help you uncover if you have:
- High credibility + high alignment (trusted advisor, lots of influence). People see you as very credible and aligned with key priorities.
- High credibility + low alignment (technical expert, less influence). You’re recognised for your knowledge but aren’t aligned with key priorities.
- Low credibility + high alignment (supporter, less influence). You understand priorities but lack recognition which limits your impact.
- Low credibility + low alignment (outsider, no influence). You’re not recognised as capable and aren’t aligned with key priorities.
This activity works just as well in a team context, if you want to uncover why your team may be struggling to gain recognition or influence. It sheds light on what skills you need to apply and where, when greater influence is your goal.
We do this activity, and many others, together in the Leadership Strategies Series. They’re one tool we use to equip participants with what they need to elevate their leadership, and ensure everyone leaves with a personal roadmap for success.
To learn more about the Leadership Strategies Series, feel free to: