Influencing


Consider the following dictionary definitions:

˜Influence the power of producing an effect, especially unobtrusively; the effect of power exerted; a person exercising such power; a spiritual influx .

˜Influential effectively active in bringing something about .

In his book Working with Emotional Intelligence , Goleman (1999) includes influence within our social competence (determining how we handle relationships). He defines influence as ˜wielding effective tactics for persuasion , and explains that people with this competence:

  • are skilled at winning people over;

  • fine-tune presentations to appeal to the listener;

  • use complex strategies like indirect influence to build consensus and support;

  • orchestrate dramatic events to effectively make a point.

When you are influencing someone, you are attempting to alter his or her perceptions, views, beliefs, attitudes etc. This means helping the person to make sense of your views, think them through, accept them and then act upon them. It therefore relies upon the way you communicate with that person.

Influencing others involves finding a communication style that works with the other person, so that they are more likely to hear and understand you. Your coachee is more likely to be influenced by you if he or she can relate to what you are saying; the only way you are going to be able to say something that your coachee can relate to, is if you have listened to him or her and attempted to understand his or her situation.

People with influence have presence. They behave confidently, which adds to their credibility in the eyes of others. If you use the other skills within this section, you are likely to be an effective influencer.

In the coaching relationship, as the coach you probably have the balance of power: either because of your position in the organization or because of the way the coachee views you. Positional power has limited use in the coaching relationship; best results are achieved by using your personal skills to influence the coachee.




The Coaching Handbook. An Action Kit for Trainers & Managers
Coaching Handbook: An Action Kit for Trainers and Managers
ISBN: 074943810X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 130

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