How can you drive positive change in your organization through influence?

It's very important to hear the goals and challenges of every stakeholder. Once you have a good knowledge about what each actor expects on different scenarios, you are able to drive your strategy and provide a solid support. The key for the success is to get a balance between the expectations of the internal and external stakeholders. If you manage to do it, you succeeded.

Identifying stakeholders in an organization is one of the most helpful practices when you are new. I worked for one organization that had not created an organizational chart yet, so I talked to people and drafted my own chart, which I then shared with a few key stakeholders and got feedback on who else should be included. This process of creating a stakeholder map at the same time as an org chart helped me get to know all the key influencers in the organization and gain a better understanding of how decision making happened.

A good professional must take care of his image inside and outside the organization just like he was a product. When we go shopping, we always look into the brand, the quality of the item, and if it fulfills our expectations. People always want to buy good products, as they are reliable and better than the others, so you must always ensure you are the best in the shelf. You must stick to your values and have a solid and credible image. If people trust you, they will stop to hear you.

If you want your message to go through you need to involve the people. If they feel they are part of your vision, they will give you their attention. When you are transmitting your ideas, you must make sure your speech is adjusted to your audience, people are different, so despite the content is the same, you must use a language, examples, stories, analogies, that the listeners can feel identified.

To be able to listen is so important as to be able to communicate. Always make sure you listen to other people ideas and you know who surrounds you, before delivering a speech or sharing your vision.

As a leader or business influencer, celebrating little wins or progress is paramount. We spend hours discussing mistakes or debriefing what could have been better and often give little mention to small wins and progress. A simple approach is to measure progress – not just outcomes – against your goals. Making improvement month-over-month is a win – even when the goal for the month isn’t reached. Track multiple metrics (e.g., activity, progress, outcomes) to capture both leading and lagging indicators of performance. Celebrate progress, celebrate what you learn from a test - even when it isn’t successful, and celebrate outcomes.

Leading by example Nothing changes if you change nothing. The first step you must take to influence that change is doing it yourself. You must lead by example. Otherwise, you will be asking your employees to do things you do not do. "What do I have to change?" That depends on your organization's weaknesses and strengths. You might want to focus on improving those positive points instead of fixing the negative ones. It is clear that if you want to build a better company culture, you must start knowing every single one of your employees and showing them that they matter. Eventually, they will do the same to their colleagues, and you will have that positive change you sought.

Walk the walk. Actions really do speak louder than words. Far too often the “say-do” gap is made obvious when a leader says, and even means, something yet their own behaviours are not aligned. For example, if you are telling people they are important, then stop checking your email when you talk with them.