Leading with Influential Structure

I’ve based everything we’ve looked at to this point on the idea of Leveraging Leadership Growth and the strength you and I can each gain through great professional relationships. The framework for relational leadership is crucial, intentionally integrating humility and investing appropriately so we can nurture each relationship we create and build. Then, and only then, will we have any hope of earning the kind of influence necessary to drive the framework’s success.

In the third chapter of What’s KILLING Your Profitability? I explained how “It All Starts at the Top” by detailing the difference between leading a team and managing a process. I emphasized that while the skills required vary greatly, the results we achieve will be exponentially better with both in place. While the authority that accompanies a management role is often critical in driving profitability within an organization, it won’t necessarily yield the same result as we work to strengthen professional relationships - especially since authority won’t be a factor in many of the most important relationships we’ll be working to build.

In building our relational framework, more than any other aspect of our professional lives, influence takes precedence over authority. As I’ve shared several times here previously, I’ve never had positional authority over anyone; but every role I’ve had since early 2000 has required me to achieve results through other team members. As challenging as it was just to understand what that required early on, figuring out how to crack that nut and constantly working to earn influence with each group I’ve interacted with since has indeed helped me establish some amazing professional relationships and it’s yielded the kind of discretionary effort that I would have never seen through authority alone. That influence, more than any other thing I can point to, has allowed me to leverage my own leadership growth.

I often define leadership as the act of serving others; not by doing for them what they can and should be doing for themselves, but by doing for them what they cannot do for themselves so that everything they are able to do is more effective. That act of serving others is the best way I’ve found to earn the kind of influence that drives a relational framework’s success long-term, the kind with measurable impact. Before working through the importance of measuring relational success, though, I’ll challenge you to identify the opportunities you have right now to lead tasks through the influence you’ve earned rather than from the authority of your position or title. If your list is shorter than you’d like, look for ways to earn more influence so you can expand that list.