Charm Your Way to Influencing Everyone

It's no secret that it's important to be a positive influence on those around you. From my experience, this is especially true in the office. It's good to keep morale up, and if you're someone who is in a managerial role, it's very important to be influential in a positive manner. Face it - influence matters, and it's not exactly easy to be influential in a positive way. However, with that said, I'm confident that I can help.

Here, I want to share with you some tips on how you can influence others in a positive way around the office.

1. Identify your style: Self-awareness is where it all begins. Do you use the same exact approach to both groups and individuals? No matter what your style is, you want to incorporate one trait, and that is that you're considerate and will listen to everyone around you and take everyone's thoughts, concerns, and ideas into consideration. This goes a long way in making people feel appreciated, which will make you a positive influence.
2. Challenge those around you: One of the most important things you can do to influence others is to challenge those around you. If there's a tough situation on the hands of you and your staff, offer your own ideas and potential solutions, but really challenge them to offer their own as well. This will be a positive influence on those around you in that by feeling challenged in any given situation, they'll feel that they can always have something to contribute and that their opinions and suggestions are actually valued. This can go a really long way.
3. Listen to suggestions: People want to be heard, and for you to be listening to the opinions, ideas, and suggestions of others, it certainly shows positive influence in that it shows true engagement. Again, people want to feel valued and want to feel like their suggestions and opinions matter, so it's very important to give them both that platform and opportunity. In my personal experiences, in a managerial role, I've seen great success with this. For example, if a certain situation arises that creates differing opinions, it's of great benefit to hear everyone's opinion. From a standpoint of being influential, it shows people that listening to those around you is one of the true traits of a great leader.
4. Tell people what they need to hear: In terms of being influential, it's important to always try to say the right things and to not say the wrong things. Albert Einstein once famously said, "Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you anywhere." Be influential on your staff in that they should be imaginative. This is important in inspiring creativity in the workplace and establishing you as someone who shines with influence among their peers.

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How do you try to be influential in your life and to inspire those around you? Let myself and the readers know in the comments below!