How to Lead Without Power: The Three C’s  One very common question that I’m asked is, “How do I lead up?”

Line supervisors and middle management often feel trapped and frustrated. They are trying to produce success while navigating the downstream impacts of upstream decisions or practices. They often don’t feel like they have a “voice” up.

But they aren’t alone. CEOs can feel similarly as they work with their boards.

And a related question, “How do I lead sideways?” is often asked by board members themselves, partners in a company, or even colleagues on a team.

The real question is, “How do I influence change when I don’t have power?” It’s a great question.

My entire career is based on my ability to answer this question. As a consultant, I have no power. Zero. No client hands me a checkbook or delegates authority to me.

But I do have influence. In fact, it’s all that I have. So, I pay close attention to its cultivation and retention.

Power vs Influence

First, let’s define a couple of terms:

• Power: Power is the ability to make something happen. For most leaders, this is derived through their position and the resources or opportunities they control.
• Influence: Influence is the ability to affect or shape how someone thinks, decides or acts. Usually in important ways. For most leaders, this is developed through earning the trust and respect of others.

Power and influence aren’t mutually exclusive. And there aren’t fixed lines between the two.

Power can be more straightforward to obtain – climb the corporate ladder. But because it is often tied to position, it can easily be lost.

Influence usually takes time to build. The results are less guaranteed. But because it is nearly always tied to your reputation as a person, it is more easily sustained through external changes.

Who needs influence?

Power, exercised on its own, tends towards either coercive or transactional leadership. That is, it is compliance-focused – usually through some form of carrots and/or sticks. As long as others feel rewarded for compliance or are afraid of the consequences of non-compliance, it can work.

Influence allows leaders to persuade how others think, decide and act without forcing it. This can be exercised with or without having power. Because it is about persuasion rather than compliance, it can initially take more time, but over the long term requires less effort to sustain.

There are times for both. Neither is right or wrong. They are tools. Everything depends on how the tools are used.

How is influence built?

Whether you are a CEO working on expanding your use of your “tools” or you don’t even have a leadership role but are drawn to impact change – the core principles for building influence are the same. Influence is built through cultivating the Three C’s:

• Credibility
• Competency
• Care

Credibility: Credibility is the currency of leadership. It means two things. First: Can you be trusted? Will you do what you say you will do? Second: Do your actions consistently reflect the character you claim?

Building credibility takes time and opportunity. Some very high potential leaders lack credibility just because they haven’t given it the time to develop or taken the opportunities that allow others to observe them. To correct this, cultivate patience but also look for opportunities to put yourself on display.

The executive coaching process I use is highly transparent for three reasons: It creates the accountability that drives results, it regularly solicits inputs from a leader’s stakeholders – so we know what needs to be targeted, and it helps stakeholders recognize the growth and change that has occurred.

Many executives work hard to grow or change in some way. But if people’s attention isn’t being called to it – they often won’t notice.

Other leaders lack credibility because they don’t follow through, aren’t consistent, or act in ways that are dissonant with their stated values. If that is your experience, then you need to correct this. To begin this, start acting credibly: Follow through, be consistent and act in alignment with stated values.

When repairing credibility, sometimes even more time and opportunity are needed for people to change their perspectives.

Competency: The ability to do something well creates influence. When you are known for being competent and the competency is reliable and consistent, your influence will grow.

Technical skills matter. Also, they are usually (not always) a given. Especially as they relate to the core service or functions of your organization or team. But there are two areas of competency that many leaders overlook:

• • Self-mastery: Being disciplined with your own priorities, time, health, and emotions matters. Leaders who are seen as “in control of themselves” are more highly regarded than those who seem like wild cards.
  • Leadership: The ability to actually lead – to align people’s actions around a shared vision, is often overlooked. This includes being able to set an example, to mentor and grow others, to challenge people and processes when appropriate, and to be encouraging.

Regularly cultivate your key competencies. Expand on them when you can. Find opportunities to use your competencies, especially to bring value to others. This will help others recognize them.

Care: Teddy Roosevelt said, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” When people believe you care about them and the people or things that matter to them, they are more open to being influenced by you.

This is a soft skill. Some leaders seem to come by it naturally. For others, it feels very foreign. I’ve met many leaders who did care about others but resisted the idea that it might be helpful to act and speak in ways that caused others to know it. They struggle to persuade people as a result.

Speaking candidly, my personal approach is often very objective and matter-of-fact. Over the years, I’ve found that people readily recognize that I’m credible and competent. But, especially earlier in my career, I didn’t appreciate how important it was that they felt I cared about them.

Going back to the Roosevelt quote, if we don’t care about others – that’s a problem. But even if we do care but don’t demonstrate that in a way that others recognize – it’s still a problem.

In my mind, being credible and competent was an expression of care. But, for many, empathy and encouragement were lacking. As I’ve worked on that over the years, my influence has grown.

The Three C’s Combined

Credibility, Competency, and Care allow you to cultivate a significant influence. When other people know you for all three of these characteristics – they are much more open to allowing you to shape how they think, decide and act. In fact, they aren’t just open to it, they will often begin to seek you out.

Influence takes more time to build. But, if maintained, can ultimately help you accomplish far more.

Questions for growth:

• Which is the most natural for you? How can you lean into that strength?
• Which is the most challenging? How can you grow in this area?

Take good care,

Christian

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