Influence is such a vast topic to cover. To get a perspective about the same outside Toastmasters, I spoke to a leader within an organization. I spoke to a senior management executive who works at SAP SE, and he had very interesting insights to share. "I believe that influence is all about helping people believe the ultimate benefit. It is not about you, but about those who realize the ultimate goal and believe in you. People have to buy in themselves." It is important for everyone to be working on a same objective.
Ignore the differences, focus on similarities.
In terms when speaking about influence, it is important to understand how to resolve conflicts that rise through different styles. We couldn't skip an important point during our discussion which was about the solution to such conflicts. "I think you need to find a middle ground. Whenever there are disagreements between two people, they could be from your team or reporting to you, you should focus on the similarities and not differences. Ignore the differences, focus on similarities." he mentioned. I hadn't realized that such a simple, subtle but effective way existed to tackle conflicts.
Leadership is not about creating influence. It is about inspiring people.
However, we came to a conclusion that influence is not the highest thing. "Leadership is not about creating influence. It is about inspiring people. You don't need to be a manager to be a leader. You inspire people with your actions and that's it!" he said.
One key takeaway for me would be that whenever there are conflicts, focus on similarities and ignore the differences.
About the interviewee:
The person interviewed who preferred to stay anonymous, is a key management person at SAP SE who has several global teams reporting to him and looks after an extremely critical business unit at the organization. He has extensive experience in managing global teams at different capacities.
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