How Highly Effective Leaders Gain Power and Influence

Let me begin by saying I don’t like definitions of leadership.

Why?

Because everyone has one, and we’re not likely to agree on a standard definition anytime soon.

The last time I checked, there are literally thousands of them…

In my experience, how one defines leadership is not nearly as important as the “what” and “how” of leadership, meaning “what” highly effective leaders do and “how” they do it.

Ultimately, the effectiveness of a leader is defined and measured by his/her ability to do two things:

#1. To achieve exceptional organizational results

#2. To build high-performing teams that win

Therefore, the “what” of leadership is the ability to achieve exceptional organizational results.

And the “how” of leadership is the ability to build high-performing teams that win.

Think about it for a moment, because it’s so true.

Highly effective leaders achieve exceptional organizational results (#1) by building high-performing teams that win (#2).

An effective leader can’t get results alone and he/she can’t even begin to try without a team.

So, if we expand this framework, how do the most highly effective leaders gain more power and influence?

Yep, you heard me correctly.

Effective leaders gain more power by giving it all away.

They recognize that by empowering their team members to exercise judgment and make decisions, the team members take care of the customers and the business takes care of itself.

Instead of answering each team member’s questions, highly effective leaders ask better questions that are more open-ended.

The result is you gain even more power because you’re coaching your team how to learn, rather than teaching them.

The #1 way to gain influence is to be vulnerable.

Sound touchy-feely?

Here’s why it’s not: When I talk about vulnerability, I’m not talking about being weak or submissive.

True vulnerability implies the courage to be your true self.

It means replacing professional distance with fear, uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.

Examples of vulnerability include asking team members for help, admitting you don’t have the right answer, taking responsibility for something that went wrong, saying you’re sorry, forgiving others, sharing things going on in your personal life, or sitting by the bedside of a colleague or employee with an illness.

It’s personal.

It’s authentic.

It shows.

And your people know it.

Don’t believe me?

>> Watch this Ted talk by Brene Brown

So, here’s the ultimate framework to gain more power and influence as a leader.

Step #1 is to be more vulnerable.

The more vulnerable you are, the more quickly you build trust (Step #2).

The stronger the trust, the deeper the influence (Step #3).

If you do these three things, starting at the bottom of the pyramid, it becomes much easier to achieve the “what” and “how” of leadership.

Highly effective leaders (1) achieve exceptional organizational results by (2) building high-performing teams that win.

And it all starts with being more vulnerable.

*ABOUT THE AUTHOR*

Brian Reese is the Founder & CEO of VA Claims Insider — the most trusted name in education-based resources for veterans.

He is a former active duty Air Force officer with extensive experience leading hundreds of individuals and multi-functional teams in challenging international environments, including a combat tour to Afghanistan in 2011.

Brian is a Distinguished Graduate of Management from the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO and he holds an MBA from Oklahoma State University’s Spears School of Business, Stillwater, OK, where he was a National Honor Scholar (Top 1% of Graduate School class).

You can find him online here: https://vaclaimsinsider.com/

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.