This text is taken from the original draft manuscript of Influential Leadership: A Leader’s Guide to Getting Things Done and is provided here to enrich your learning on the Strategic Influencer Programme.
Having explored the nature of the arena you wish to exercise your leadership in, now you need to consider the different options which you could pursue, and settle on one which will become your Leadership Purpose. It will become the purpose which you apply all of the ideas in this book, and one which will help you to learn more about being an Influential Leader.
It doesn’t really matter how bold you are being, provided you have made a clear decision what to be bold about. Leadership is measured by substantial achievement, but it is also preceded by much trial and error. So start where you feel comfortable and stretch further as your confidence grows.
Considering the Options
Returning to the arena you have been thinking about, assemble a range of options that you could make your Leadership Purpose. Again, some questions to help you think this through:
- How should it change to succeed in the current climate?
- What does it need to stop doing, start doing or completely transform?
- What significant cultural or mind-set shifts need to take place?
- List three things you think should change — significant things.
- Are these ideas radical enough, and different from what other prominent people are saying?
- What would create a seismic shift in this arena?
Okay, now it’s time to begin making the decision – what is your Leadership Purpose going to be? Try to formulate two or three visions of the future which you could focus on. Deciding which one to go for may take a little while to finalise.
- Which option is most attractive/fun/exciting to you?
- Which is of critical importance to you?
- How do the risks and rewards compare? For you and for others?
- What are the different timescales involved?
- How much effort might each take?
- How will each option affect other people in your private life?
- Which will be the most stretching?
- How do the options compare in terms of feasibility?
Feasibility is a tricky word and needs to be handled with care. Apart from technical probabilities, feasibility is an emotional judgement. What is feasible to one person may be ludicrous to another. Much depends on your experience, competence and personal disposition. Aiming low will make things easier, more assured, but less exciting. Aiming too high introduces the risk of being labelled a dreamer, heretic and rousing resistance. However the higher you aim, the more you deliver, provided you have the tenacity to keep going. Feasibility is actually very personal.
You also need to take care when involving others at this early stage. Well-meaning friends are often quite good at knocking down your dreams and helping you to be realistic. All substantial change in the world began with a single person making a stand against everyone else, daring to be different, and having the courage to stick their neck out and be bold.
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If you are just starting out as an Influential Leader, start aiming a little ahead of reality and make it a short term purpose. As you progress in your practice, gradually increase your ambition and stretch further.
Once you’ve made a decision about what you want to focus on, what you want your Leadership Purpose to be, write it down in a sentence or two.
Creating a Compelling Vision
If your purpose is bold enough to warrant it, you will achieve a great deal more progress if you can articulate it in a compelling way. Because of the challenge of criticism, the stronger this is, the better. You will be striking out against the tide of public opinion and will need to prepare your approach as well as possible. This will help you to motivate people to first take notice, and then make a decision to support you before finally committing wholeheartedly to helping you to turn your vision into a reality.
To maximise attention, support and commitment, your vision needs to be:
- Exciting: With so many ideas competing for attention around your organisation, where’s the buzz that will make stakeholders sit up and take notice of yours? If you are struggling to get excited about your goal, why would anyone else?
- Touchable: Stakeholders need to believe it is within reach. This is a difficult one, but unless people can believe it is capable of being realised, they will be reluctant to put effort into helping making it a reality.
- Logical: Not normally a word you might associate with vision, but whatever vision you are putting out there needs to be credible and people need to believe it’s a good thing to aim for. It has to fit with everything else, or be an appropriate way of disrupting the status quo.
- Beneficial: Along with stakeholders being able to almost touch your vision, they also need to feel they will fit into the new world and will be a beneficiary. While some altruistic individuals may accept their own demise, they are rather few and far between. And when I say benefit, I mean that they will benefit more from the realisation of your vision than from any competing visions vying for their attention and buy-in.
Based on the description of the purpose you created earlier, re-write it taking account of the ideas above and try to create a single page flyer which could be used to get people excited about your purpose and vision.
If you are finding it difficult to develop a compelling vision, consult more widely about how others imagine what the world would be like with your purpose achieved. You can also start to imagine it from other people’s perspectives. How might a customer describe the world with your goal achieved? What about other teams within the organisation – how might they describe it to their friends?
If you cannot make a big goal compelling to the people you will need to influence, you are likely to be faced with an ongoing struggle to get them on your side, and keep them on your side. The bigger the purpose, the more sensible it is to enlist the help of PR, marketing or communications professionals.
Right now, don’t worry too much about creating a polished finished product, run with a decent working draft and improve as you progress in the most appropriate way.
The Gautrey Influence Blog
Ever felt overlooked, unheard, or stuck in office politics? You’re not alone. The Gautrey Influence Blog breaks down the real-world strategies behind leadership, influence, and power—giving you the tools to be heard, respected, and successful. Join 35,000+ professionals getting ahead the smart way—subscribe now..
💡 Benchmark your Influence: Take the Master of Influence Assessment (Free for Subscribers!)
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