8 strategies to influence others

The ability to impact and influence others is a key competency frequently identified in top leaders and performers.  It is your ability to impact and influence others which will propel you towards success in your career, regardless of your role and position in the organization. Yet the question that probably begs an answer is: Is it possible to influence others without authority? Thus here are 8 proven strategies you could consider to improve your ability to influence those around you:
Pressure: While it is one of the most commonly used techniques by many leaders who possess formal authority, it is largely considered to be an ineffective technique in the long run. When using the pressure technique, you are attempting to exert influence over others through the use of demands, threats or intimidation. While it may work effectively in the short-term, it may not always create change in the long-term as the use of pain as a motivator rarely creates sustainable change.
Legitimizing: Here, you are leverage and making reference to authority with the hope of pushing others to get things done. This tactic relies upon compliance with rules, laws, and regulations. It is not intended to motivate people but to align them behind a direction. While this is a relatively simple technique to employ, it does not always work very well in situations where the person you are attempting to influence is someone who habitually resists authority.
Exchanging: Unlike the first two techniques, exchanging is a "pull" technique that you can use to motivate others to take action. It frequently requires you to first identify the interests of the other party and propose give and take. In fact this method tends to be most effective when both sides see the outcome as a win-win situation. For instance, you might go up to someone and say: If I can help you to get x, will you do y for me?
Rational Persuasion: When using this influence technique, you are attempting to build reasoning around the other person’s logical frame of reference. Unfortunately this method tends to be less effective when used alone since people are highly emotional and not logical creatures. Use this technique in conjunction with the other techniques, and you are more likely going to get better results.
Alliance Building: While the exchanging technique works primarily for short-term mutual gain, alliance building often requires you and the other person to identify common goals together so that both of you could potentially build a synergistic long-term alliance or partnership. Common examples of alliances formed within organizations are unions that may threaten to strike if their demands are not met. So ask yourself the following questions: How can I build a positive alliance with this person in the long-run? What could still potentially go wrong?
Appealing to values: Possibly one of the most effective influence techniques, this requires you to seek first to understand what the other party values. Whenever you leverage on the values, emotions, and beliefs of others to gain support for a request or course of action, it tends to create sustainable results. Nonetheless, this strategy requires you to invest more effort and time in the beginning to understand the other person at a deeper level.
Appealing to established relationship: Relationship builds trust. And since it is virtually impossible for you to influence anyone without first gaining his/her trust, this is a very powerful influence strategy you may engage to increase your influence ability.
Consulting: Here, you can use open questions to gain information and explore the other person’s point of view. You would also need to be open to other person’s advice or suggestions. While this is a strategy that takes time to master, consulting is possibly one of the most effective methods you can use in organizations and cultures that value democratic decision making. This is also one of my favorite tools I use for selling to high-level customers. In conclusion, your ability to influence those around you boils down to your ability to master ALL the influence techniques stated above. Stay flexible with your approach and use different influence techniques to influence different types of people. Remember the old saying "different strokes work for different folks"!