I had always thought of leadership as requiring a managerial role, making critical decisions and giving instructions to others. I knew that there was more to leadership than authority, but I hadn’t thought much about how people could make a difference without a leadership position.
This was challenged in the Personal Leadership and Influence lecture. An interesting concept was that of personal power vs. position power. The difference between position power and personal power is that position power comes from organisational authority and responsibilities whereas personal power comes from expertise, effort, relationships and rightfulness. This prompted me to think about my time as an Account Manager and Digital Marketer. Working across disciplines and client relationships, I frequently had to be the one to make suggestions, provide feedback and motivate people to work together, yet I didn’t have direct control over everyone. It became clear to me that these activities were demanding leadership skills, including professional credibility, communication skills and leadership to impact decisions with evidence.
The Three R’s model of influence (retribution, reciprocity and reason) also challenged my understanding of how professionals gain cooperation that the lecture presented. It is appealing to me that it is backed up by facts, logical explanations and common values to justify recommendations. But I also realised its drawbacks. Even the best ideas can fail to be accepted if relationships and timing or organisational priorities are not considered. Therefore, it is important to rely on the influence backed by evidence and interpersonal consciousness. The key takeaway was that someone with professional expertise is not invariably influential. Additionally, the skills to articulate ideas are crucial such as listening to others’ perspectives and developing trust. This reflection had enabled me to understand leadership qualities that I aim to expand on, influencing without formal authority and evidence-based persuasion.
Looking forward, I will be more confident to contribute to strategic discussions and providing recommendations with the relevant evidence and asking questions about constructive feedback on how well I communicate my ideas. I’d also like to try to get input from colleagues as opposed to just trying to get them to agree with my ideas. My understanding of leadership no longer means you have to reach a certain point in your career before you can be a leader, and it’s your responsibility to show leadership in your day-to-day work. Therefore, leadership doesn’t depend on the power itself, it is based on the trust we establish, the value we provide and the positive impact we generate.
Leadership doesn’t depend on the power itself, it is based on the trust we establish, the value we provide and the positive impact we generate.