7 Strategies To Expand Your Influence

Two main factors determine your success.

First of all, is your motivation, your work ethic, your drive, your determination and will. How badly do you crave success? Do you want it so bad you can taste it in your mouth? Are you ready to make the required sacrifices to achieve your goals? To recover from setbacks and attempt pursuing your goals again?

In your journey, you'll definitely encounter your fair share of setbacks, challenges and obstacles. Without strong internal motivation, it is nearly impossible to overcome these and finally achieve success.

Secondly and just as important is your sphere of influence. Your audience, your ability to effect the decisions, development, or behavior of people. With considerable influence, you can achieve your goals faster, you can be more effective and create longer lasting values.

Your influence is like a muscle. Just like muscles can be developed and built with regular exercise, there are also certain actions that expand your influence. Being conscious of these actions and taking them on a frequent basis will result in increased influence with others.

Below, we are going to highlight a few of these actions that expand your influence if engaged in on a regular basis:-

1. Acting with Integrity: Influencing others is easier when they trust you and a reputation for integrity expands your influence. When you define your values and principles, let people know these and take actions or make decisions in ways that show you as consistent with said values and principles, you are deemed as someone who can be trusted. People have increased confidence in you making them more open to your suggestions and influence.

2. Regular Communication and Engagement: Frequently communicating with your audience, mentees or students also expands your influence. It is a basic of human psychology that we are most susceptible to the influence of those we spend the most time with and make the most communication with. Knowing this, you want to increase the frequency of your communications and engagements with those you intend to expand your influence on.

3. Regular display of Skill or Expertise: This has to do with credibility and authority - two critical enhancers of influence. When you are recognised as being truly skilled in your craft or as an expert in your field, you are seen as the go to figure for advice and suggestions. Your influence expands as a result. Therefore, you want to make displays of your skills and expertise a regular part of your operations and communications.

4. Self-Improvement: If being recognised as truly skilled or an expert in your field expands your influence, then it follows that you want to be truly skilled or an expert in your field.

As a skills based influencer, you want to continually work on mastering and sharpening your skill set. Constantly honing your skills will make regular displays easier and more effective.

Constantly reading and educating yourself also improves expertise. This process should include and exceed your particular field. Take classes, read books, do training and anything else possible to round out and expand your life experience, and thus expand your influence.

5. Working with other Influencers: Working, partnering or collaborating with other Influencers also expands your influence. This is a form of leverage. You can gain influence if these other influencers use their influences to promote your cause, business, product or service.

Since these other influencers have the trust of their audiences, you are perceived as trustworthy by these audiences since the people they follow are endorsing you. Extending your influence in this manner ultimately expands it.

6. Understanding People and their Proclivities: Your influence expands as your understanding of people, their motivations and proclivities deepen.

Everyone has a unique perspective on things. You increase your influence when you make it a point to understand others  – how they think, what they feel, what they want and need.

Using these knowledge as a basis, your ability to influence them in various ways expands.

7. Constantly Taking Action: The very act of expanding your influence entails constantly taking action. You can't be slow to act and expect your influence to expand, you have to continue making the moves that lead you closer to your goals.

Your influence cannot be expanded if you remain in the same patterns and habits that you currently have, or surround yourself with the same people. Being deliberate and proactive about trying new things, forming new connections, and meeting new people are all key if you are to become more influential.

Regardless of if you are leading, following, and/or collaborating, you need to influence others to be successful. And the more influence you have, the easier it will be to achieve this success.

By taking daily action on these strategies, you will experience a steady increase in your influential power and expedite your journey towards whatever destinations you desire.