The art of management by influence

In the old order of management, there was a distinct framework of hierarchy and the trappings of power were clearly visible. It was a kind of caste system, where the higher echelons had reserved car parking spaces, exclusive elevators, red carpet offices, ornamental desks, and separate dining rooms.

The old order is changing now, and respect for hierarchy is evaporating. The self-styled elites, however, may still want to believe that old is gold, but no one else does. Although the hierarchical syndrome was instrumental in creating a congenial working environment for the employees, it imprisoned them as well. Success came only to those who were reconciled to climb the corporate ladder one step at a time.

Influence prima facie seems to be enigmatic and mysterious, much like charisma. But, in fact, it is not the case. The profile and personality of an influential manager is rather plain and commonplace. However, he has some basic traits that distinguish him from most other managers. The influencer has a web of willing allies. He is at the right place at the right time. He converts every crisis into an opportunity.

The year was 1959, when I had just joined a British tyre manufacturing company in Madras as a management trainee in the production department. As a bolt from the blue, the brand new boiler used for producing steam had broken down.

Steam is used in large quantities to mould and vulcanise tyres in the finishing section. The boiler supplier said he would need three weeks to set the problem right.

Our Factory Manager (FM) was a Britisher who had come to India in 1936 as an instructor, to train the workers on the shop floor at the Calcutta factory. He had risen to his present position by sheer merit. His influence with the workers was legendary. Quickly, he gathered all the staff and operators — about 500 people — in a meeting on the shop floor and sought their cooperation to meet the crisis. He was not using his authority — but was eliciting loyalty and goodwill by working with his influence.

To cut the long story short, the FM went and met the General Manager of Southern Railway at Perambur, and procured an old and unused locomotive, which was set up adjacent to the Boiler House. In the meanwhile, under his instructions, the Personnel Department identified about 15 operators who had prior experience working in the engine room of ships in the merchant navy.

The purchasing department had simultaneously procured adequate coal for firing the locomotive. Less than 36 hours after the boiler breakdown, the factory started moulding tyres and sent them into the market. What came as a crisis had, in fact, been turned into an outstanding learning opportunity.

Thus, good influencers display skills and behaviour patterns that anyone can learn and acquire. Creating influence in order to score and win over people in management is, indeed, a fine art in the above sense of the term.

Influence reinforces itself

Influencing is autogenic and self-reinforcing. The more influential a manager becomes, the easier it is for him to acquire even more influence. More and more people will be motivated to jump onto his bandwagon. Thus, the manager will be enabled to accomplish more and more things through other people.

Influential managers do not depend on their office and status for power. They create their own brand of informal power. The easiest way for a manager to gain influence is to borrow it from someone else. People borrow money for a short term on their credit cards. They borrow money for a long term, perhaps, on a mortgage.

In the same way, managers can borrow influence both in the short term and the long term. In the short term, borrowed influence comes from the power of endorsement. Long-term borrowing comes from the power of patronage — making alliances with the right power centres in the organisation.

The power of endorsement through a celebrity who is in the public eye is tremendous. Advertising agencies understand this dictum very well. When Sachin Tendulkar is projected as the protagonist of a product, consumers are inclined to go for that product in a big way.

In the ultimate analysis, the biggest source of power and influence is the organisation itself. As soon as a person joins a company, he at once inherits the corporate credibility and public image of the company. The halo and the hallmark of the company become his trademark and talisman. Belonging to a large and leading organisation is the right royal route for gaining personal prestige and influence in society. His personality gets associated with the popularity ratings of the company.

About how people think

While people can witness the results that influential managers deliver, they cannot decipher what makes them influential. Just as it is not possible to understand a person by looking at his shadow, so also it is not possible to gauge influence by looking at its effect. Influence like thin air is invisible.

It is invisible because it is about how people think. Thoughts drive behaviour, which triggers actions; and actions achieve results. Since it is invisible, influence offers an opportunity only to those who have the uncanny ability and managerial clairvoyance to see through and transform the attitude and behaviour of other people.

Garnering influence

How does the new manager gain and garner influence in order to become more successful?

Senior managers are always busy and overworked in forward-looking companies. Everyday they face more and more challenges and crises. They are required to respond to colleagues, customers, and competitors in a constant trail. The last thing that they want is additional workload.

This scenario is an excellent breakthrough for the new manager, who wants to widen his range of influence. He must volunteer to take control of the situation and relieve the senior manager of the extra workload. The senior will only be too glad to offload his increasing burden.

It is not just the transfer of a problem. It is generating a new window for expanding his visibility and enlarging the agenda of action for the new manager. It is the first and foremost step in the fine art of influencing people.

(The writer, a former HR director of an auto components group, is a management consultant.)

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