Influential leadership is about motivating, encouraging and engaging others in order to make things happen and get things done. Influencing others is predominantly about output which is also a main purpose of leadership.
The output is what you are trying to achieve and your job as a leader is to work out how to produce that output. When you start thinking about what work you need to do to get to that output you will start to realize that a large chunk of that effort can only be realized via influencing others.
(Image credit: Sean MacEntee)
Thinking about leadership in terms of what you need to achieve and who you need to influence in order to achieve that outcome will often give you new perspectives on how you are going to get the results you need.
Leadership is about people. You need people to get to your desired outcome and in particular you need to influence those people in order for them to help you get to that desired outcome. You need people on board and engaged.
As a leader, when you start thinking in terms of influence you start thinking more about those core people skills that you need to be able to utilize. Such skills include but are not limited to – motivating, negotiating, communication, coaching, mentoring, listening, building rapport, etc.