Everybody knows how hard it is to influence somebody. Being in a position of power makes it much easier, because you can just give orders. Of course, the downside of being in a position of power and giving orders is that people might start to resent you. Thus, one of the most important tools in a manager’s arsenal remains the ability to influence without authority. This is not an easy quality to gain and it takes years of perseverance in order to master it properly, but I think the results are worth it. Getting inside somebody’s head and influencing their decisions might seem a bit malefic but it is actually a better way to lead, that causes less animosity, than actually giving a direct order, which the employee has to submit to. Some of the topics that will be discussed in the paragraphs below include how to start of early with this technique, meaning from when you first train a new employee, or how to offer advice in an informal environment where the employee might feel like he has no other choice. But let’s stop beating around the bush, and see if you find any of my ideas about how to influence without authority useful:

1.    Through training. Training somebody is the best way of influencing him and teaching him or her how to react when faced with certain decisions. If you train somebody, you gain the statute of a mentor, and thus you shall be always looked up at, so your ability to influence will increase tenfold. Starting fresh and training your own “army” is the best way to influence without authority.

2.    Often state the principles or standards you follow. The best way you can influence without authority is to incept an idea into somebody’s mind. If you keep repeating certain principles and concepts you adhere to, than the idea, even though some of the employees were not consciously aware of it, will grow roots in their brains. Thus, after a while, having forgotten who they heard the idea from, they might claim it as their own, and therefore stick by it.

3.    Offer advice and suggestions in informal settings. Another good way you can influence without authority is to use an informal environment to give friendly suggestions. This way the employee or person you are trying to influence won’t feel the pressure of actually having to take a decision whether to agree or disagree with what you are saying.

4.    Address your team every time there is a big change in the company. People will always feel inspired by a person who gives a speech in a time of need. They won’t necessarily take the speech as an order, but it is a very effective way to transmit a message without the use of your authority, thus managing to influence your employees without making them feel disheartened.

5.    Try to give as much feedback and support as you can. Taking a special interest into somebody’s work may prove just the ticket to try to influence them. You can incept an idea much easier into somebody’s head after you have praised them for the good job they were doing, because they won’t take special notice of it because of their big ego. Constant feedback will give you a way in through which orders, or general guidelines for a project can be seen as mere suggestions.

6.    Encourage employees to confide in you regarding any work related issues. In order to manage to influence without authority you need to be able to get people to trust you. The best way to do this is to try to be receptive and eager to help anybody who wants to confide in you. Once you have become a true friend that helped them in a time of need your suggestions may have a lot more pull with them, therefore you won’t have to pull the “I’m your boss card” so often.

7.    Help your colleagues find answers to their problems by asking the right questions. It is said that half of the answer lies in how the question is asked. If you know how to ask the right questions to a problem you might lead the person you are talking too, to the answer you feel is right.

Managing to influence without authority takes a lot of tact and charm, qualities which you can’t really teach. Of course there are many ideas and tips you can try in order to achieve this goal. The ideas I have presented in this article have worked very well for me over the years, but I’m sure that everybody has their own specific ways and means they use to influence people, so if you have any suggestions feel free to leave them in the comment section below. Have a nice day!           

Being able to make a good presentation has become essential for any mid-level manager. PowerPoint presentations have become one of the most commonly used tools in any business meeting. So, in order to think about getting a promotion you must first gain advanced presentation skills. There are a few tips that you will find out from experience which I will share with you in the paragraphs below, but at the same time it wouldn’t hurt if you had a natural born talent for this kind of activity, because most of it relies on having enough confidence to speak openly in front of a bunch of important people, and to have enough charm in order to convince them about the idea your promoting. Self-confidence can be learned through perseverance and training and that can sometimes prove enough to convince people in a meeting. But of course there are a few ground rules specific to this activity that you can’t bypass. So, let see what you need to do in order to have advanced presentation skills:

1.    Learn your PowerPoint functions properly. This is probably the most basic thing you need to learn for gaining advanced presentation skills. If you don’t know how to use the program and exploit all the benefits it provides you with than all the charm in the world can’t save you. Knowing your program well is a sign of a very good professional. Plus, it’s not that hard, you can follow the help menu which is very useful for some features, or an even better idea is to search forums for answers to problems similar to the ones you are facing.

2.    Structure your presentations clearly. Without a well-defined structure to your presentation people will have a hard time following your ideas. Ideally you should try to keep your introduction down to about 10% of the whole presentation, content to about 80%, and conclusions to about 10%. Make sure you have a well-balanced introduction, because if it’s to sketchy, people may find themselves unaware about what you are talking about in your content. You need to establish at the beginning what the goals of the presentation are and what you are trying to prove. Conclusions can be aided with a Q&A session.

3.    Start off with something surprising. You need to keep in mind that the kinds of people that will assist at your presentation spend a good portion of their time listening to stuff like that every day. So you need to capture their attention from the beginning or you may wind up talking to yourself for the rest of the meeting. This is why you need to start off with something surprising, something that will throw them off balance and make them aware of what you are trying to say. This is a very useful tip for gaining advanced presentation skills.

4.    Be concise and effective. Once you gain the attention of your audience you need to keep it. The one thing you shouldn’t do is start introducing unnecessary facts, or start blabbering outside the subject. You need to remain focused on the main subject and eliminate everything you can think off that is not absolutely essential. Use keywords in your presentation, and good way of keeping your presentation concise is to never have fonts bigger than 24. This should become a hard rule for anyone trying to achieve advanced presentation skills.

5.    Offer hard cold facts. It is essential to take a lot of time in order to do your research for any presentation. Do not just assume that some things are as you think they are. Always corroborate your theories with facts you get from doing your research properly.

6.    Dress for the occasion. In order to achieve a professional appearance you need to dress well. Surprisingly or not, this will actually get people to trust you more and be more aware of what you are trying to prove. This idea goes hand in hand with the fact that you need to be aware of your body language during a presentation. Sometimes your body language might just give away the fact that you are not that confident in an idea you present emphatically.

7.    Conquer your stage fright. This is the ultimate thing you need to do in order to have advanced presentation skills. It’s not something you can learn it’s just something that comes with the self-confidence you get from doing a good job.

Advanced presentation skills have become a prerequisite for anybody who thinks of climbing up the corporate ladder. I am sure you may have other suggestions on how to achieve this goal, but at the same time it may prove useful to learn from my experience, and try to apply the ideas you have seen in this paragraph.