John Maxwell’s “Law of Influence” states that “Leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less.” This definition of leadership should encourage everyone! Everyone has influence with someone in their lives whether at home, work, or in the community. But influence requires connection.
Connection is critical because to have influence, you must earn trust. To earn trust, you must connect with people. To connect, work to implement the following practices from John Maxwell’s book Everyone Communicates, Few Connect:
- Connectors connect on common ground – find commonalities with the people you are communicating with
- Connectors do the difficult work of keeping it simple – make sure your audience can understand what you are saying; don’t speak over their heads or make things complex
- Connectors create an experience everyone enjoys – find ways to engage the person or team in an enjoyable or memorable way
- Connectors inspire people – find ways to give your team purpose that will motivate
- Connectors live what they communicate – be a model of what you expect from your team
Evaluate yourself using the following questions:
- Where are you strong?
- Where are you weak?
- What can you do to become a better connector starting today?
Regardless of where you rank in connecting currently, you can improve. Connecting is more skill than natural talent. Make the decision today to improve at connecting and watch your influence increase.
Be Intentionally Great today!
