W.I.N. Wednesday: What can I do I am just a……….

”The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”

Alice Walker

Any time we start a sentence with the words, “I am just a” we are trying to convince ourselves that we have no power, no influence, no ability to effect any change.

I hear this all the time from people when we talk about leading and culture change in organizations. Interestingly, I hear it from people of all levels, ranks and assignments. When I talk about “power” in the context of culture change and being a leader, I am referring to the ability to influence others and influence change in a positive way.

The conversation starts with exploring the philosophy of, “Focus on what you control and control the controllable.” When people make a list of all the things they control it becomes quickly apparent that everything on the list is about them. The only person we control is ourselves. We do, however, have influence with other people. That span of influence varies from person to person. Even if I believe I only have influence with two or three other people, they have influence with two or three other people and they have influence with two or three other people. We soon start to discover that we may have more influence than we think.  

In this case we are looking at influencing like a leader and thinking of influence ‘with’, not influence ‘over’ and we are looking to influence through inspiration, collaboration, cooperation, communication, relationships, and human connection. It is in influencing like a leader that you have the ability (power) to positively influence cultural change in your piece of the organization.

There are countless examples of positive change that was initiated by people at the foundational level of organizations; people who believed in their ability to create change. Many of those people were surrounded by peers who initially believed they did not have the power to effect change and often used the “What can I do, I am just a ____” language.

Start by accepting that you are in a position to lead (even if you are not in a formal leadership position) and that you do have the power to effect positive change if you are courageous enough to take action and influence like a leader.

What’s Important Now? You have power. You have influence. Use it wisely to create positive change.

Take care.

Brian Willis

www.lifesmostpowerfulquestion.com. 

ONE QUESTION BRINGING FOCUS AND CLARITY IN THE CHAOS AND COMPLEXITY OF TODAY'S WORLD.

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