Leading without being the boss: How does it work?

Good leadership is already challenging when you formally occupy the position of boss. Because even your "position power" doesn't do you much good if people are reluctant to follow you. At best, you can force results in the short term. In the medium and long term, that never works. On the other hand, how much more difficult is it when you have to lead others but you have no formal authority to issue directives?

From my observation, such positions are becoming more and more common: be it the product portfolio manager across several divisions, the global sales head who is dependent on the national subsidiaries, or the project manager with twenty project team members from a wide variety of areas. The influence in all these cases is indirect. How can you achieve maximum results with your virtual team in these cases?

Well, the answer lies in the fact that top leadership has always meant top influence - whether with or without a formal position. So leading without a position is even more about your influence.

So the question is: How do you influence people in your favor, even if they have a different boss?

Here are three important questions to answer:

1. "What do I want?"
   This question may sound very simple, but most people have great difficulty in answering it (at least that is what I experience again and again in my coaching). It is very important that you can name clear results for clear time periods: What exactly do you want to have achieved by the end of the year? With whom? And why? Because if you are not one hundred percent clear about what exactly you want, how are others supposed to follow you? How are you going to convince others?
2. "What do the others get out of it?"
   In sales, this is called the "benefit argument." What do the others you want to influence get out of your role and leadership? What value do you bring from their perspective? Many individuals find this thought difficult, but you must also sell yourself in such a position. You need to be able to clearly demonstrate why they should spend their valuable time on your issues. By the way, a good way (as in sales) is to ask the others specifically.
3. "How kön can we benefit from each other together?"
   This is a good question to ask those with whom you want to achieve something together. Such an open and positive question challenges reflection. Additional tip: You can also ask the question in relation to specific topics that you want to advance. By doing so, you steer the others in the direction you want them to go. This is then called "exerting influence." This will make you a better leader.

So, if you are in a challenging leadership situation, I recommend answering these three questions. You will expand your influence a good bit by doing so.

Author:
Volkmar Völzke is a success maximizer, book author, consultant, coach, speaker.www.volkmarvoelzke.ch