The Power of Influence Unlocking Career Success ft. Deborah Coviello
Influence is important for success at work, linked directly to our relationships and how we are perceived.
Working hard day after day isn’t enough to ensure your contribution is valued and you’re hitting your career goals.
In this podcast, Elise Stevens speaks with management consultant Deborah Coviello about how to use your influence at work to future-proof your career.
It’s time to ditch the mindset that you don’t have influence because everyone does!
Points raised in this podcast:
- Influence is not about your position within the company.
- Having a high level of influence means being trusted, respected and valued for your contribution. It means being invited to the table.
- Building influence is sometimes an easier path to getting results than simply working hard day after day.
- The person who appears charismatic and walks into the room with a beaming smile is not necessarily the person with the most influence.
- Having an advocate at work can increase your influence. An advocate understands you and will talk about you (positively) when you’re not around. You should also be your own advocate by sharing your knowledge, making proposals and helping others.
- People with influence speak confidently, deliberately and concisely. They bring positivity and ideas. Consider practising a few icebreakers and have cue cards for important presentations.
- Influence can also be displayed through empathy, understanding and listening skills. Trust is built when people feel like they’ve been heard.
- It is best to speak in the language of the person you are trying to influence.
- Your message should be consistent but always a little different to stay interesting.
- Influence role models can be found in your organisation or on LinkedIn.
- Social media is not always a true reflection of influence. Consistent, quality messaging can create silent influence that doesn’t show up as engagement.
About Deb:
Deborah Coviello is the Founder of Illumination Partners and the host of The Drop In CEO podcast. For more than 20 years, she has been transforming businesses from within, elevating the talents of their organisations to new performance levels. Her experience has taught her to put tremendous value on people, whom she considers as the heart of every business.
When hiring a consultant, Deborah knows that the primary goal will always be a resolution to a problem. As The Drop In CEO Deborah provides her clients with more than 25 years of experience and strategy in Quality and Operational Excellence roles combined with her 20 years in the Flavors and Fragrance industry, to identify, assess, and solve the issues that are preventing their business growth.
Certified as Lean and Six Sigma Blackbelt in Process Improvement, she has also developed significant leadership insight that “People’’ are your greatest tool in your toolbox. In order to deliver on her promise of offering “peace of mind”, she focuses on utilising the talents of her client’s team and elevating them to new levels of performance, setting them up to better serve their organisation.
When she isn’t transforming businesses from within, Deborah is a board member of Women in Flavor & Fragrance Commerce, (WFFC), an avid Curler with the Cincinnati Curling Club, a mother of three and resides in Cincinnati Ohio with her husband Dan of 32 years.
You can connect with Deb on LinkedIn.