How To Influence — The 5'Cs Principles

Annie was very upset when she came to me. She felt lots of pressure in getting the desired results while working with her peers.

Annie had lots of hands-on experience in her profession and she wanted to help her peers to resolve problems with what she did that worked. Her peers didn’t appreciate her advice. She didn’t know how to deal with the situation.

On one hand, Annie didn’t want to be a “pleaser” and agreed with her peers’ ineffective actions; on the other hand, she felt frustrated when things could be easily resolved if her peers adopted her advice.

So often we are in situations where we don’t have any authority to request someone to follow what we want them to do.

Teachers like Stephen Covey and Dale Carnegie, have taught me one important skill for better relationship: influence.

What is influence?

According to best-selling author Bob Berg, influence is “the ability to move a person or persons to a desired action, usually within the context of a specific goal.”

Influence itself is neutral, but its nature will change according to the…