The Art of Influence in Ambiguous Times 

If you think about any feedback you have received, whether it be for a job application, a performance discussion or any type of one on one debrief, it’s actually about your ability to adapt to the work challenges in front of you. And if we are talking about adaptability, we are talking about two distinct strengths: operating with confidence in an environment of ambiguity; and being influential. 

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Doing one of those things well is a much-admired skill, doing them both at the same time is an art. Describing how to do both of them outside of an intensive mentoring conversation is nearly impossible but I will give it a go.

Foremost, ambiguity is naturally de-stabilising and you need to find ways to anchor yourself to some certainties. The most reliable factor is yourself. The best way to be reliable is to create a leadership footprint that demonstrates what you bring into the environment. It will be a combination of some core values, rituals, communication style and leadership principles. You have to do the work to analyse your footprint, in order to understand what it says and how it impacts others. 

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The other strength is to be influential. And I don’t mean leading by example. Whenever I hear someone say that I wonder what happens if you look behind to find out no one is following? Influence has many presentations, and it takes critical reflection to know how you do it. The most valuable leadership exercise I ever undertook was to unpack the different ways of influencing and to realise that the one I was overusing had to do with being right, letting others know I was right and reinforcing my rightness to anyone who didn’t get it the first time. That was a strength that needed to be retired and when I started diversifying my influencing style, new things happened.