How do I have more impact and influence at work?
For this Asking for a Friend, I talk with Liz Wiseman, Thinkers 50 award winner and author of Impact Players: How to Take the Lead, Play Bigger and Multiply Your Impact about what it means to be an impact player instead of an ordinary contributor.
Liz Wiseman’s book is based on research conducted with a variety of companies including Adobe, LinkedIn, and SAP, to determine what behaviors affect someone’s influence at work.
This interview was particularly fun for me, because of the opportunity to reconnect with Liz (we first met through her Multiplier of the Year award program back in my Verizon days. LOL If you want to see a much younger Karin talk about “Being a Talent Magnet” click here.)
Increase Your Influence at Work (conversation highlights)
Five practices of Impact Players
5:10 Make yourself useful
“While others do their job, Impact Players do the job that needs to be done.”
What separates the ordinary contributors from those with impact is how they handle the messy stuff. In the messy middle, most people stick with “doing their job.” Impact players don’t just do that – they also step into what needs to be done. Their job description is a basecamp but they feel free to serve where needed, too.
10:10 Step up, step back
It’s not only about how willing people are to lead, but how they are to follow.
How do you handle “leaderless” situations? When in the ordinary contributor mindset, we wait for direction. When in impact mindset, we step in and lead. Impact people are also willing to step back and follow as energetic participants. They are comfortable in both roles.
18:08 Finish stronger
“While others escalate problems, Impact Players move things across the finish line and build strength along the way.”
When unforeseen obstacles show up, ordinary contributors tend to escalate it up, whereas an impact player will retain ownership and get things across the finish line. They don’t finish at all costs or end with bitterness. They involve those above them but don’t pass it off completely to someone else to fix.
24:10 Ask and adjust
Impact players don’t just manage change, they adjust. Impact players know that the world is moving fast and they are oriented to receive feedback to make healthy adjustments. They see feedback as information about their work more than about themselves so they can focus on keeping the work on track.
27:34 Make work light
“While others add to the load, Impact Players make heavy demands feel lighter.”
Most people are carrying their weight, but impact players also make work lighter for other people.
They are easy and fun to work with. They don’t engage in drama.
29:24 Being an impact player and increasing your influence at work also helps you accelerate your career.
Your turn. What do you see as the most important behaviors for greater influence at work?
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