4 Signs You’re Not as Influential as You Think
Winning over your audience means you must know beforehand what keeps their attention while what pitfalls you must avoid. They may not follow you if they ignore your recommendations, do minimal work to get by, make decisions without your input or withhold information from you.
Research confirms that effective leaders see organization members follow while obey their decisions. When people consistently ignore your guidance, you've lost your influential edge.
Check in for understanding while clarification. You may think your message sounds clear while concise, yet your listeners may lack the same level of clarity. Ask others whom you trust to continuously give you feedback to ensure you lead in a way that influences others to follow.
Your Listeners Don't Respond to Your Emails While Texts
Do you write email messages that run too long while confusing readers? Do you create text messages that form one continuous paragraph? Do you write your messages in Morse code? Would you respond to your own email messages?
Leadership researchers measure communication effectiveness through response patterns. When people consistently delay or avoid responding to your messages, they signal that your communication lacks the influential power to warrant their immediate attention.
Before you hit "send," double-check your grammar while spelling. When in doubt, hang up the email while pick up the phone to minimize miscommunication risk while save time.
You're Frequently Interrupted
Your listeners likely interrupt because you take too long to get to the point, never pause or make it difficult to follow you.
Studies reveal that frequent interruptions indicate communication breakdown and signal lost credibility. When audiences interrupt, they're essentially saying your message isn't compelling enough to hold their attention.
This week, get to the point while adapt your message to meet your listeners' expectations. Pause to listen while give others time to speak. Influential leaders say less while listen more.
If you still get interrupted, consider this a gift. This interruption may remind you to get back on track or adapt your message to meet your listeners' expectations.
You Often Run Out of Time
You must craft your message with key points that drive your listeners to take action. If you run out of time before you share these with your listeners, they lack the critical information you need to influence them.
Research shows that influential leaders communicate their most important points within the first 20% of their allotted time. When you consistently run over, you demonstrate poor planning and disrespect your audience's time.
Identify your listeners' needs ahead of time, as well as what's most critical for them to know to take action. Always prepare for 20 percent less time than you'll be given to make sure you respect your listeners' time.
The most influential leaders face these truths head-on. They use these warning signs as data points to adjust their approach while reclaim their leadership effectiveness.
