How to gain the Power…

You will not get the power by virtue of your position,
but by virtue of your ability to influence others. 

Majority of the people has the desire to be in power center. Those who don’t want to be in power center want to follow the power. They also want to be close to the power. In families, communities, societies, organizations, there are people who either want to project themselves powerful or like to communicate that they are close to the Power-station.  Low profile people also like to get the support of somebody who is powerful to get their work done.  

Power and politics is much discussed and debated topic.  I have given lot of references about the power in other articles on this blog. However, I also recognize that you can’t avoid the influence of the power.  The million dollar question is how to get the power, how to go close to the power stations to grab more power.

How to gain the power? Some hands on tips for you…..

Efforts required at individual level

v      Acquired the Knowledge and be knowledgeable.

v      Be expert in your own area.

v      Get the latest information about the happening in the organization.

v      Work on developing your personality. It includes your assertiveness, influencing skills, and your voice.  

v      Creating charisma is really difficult. But you have to work on creating your brand in the organization.

v      Check your reputation in the organization and work on improving the same.

v      Check how your bosses and your team members perceive your professional credibility.

v      You also need to get the support form your team and cross functional team members.

v      Improve interpersonal skills and work actually building the concrete relationship in the organization.  

Organizational level

v      Professional life and especially leadership role has lot of uncertainties. Your life can be miserable if you don’t handle the uncertainty smartly. The whole business world in uncertain and also the positions in the organizations. The success depends upon how you cope with this uncertainty. More you are flexible and tough, more you are successful.  

v      You can’t be rigid. Flexibility in relationship, in learning, in decisions making helps you to take the control of the situation. However it should be at right time and not as the rule. You should know how and when to be flexible.

You can gain the power form various aspects in your life.

v      Define your vision, your short term and log term goals, aligned your goals with your organizations goals.

v      Participate in decision making process. Support your bosses in getting the information required in decision making

v      Integrity is the best strategy to create your credibility and track record in the organization.  

v      Problem solving and fire fighting is the important trait of successful and influential leader.

v      Working in matrix organization is the fundamental need in corporations now days and you should learn to manage various seniors and their needs. It also needs to get the work done from different teams who are not reporting you.  

v      Know what your boss seeks, needs, likes, prefers, is weak about, is poor at and dislikes intensely.

v      Most important factor is to be sensitive to the issues of power and relationships.

 It is not necessary to be political to gain the power, but yes you need to diplomatic definitely.