Feedback on the Workplace

https://www(dot)ted(dot)com/talks/jon_levy_what_makes_us_influential#t-377958
Power, Influence & Politics

This week’s learning topics are power, influence, and politics. These are all things people use at work, and in their daily lives, to get other people to do what they want. Getting other people to do what you want isn't always selfish and manipulative, this can also mean doing something you think is beneficial for your company or others.

Our textbook talks about different forms of power: legitimate, reward, coercive, expert, and referent. Legitimate, reward and coercive power are all gained by authority or control. If someone is your boss, they have the power to tell you what to do, reward you, and punish you at work. If you don’t have these kinds of power, it is still possible to get the people around you to do the things you want. You can still have influence.

Influence can be used by those with expert or referent power. While you may not have any authority, because of your knowledge or personality, people still care what you have to say and may listen to you. The TEDTalk, What makes us influential? presented by Jon Levy gives further explanation on how people can influence those around them.

Levy states that influence is made of two essential factors:
Who you’re connected to
How much they trust you

Let’s talk about these factors

Who you’re connected to: Human behavior is contagious. The people around you are impacting your life in ways you don’t even notice. This means that you are doing the same. It’s important to carefully choose who you associate with. We can do this by choosing our career, which company we work for, and using organizational politics to create a network of associates that will help improve our standing.

How much they trust you: Building trust can be hard. Levy explains that in order to build trust quickly you need novelty in a situation and effort from participants. People feel more connected to something when they’ve put hard work into it. Engaging people in satisfying work can help form that bond.

Team 8 chose this talk because we thought that Jon Levy demonstrated how power, influence, and politics can be used for good. We also thought it was helpful to see how being influential easily crosses over between work and social settings. Once you learn how to influence those around you, you can apply it to any situation.

Discussion Questions
If you have a boss, what kind of power do they use?
What influence tactic do you find yourself using the most?
Can you think of a way that you may be unknowingly influenced by those around you?
Can you think of a time where the novelty of a situation or your bond with an individual has led you to be influenced?