Leadership and influence are often mistaken as being the same thing. They're heavily connected - I agree, but influence is merely one strand, one element - one segment of being a great leader. Influence is often the most prolific, public and easy to identity elements of leadership, and I believe this is why it is commonly seen 'as' leadership as a whole.

This article talks about how you can increased your influence, which will in some part, impact upon your ability to lead as a whole.

I see the aura of influence as being generated by 4 stages:

1. The Image

2. The Reputation

3. The Idea

4. The Immeadiate Support

** The Image **

The image is the public perception that you personally project about yourself. It can be crafted from what you wear, from how you speak, and even from where you're seen. This is probably the element of influence that we are most comfortable with - because in our everyday lives, we see that those with great influence, such as TV Actors, Movie stars and Politicians, present themselves in a very precise way, and aggressive defend their image in order to extend their influence.

This is however only the start of creating an aura of influence - the other 3 factors are slightly less superficial, but netherless very important.

** The Reputation **

The reputation consists of the public/communities public perception of your image. It is the sums of everyone's publically held belief about what you do, what you stand for and what you have achieved.

A politician could spend 7 years building a brilliant public image through charity work and high-key appeals to government, but one little scandal with a mistress or dodgy deal may not actually affect his image at all (He is still the same person as he was yesterday), however his reputation will be in ruins, because regardless of his image - the public are now voicing very negative things about him, and hence his reputation, and thus his leadership potential, is greatly diminished.

** The Idea **

A good idea that is followed by many people, when you strip away the media coverage, and the hype, and the testamonials - is a moral, rational, and just idea.

Although we may cry out at the 'state of the world today' and blast the continuing decline in immorality - it's true that 'good' causes still receive support - and more than ever, the public, or indeed your workforce, will support and idea, and 'want' to be convinced of its merits, if at its heart lies a morally right decision.

** The Immeadiate Support **

I don't care whether you attempted to hire the most independent thinking workers in the City of London - your employees will still act like sheep most of the time. To follow the crowd and just 'do what everyone else does' comes naturally to Humans, as it is an instinctive behaviour that helps to protect us from harm.

Many politicians use this fact to influence others, and you can do the same.

Practically speaking - this involves securing 'public' support for your idea before it actually becomes public. This may involve holding private consultations with members of staff and perhaps tweaking your idea to better fit your employees. When you believe you have gained a 'critical' amount of supporters (Around 20-30% of individuals), you can finally bring your idea to the public.

So, for instance if you work in a kitchen fitting company with 10 kitchen fitters underneath you. You would need approximately 2-3 kitchen fitters giving their silent and confirmed support before you pushed through a policy change of requiring the fitters to give their customers 'satisfaction' questionaires after each job.

If, in response to your announcement - 20% of the crowd instantly respond positively, this greatly increases the chances of others being persuaded before they even give the other option clear thought. And the more people that convert as soon as possible - the more momentum the idea generates and soon it will become an unstoppable force.

So you can see that all 4 elements of influence are absolutely essential to being able to influence employees, staff, or maybe even family members. You can use these principles to develop your leadership skills over time. Different managers with differing leadership styles may 'use' these principles in different ways, but the effect is always the same.