Influence Tactics

Leadership involves influencing other people to facilitate the performance of collective work. To be effective, a leader must influence others to carry out requests, support proposals, and implement decisions. In large organizations, a leader must be able to influence superiors and peers as well as subordinates.

The success of an attempt by one person (the “agent”) to influence another person (“the target”) will depend to a great extent on the agent's influence behavior. The most common form of influence behavior in organizations is a “simple request” based on legitimate power. Target compliance is likely for a simple request that is clearly legitimate, relevant for the work, and something the target person knows how to do. However, if the requested action would be unpleasant, inconvenient, irrelevant, or difficult to do, then a “proactive influence tactic” may be necessary to gain target compliance or commitment.

Since the early 1980s, researchers have attempted to identify specific influence tactics and assess their effectiveness. This article will describe 11 proactive tactics that are commonly used by leaders and the conditions in which they are most likely to be successful. The findings are supported by studies involving the use of several different research methods.