The areas of discussion are developing personal influences to gain power, characteristics of likeable people, and the ability to use influence both up and down within my organization.
The idea of whether or not I’m comfortable developing sources of personal influence doesn’t bother me. Some of these sources include expertise, personal attraction, effort, and legitimacy. With regards to expertise, this is something I execute regularly. While there is something to be learned every day, my expertise and experience with my job is what sets me apart from all of the newbies (and sometimes higher ranking individuals as well). Generally when there is a job to be done that I am very familiar with, I use my knowledge to guide others into the successful completion of the job. This is something that usually happens in general with my job; whoever has the most experience takes over, regardless of rank.
Attraction is another one that I take advantage of, or at least try to. While I already consider myself devilishly sexy, just kidding, there are aspects of my grooming standards that I have to uphold (most already set by military regulations). Some additional minor things I do to set myself apart is take showers every day, shave every day, and wear clean clothes every day. While this may seem like basic things everyone should already be doing, sometimes you’d be surprised at the people I work with.
Effort is something I showed early on in my deployment to a great deal. I had nothing else to worry about so I went 110% at my job in order to get the job done quickly and effectively. Although I will admit after starting school and taking two classes, my efforts at work as lessened with the additional stress I’ve induced into my personal life.
Legitimacy is about showing behavior that is consistent with organizational values. Together, safe, and in accordance with; the core values of my organization. By exhibiting behaviors in accordance with these core values, I am seen as someone who is able to conform to the values of the organization and therefore be more likely to be accepted by organizational members.
So what about the characteristics of likable people? Some of these include:
• Support an open, honest, and loyal relationship
• Foster intimacy by being emotionally accessible
• Provide unconditional, positive regard and acceptance
• Endure some sacrifices if the relationship should demand them
• Provide social reinforcement in the form of sympathy or empathy
• Engage in the social exchanges necessary to sustain a relationship
This is something that I can improve upon myself, but one area that I see myself excelling in is the ability to show empathy towards others. I may not be in their shoes, but understanding what it’s like allows them to be “heard.” One area of improvement though would be the engagement of social exchanges necessary to sustain a relationship. Self-induced overload with work and school makes this a bit difficult, but there is always room for improvement.
Managing my relationship with my boss is something that I’ve seen drastic improvement over the course of this deployment. Early on while I considered myself to be one of the hardest working, I didn’t keep my boss informed of my progress on various jobs which kept him out of the loop and susceptible to blind spots of potential problems and hazards that arise. This wasn’t something that I was aware of I was doing and since realization, have made sure to keep him in the loop of everything so that he won’t get blindsided and has time to prepare for anything that can arise.
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