Following along with my theme of trust for the second half of the year, I watched the Leadership IQ class on Influence and Communication. There was a lot of overlap between this class and the Third Core of Credibility – Capabilities, in The Speed of Trust, by Franklin MR Covey, which also ties into a test I just recently took called Strengths Finder.
In Leadership IQ, Mark listed Seven Sources of Power in Negotiations. These are:
- Legitimate (titular) – gets overused but isn’t very engaging
- Coercive – the ability to punish
- Reward – the ability to reward
- Referent – power from being liked
- Connection – they have power because of whom they have access to (think: Hollywood agent)
- Informational – power from having insight
- Expert – when you can do things better than other people
He then thoroughly discussed the bottom two because he said that in this disruptive time, they are the most important. They are the sources that, when cultivated, are the easiest way to continue to be relevant and required. And the fact that these can be cultivated through learning more about your interests/profession, this is how it ties into harnessing your strengths in order to build trust.
One of the most interesting things he said about cultivating informational and expert sources of power is that this has now become a better playing field for introverts because these powers can be grown in untraditional ways that don’t have to necessarily do with networking (because what introvert really likes that?)!
In the Speed of Trust, the chapter on Capabilities focuses on personally learning (so you don’t wind up having one-year experience for the forty years you’re employed) and on companies needing to innovate (so they don’t wind up being left behind and out of business). Part of this is running with your strengths. Covey defines strengths with the acronym TASKS – Talents, Attitudes, Skills, Knowledge, and Style. You can focus on some or all of them. But the important part is to run with them and focusing on engaging, developing, and leverage what’s distinctly yours.
Leadership IQ focuses on the importance of skills and knowledge. Strength Finder focuses on which Talent/Attitudes are your most dominant and offers recommendations for how to increase your strengths.
More on Strength Finders later! I’m excited about the test results, and I know that once I reveal them to you, you’ll think “yeah, that’s totally Patti.”
Patti is still learning 