17 Ways To Build Influence

Influence. It’s the thing that separates a good leader from a great one. If you don’t have influence you will NEVER be able to lead others well. Just because you or are the smartest, richest, or have the most experience, doesn’t mean you have influence. Titles don’t give you influence and they don’t always have value when it comes to leading. You know, that person that when they speak, everyone listens. The person whose words carry weight. True leadership can not be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes from influence which must be earned. The question today is, how can you be a person or a leader of influence?

Let’s take the fire hydrant approach. Here are 17 ways to build influence.

1. Serve like Jesus did. (Servant Leadership is the best approach.)

2. Be a person of Character, Integrity, and Trust. (This is a must as moral failure continues to surface in the church.)

3. Be a problem solver. (See the need and meet it.)

4. Be flexible & available. (Be a team player and easy to work with.)

5. Have a good work ethic. ( There’s  nothing worse than lazy Christians.)

6. Go the extra mile. (Not just for your ministry or your project, but for everyone on the team.)

7. Be competent. (The day you quit learning is the day you quit growing.)

8. Take Initiative. (Don’t always have to be prompted.)

9. Listen more than you talk. (I’m bad at this one lol but working on it. Jesus asked great questions.)

10. Care & love hard. (People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Loving people is hard and messy, but worth it.)

11. Pray for people. (Like actually do it, and ask how you can pray for them, then pray with & for them. Then follow up. This resonates with unbelievers. They’ll never turn you down.)

12. Invest in people. (Give your life away, and always be pouring into someone. In church world, we call this discipleship. In the business world, they call it leadership development. For Christians it’s two sides of the same coin.)

13. Encourage & affirm people. (People seek affirmation in their calling and gifts. Speak in them.)

14. Be positive. (In a world full of negative Nancys, be a positive Polly.)

15. Don’t gossip. (This one kills influence, and hurts your witness.)

16. Walk in the Spirit. (Don’t forget the essentials. Pray and get in the Word so that the Lord can guide you in building influence with people.)

17. Give & live out the Gospel. (Don’t waste your influence, but leverage and utilize it for kingdom purposes.)

Which of these can you take and apply to your life and leadership today?

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