Why Influence Matters in The Modern Workplace
In today’s dynamic and complex workplace, influence is no longer a soft skill, it’s a strategic necessity. Whether you’re leading a cross-functional initiative, trying to scale a new idea, or looking to gain buy-in from key stakeholders, your ability to influence others determines your impact. The most successful professionals aren’t just experts in their craft; they are relationship builders, system navigators, and strategic communicators.
This article explores Cultivating Influence, a framework I developed through my coaching and leadership work with high-performing professionals and organizations. It breaks down the skills and behaviors that allow individuals to earn trust, demonstrate credibility, navigate complex organizational systems, and engage with empathy.
If we think about the modern workplace today, a few things come to mind: it’s complex, cross-functional, and constantly changing. Technology has made us more connected than ever, but that doesn’t mean we’re aligned. It’s truly hard, especially if you work in a mid-size to large organization, to accomplish anything on your own. Projects are rarely executed in silos, they require collaboration across functions, geographies, and priorities. And in that environment, the most valuable currency is influence.
In Today’s Workplace, Influence helps you:
- Get buy-in without having formal authority
- Inspire action and alignment among peers
- Build coalitions around ideas
- Navigate resistance and change with grace
Most of us can’t make people do things. Maybe a few things, but definitely not all things. Most of the time, all we can do is influence them. And that means playing the long game: building relationships, communicating clearly, and earning the right to be heard.
In a world filled with noise, deadlines, and shifting priorities, the people who stand out aren’t necessarily the loudest. They’re the most influential. Cultivating influence is how you get your ideas heard, get support for what you’re working on, and succeed at both the team and individual level.
What Is Influence, Really?
Influence is the ability to shape how others think, decide, and act, without relying on formal authority. It’s built not through a single big moment, but through hundreds of small, intentional interactions over time: in meetings, hallway conversations, emails, Slack messages, presentations, and one-on-ones.
I call the framework for building this skill Cultivating Influence, and it rests on four principles:
- Intentionally Earn Trust – making deposits into your “trust bank account” through small, consistent actions
- Demonstrate Credibility and Expertise – making your knowledge and contributions visible to others
- Understand Organizational Dynamics – learning how decisions really get made, beyond the org chart
- Engage With Empathy – connecting with how people feel, not just what the data says
The question isn’t whether you’re influencing people, you already are, in every interaction. The question is whether you’re doing it intentionally and if it’s helping you achieve your desired goals.
The Four Principles of Cultivating Influence
After working with thousands of professionals and leaders across industries, I’ve found that influence can be developed by focusing on four core principles. Each one provides a mindset shift, along with practical actions you can use in your daily work.
1.Intentionally Earning Trust
We tend to support people we know, like, and trust. It’s a human truth, and one that plays out every day at work. If someone asks you for help and you like them, you’re probably going to try to help them. The same holds true in reverse: your first job as a leader, contributor, or teammate is to invest in relationships that foster trust.
What are the two types of trust that matter most?
- Cognitive Trust: Do I believe you’re competent and reliable?
- Affective Trust: Do I feel connected to you? Do I believe you care?
The best influencers build both. They demonstrate skill and warmth. They show up consistently, follow through, and make others feel seen.
Trust doesn’t just “happen.” You have to earn it, intentionally, repeatedly, and authentically, by making regular deposits into what I call the trust bank account.
How to Intentionally Earn Trust
- Five-Minute Favors: Do something thoughtful for a colleague that takes very little time but has outsized impact, like sending a quick thank-you note or offering public recognition.
- Ask for Advice: Involve others early. People trust those who value their perspective.
- Intentional 1:1s: Proactively build relationships with peers, stakeholders, and cross-functional partners.
- Proactively Share Feedback: Don’t wait for performance review cycles. Offer feedback that’s timely, specific, and helpful.
Reflection prompt: Who are the three most important people you need to build or rebuild trust with, and what small action could you take this week to do that?
2. Demonstrate Credibility and Expertise
Doing great work is important (as is working hard), but it’s not enough.
To influence others, you need to make your expertise visible. You have to show up in rooms, in conversations, and in decisions where your knowledge can have an impact. You need to own your story and let others know how you can contribute. Sharing your credibility and expertise helps other people know how you can help them, and it also helps other people help you.
Why Does Self-Promotion Feel So Uncomfortable?
Many professionals feel uncomfortable with self-advocacy. They fear being seen as boastful or attention-seeking. A few common beliefs that hold people back:
- “It feels like bragging.”
- “My work should speak for itself.”
- “I wasn’t taught how to promote myself.”
Reframing self-promotion as generosity can help. When you share what you know, you’re making it easier for others to collaborate with you, learn from you, and bring you into the work where you can make a difference. If people don’t know what you do, they can’t support you, refer you, or learn from you. Influence grows when credibility is earned, and then shared.
How to Demonstrate Credibility
- Summarize & Share Your Work: Don’t let your contributions go unnoticed. Document project outcomes and send updates to your team or manager.
- Share Your Expertise: Offer to lead a lunch-and-learn, facilitate a training, or write an internal guide on something you know well.
- Pre-Heat Ideas: Float ideas in advance to build interest and alignment before a formal pitch.
- Facilitate Learning: Create spaces where peers can connect and learn together, especially around your areas of strength.
3. Understand Organizational Dynamics
To influence others, you need more than strong relationships and expertise, you need organizational acumen. You must understand how things actually get done: who makes decisions, how information flows, what behaviors are rewarded, and where informal power lives.
Organizations aren’t just org charts and job titles. They’re systems, made up of norms, rituals, incentives, and unwritten rules. If you want your ideas to gain traction, you need to navigate the system skillfully.
How Do You Learn The Unwritten Rules of an Organization?
Think of it like driving from Los Angeles to New York City: you don’t just focus on your own car. You read traffic signals, notice how others behave, and adjust your approach accordingly. The same is true when you’re trying to achieve a goal and get others to support your work inside an organization. Before jumping in, observe the organizational dynamics around you.
Organizational dynamics to observe:
- Rewards: What gets measured, celebrated, and funded?
- Norms: How do people communicate, collaborate, and make decisions?
- Influencers: Who holds power, formally or informally?
- Rituals: What events, meetings, or milestones matter most?
How to Increase Your Organizational Awareness
- Map Your Stakeholders: Know who matters to your work and what matters to them.
- Talk to Influencers: Seek out “culture carriers” who can help you decode unspoken norms.
- Learn the Unwritten Rules: Ask your manager or mentor about the behaviors that lead to success.
- Share Your Working Style: Create a team “user manual” to improve collaboration and alignment.
Reflection prompt: What’s one norm or dynamic in your organization that, if better understood, would help you influence more effectively?
4. Engage With Empathy
Even when you’ve built trust, demonstrated credibility, and learned the system, there’s one more ingredient: empathy. Because influence is ultimately about people.
Why Doesn’t Data Alone Change Minds?
Humans don’t make decisions based on logic alone. Behavioral economists, most notably Daniel Kahneman in Thinking, Fast and Slow, have shown that much of our decision-making relies on fast, intuitive, emotional judgment (System 1) rather than slow, deliberate analysis (System 2). That means if you rely solely on facts, data, or charts, your message might fall flat.
To truly influence others, you must connect with how they feel. You must show that you understand their reality, their constraints, goals, and concerns. That’s where empathy comes in.
Empathy isn’t about being soft or passive. It’s about being strategic and human at the same time. It’s about communicating in a way that others can hear, support, and champion.
How to Engage With Empathy
- Make It Easy: Remove friction. Simplify your request. Do the heavy lifting.
- The WIP (Work In Progress): Share drafts early. Invite input. People support what they help build.
- “Door in the Face”: Start with a big ask that you expect someone to say no to, then follow with a smaller, more reasonable one. People have a hard time saying no twice.
- Co-Create the Means: Let others shape how the work gets done, and allow them to exercise their skill and agency. Offer flexibility and choice.
- Influence Their Influencers: Gain support from someone they already trust, and let that social proof carry weight.
Reflection prompt: When was the last time you adjusted your approach because you knew your audience cared more about emotion than logic?
Conclusion
Cultivating influence isn’t about manipulation, it’s about making your impact visible, building real relationships, and helping others win alongside you. Influence is how we move ideas forward. And in today’s workplace, that makes it one of your most important professional capabilities, and the foundation of the Relationship Capital you build over your career.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Cultivating Influence framework? Cultivating Influence is a framework developed by Al Dea that identifies four principles for building influence at work: intentionally earning trust, demonstrating credibility and expertise, understanding organizational dynamics, and engaging with empathy.
How can leaders influence others without formal authority? Leaders without formal authority build influence by earning trust through consistent small actions, making their expertise visible to colleagues, learning how decisions actually get made in their organization, and tailoring their approach to how people feel rather than just the facts.
What’s the difference between cognitive trust and affective trust? Cognitive trust is the belief that someone is competent and reliable. Affective trust is the feeling of connection, that someone cares about you. Influence requires building both.
How does influence relate to Relationship Capital? Relationship Capital is the compounding professional asset built from trust, credibility, and goodwill. Cultivating Influence is the set of behaviors and principles that builds it over time.
Why is empathy important for influence at work? Because most decisions are driven by intuition and emotion rather than pure logic. Leaders who connect with how people feel, not just the data they present, are far more likely to gain genuine buy-in and support.
About The Author
Al Dea is a speaker, facilitator and adviser. He’s the founder of The Edge of Work, a leadership consulting practice. Al works with organizations and leaders to help them navigate uncertainty and move forward in a constantly changing world of work. Al frequently speaks and advises organizations on how to lead change, navigate through uncertainty, and transform organizations during periods of change and uncertainty.
Al previously worked previously at Deloitte Consulting and Salesforce, where he helped organizations navigate rapid change and transformation. Al holds an MBA from UNC Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s degree from Boston College.
