John Kotter: Leadership and Influence

John Kotter, Matsushita Professor of Leadership at Harvard Business School, has produced a key work identifying the relationship between modern leadership and the need for power. His book, Power and Influence, asserts that contemporary pressures are responsible for establishing influencing skills as an imperative for those involved in leadership. As a result of the increasing complexity of the social milieu surrounding organizations, internal relationships have become more diverse, and also more interdependent:

"This increase in diversity and interdependence has converted many individual contributor and management jobs into jobs that demand strong leadership – that is, jobs that require jobholders to get things done through others but do not provide control […] over all those others." [2]

These new jobs thus have something of a ‘power gap’ that must be compensated for by the development of advanced skills of influence and persuasion. These skills will help leaders to guide a varied set of employees, both superiors and subordinates, towards desired goals.

Benefits of Influencing Skills

An advanced ability to influence can potentially result in:

• the ability to guide subordinates, bosses and outsiders towards organizational goals
• increased competitive advantage
• an increase in organizational flexibility and adaptation, rather than restrictive bureaucracy
• increased personal fulfillment and excitement within the leadership role

An awareness of the power of influence protects as much as it enables, says Kotter, for "managerial and professional excellence requires the knack of knowing how to make power dynamics in corporate life work for us, instead of against us." [3]

The two central elements around which Kotter’s text is structured are those of diversity and interdependence. Diversity, symptomatic of the modern organization, consists of ‘differences among people with respect to goals, values, stakes, assumptions and perceptions’. In order to manage this diversity, judicious use of the organizational interdependencies must be made.

Kotter conceives of interdependence not as a relationship of weakness, but rather one of power. It is ‘a state in which two or more parties have power over each other because they are, to some degree, dependent on each other.’ Learning to find the power of influence within this relationship is, Kotter suggests, the key to effective leadership.

Sources of Power in the Contemporary Organization

There are a variety of power sources within any organization that may be accessed by advanced leadership skills. All relate in some way to the exercise of influence:

• position in terms of organizational structure
• possession of information
• the control of information channels
• the control of ‘tangible resources’: supplies; money; people; hardware
• a strong reputation based on previous success
• personal characteristics, such as intelligence or people skills
• good relationships with other important people within the organization

Paths to Leadership Influence

Kotter claims that effective leaders will use their influencing power on a continuous basis, but will be sure to vary the kind of influence they exert according to the situation in hand. The paths to influence can be hard or soft in style, direct or indirect, substantive or symbolic, and participative or autocratic. Here we will briefly consider each of these paths:

• Hard influence: at moments of crisis or vital change, or when speed is of the essence, persuasion can be forgotten in favor of coercion or authoritarian demands. Whilst this can lead to resentment, it can also be used in limited circumstances to crush resistance and effect positive change at speed.
• Soft influence: a skilled leader will aim to use such methods wherever possible, gradually pulling people towards goals by enquiry and persuasion.
• Direct influence: managing the dependence of subordinates in a direct way means communicating, asking and persuading through face-to-face meetings, phone calls or letters. It creates a network of personal affiliation, and is not too time-consuming for the efficient leader.
• indirect influence: this can be achieved in a variety of ways, perhaps by making use of scheduled meetings to put forward your particular vision or demands. It could also be done through the alteration of ongoing structures, for example by instigating a new compensation system within the company. Indirect methods can be complex and time-consuming, but are capable of creating more profound and long-term change than direct influence.
• Substantive influence: this occurs through the deployment of information to construct logical arguments which will direct the behavior of employees according to rational patterns.
• Symbolic influence: the symbolic aspect can include the use of architecture, in terms of meeting sites, for example. It can also include the language you use, the stories you relate, and the use of yourself as ‘role-model’ for the rest of the organization. By dressing, speaking and behaving according to the highest standards, for example, you can reasonably expect a degree of mirroring behavior from others.
• Participative or autocratic influence: these methods are two points on a continuum, and the skilled leader will pitch their methods at some point between the two according to the task to be achieved. Your anticipation of resistance, and the necessary speed of the change or goal you are instigating are factors to consider here.

When practicing leadership, your deployment of the various paths towards influence will be particular to your personal characteristics and position, as well as the situation in hand. However, an understanding of the intrinsic relationship between leadership and influence will greatly enhance your range of choices when seeking to negotiate with, persuade, or lead other members of your organization.