Six Sources of Influence — Source 2 Personal Ability

The Six Sources of Influence framework introduced by the inspiring book “Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change” highlights six key areas to bring about rapid, profound, sustainable behavioral change in individuals and organizations.

This article sheds light on the second source of influence.

Personal Ability: help them do what they can’t.

To embrace any form of change, people need not only motivation but also the ability to do what it takes to realize the change. Companies often send their managers to intense trainings that deluge them with theories, models, and case studies, but too often they can’t practice these skills in actual work because knowing the training content and doing it are two different things. That’s why influencers always invest in strategies that not only motivate people but also help them develop the ability to put their knowledge into practice.

Much of will is skill.

Before anything else, people need to overcome the fixed mindset that makes them believe that they are not born with “the right stuff” to be a leader or a proficient public speaker, or to shed those extra 50 pounds of weight. The truth is that much of the “hardwired genetic characteristics or traits” such as “will” or “self-control” is a learnable skill. For instance, in an experiment where a group of kids exposed to a mash mallow were told that they could either have the mash mallow right away or wait for five minutes to have two, most kids ate away immediately; however, when an adult demonstrated to the kids how to delay gratification by putting their heads down for a nap or engaging in some distracting activity, all the kids followed suit and were thus rewarded by two mash mallows instead of one.

Improve performance through deliberate practice:

Prowess is not a matter of genetic gifts. People who climb to the top of just about any field — physical skills such as skating or mastering the violin, and interpersonal skills such as how to motivate…