You Are The Weakest Link – Hello! The Power and Effect of our Secret Influence

On occasions we complain about our lack of influence, not being listened to or not having enough control in your work area. Surprisingly, what we say and do carries much more impact that we imagine. Positive behaviours and role modelling generates an incredible effect on those around us and by the same mechanisms, when we behave inappropriately we quickly become the weakest link which others may follow. What if we all had more awareness of our role modelling influence and could make better use of it?

As a supervisor in the 90s I was fortunate enough to benefit from some excellent management training. It was there I learnt one of the best lessons, in life, behaviour breeds behaviour! Back then I didn’t realise it was actually going to be a lifelong endeavour to make use of this wisdom. In our work today, we see people in many organisations struggling to influence & make change happen. It’s usually linked to a revenue target, profit number or similar goal that is espoused as important to their organisation. If we were able to create objectivity and distance from our day to day behaviours & interactions, we’d observe that we often have much more agency and influence than we’d ever imagined.

An Article by Steve Bernard