Authority VS Influence

Authority and Influence, ah!! A catchy headline.

When I first read it, it made me stop and think. In an organisation an individual plays a certain role, you may be the Project Manager of the project but in so many cases you are not officially in charge of everything. It totally depends on the organisation model in which they work on or sometimes what the project demands. Let’s say you are the Project Manager but all the decision making like prioritising the task, team appraisal or hire a team member they all land on the hands of different stakeholder and in some cases everything is with you.

In the projectized organisation you are the king or queen, so to speak, and the other organisation, such as the matrix, you share your authority. You are responsible for the success of the project, but you do not have the authority of someone who is in charge.

Truthfully, even if you have full authority you will not always choose to lead from that place. To successfully lead a team you require or may I say need some good Influence as well in order to move people to their goals and resolve conflicts.

This is a good place to think about the difference between Authority and Influence.

Authority means you have the right to apply resources, expend funds, make decisions and give approvals. Influence is your ability to persuade others to act on behalf of the project. You use influence to encourage team members to meet deadlines, to facilitate conflicts resolutions, and to try and resolve project issues and conflict. You influence through the relationships you have built. People who trust you are more likely to be open to your influence.

You influence through your ability on how you communicate your thoughts to your team and have an ability to listen openly to their points that they have to say. It is inevitable that you and your stakeholders will get into conflict as you work to meet project objectives. Conflict is not a bad thing. It shows that people are committed and it occurs when they think their requirement won’t be met. It’s your duty to use your influence to solve that conflict.

There are many possible reasons behind the conflict on your project out of which most of them could be resolved through open planning and communication. For example, a conflict around project priorities, which you can solve them by clearly defining the priorities and documenting them. You can state this in your Charter and circulate among your stakeholders. Some of them might not agree to it since it’s been documented in an official document, it will serve as a reminder that this is the decision which the entire team needs to abide by.

Conflicts over resources can be managed by creating a plan showing the types of resources you need and when they are needed. Presenting this plan to the appropriate stakeholders. And securing their buy-in and approvals is going to help with this conflict.

Several other conflicts can be there and it totally depends on you what you choose as your path to lead.

But without a doubt Influence will take you places among your project team.