Using Invisible Influence to Increase Our Impact
We all like to see the direct results of our work. A farmer likes to see the crops that grow from the seeds he sowed months ago. A salesman likes to see the check from the client she has been cultivating for years. A manufacturing worker likes to see the complete product roll of the line and be flawless. Leaders like to see the people they lead shine.
It’s somewhat disappointing then when we don’t get to see the results. Maybe you sowed the seeds but someone else harvested the crop. What you cultivated for years another person closed. The end product is so far down the line you never see it from your vantage point. People you positively impact shine somewhere else. Yet those can be our greatest moments. The invisible influence we have is often where we influence most.
You Don’t Know Your Impact
My mentor, John Maxwell, says those moments when we don’t think about who or how we influence is where we can have the greatest influence. The chance encounters, the seemingly insignificant.
We think about major moments so much that we forget that minor moments count as well.
In fact, what happens is we want GREAT MOMENTS so much that we miss the rest. We want the moments where everyone sees how wonderful we are and how much impact we are having on everyone else. Our attempts to influence become simply another self-serving event to bolster our standing or improve our resume.
Minor Moments, Major Impact
That’s why the minor moments often have invisible influence and the greatest impact. It wasn’t planned. In fact, it wasn’t even on our schedule of things to do. It happened. In that moment we focused entirely on what we could do for someone else. Not on what it would mean for us. Certainly not on the fame and fortune it would get us. Just helping. Adding Value.
Think about those moments and think about your day so far
Are there moments you miss? What about your family this morning as everyone woke up? The person behind the counter at the coffee shop? The security guard at the front door to the office? The co-worker you walked by this morning?
Choices Breed Invisible Influence
In every circumstance, our choices help create examples for others to mirror. For example, most people will smile back at you if you smile at them. By making those same choices consistently, we encourage it in others, and that helps build the culture around us. Our choices lead to our invisible influence. That influence builds through the people we impact, who then have invisible influence on others. Our community changes for the better around us and we hardly notice it.
Therefore, culture is created, it doesn’t just evolve. We help shape culture by our thoughts, our words, and our actions. We create it though our invisible influence.
Our daily choices influence culture in every circumstance.