Topic 4: Influencing: Power, Politics, Networking, and Negotiation

  Weekly Reflection

Week 5

14 November 2021

        Assalamualaikum and bismillah. This week’s group presentation discussed Leadership with Influencing Power, Politics, Networking, and Negotiation. Having to sit and listen to the presenters talking about politics, influence, tactics, etc. chilled me to the bones. Well, everyone leads differently. The best leader will understand how to use their power to influence his team members and develop that connection power through politicking. First and foremost let’s look at some definitions. 

„Influencing – The process of affecting others’ attitudes and behaviour to achieve an objective.

„Power - Leadership power is the influence that leaders have over their followers. It persuades others to support their efforts and do as they ask.

„Politics - The process of gaining and using power and it’s a fact of life in organizations.

            After listening to the group presentation, I have gained knowledge of nine influencing tactics practised by the leaders in organizations, types of power in leadership, and behaviours that characterized politically skilled individuals as leaders. I was never brought up to think that employers/leaders could play major roles in influencing their employees. In the school context, when the school principal asks for a favour from the teacher to do something; let’s say becoming a coordinator to organize an event, then he promises you a reward (APC) but at the same time threaten to load you with more works if you fail to accomplish the mission. Would you do it? Maybe yes. But would you ‘be happy’ to do it? Maybe not! Now let’s look at another situation. Your principal persuades you to handle and become the coordinator for ‘Projek Taman Mini Rumah Hijau’ for an upcoming national level inter-school competition. Your principal somehow manages to change your attitude and beliefs about this little project. You could see the importance and the value of the task given to you. Now, not only you are willing to comply with your principal’s request, but you also be on board with his vision and feel so motivated to take action. So what is the difference between these two situations? Yes. One relies on power, and the other is mainly using influence tactics. In each given scenario, a competent leader knows which technique will be most effective. But, if we one day become a leader, how can we adapt to implement the influence strategies effectively? 

 

What is an influence tactic?

            ‘Influence tactics are strategies that leaders can use to change their employees' attitudes, values, or behaviours’. These tactics can vary depending on the situation. For example in the school context, the middle leaders (Ketua Panitia) might use different tactics to influence their superiors (Ketua Bidang) and their subordinates (junior teachers). A very good and effective leader will know the best influence tactics to be used to achieve their desired mission. For example, a school principal may wish to influence his teachers to: 

+ understand the importance of in-service training courses like coming to school on Saturday for LDP (Latihan Dalam Perkhidmatan) 

+ recognize the significance of the SPM exam by staying back after school to organize ‘Teknik Menjawab Soalan SPM’ with all SPM candidates.         

  

         In terms of power, in a leadership context, I would suggest all leadership involves power. Leaders who fully utilize their power would be able to influence and engage their employees and motivate them to accomplish their mission. For example, the legitimate power acquired by the school principal. It is not written in the teacher’s service handbook that they must stay back after school to attend meetings. But with the teachers being absent, there are informal rules of conduct that teachers must comply with the display of legitimate power of the principal. Nevertheless, I would like to give credit to those leaders who have the reward power where they can give rewards to the team members. Rewards and positive reinforcement work best when it involves all team members such as ‘Jamuan Akhir Tahun’ where the school principal would treat all teachers after working so hard throughout the year. 

            From the politics in leadership perspective, the greatest foundation of politics in an organization is the ability of the leader to work well with other team members. Like money, politics in leadership is neither good nor bad. The common political behaviours in leadership are networking (the process of developing relationships to socialize), reciprocity (creating obligations and developing alliances and using them to accomplish objectives), and coalitions (it is developed for achieving a specific objective). I come to know that networking is all about effective communication. For example, a school principal who wants his teachers to complete the annual Self-Assessment (PBPPP), may want to enlighten the teachers and spend a little bit of time talking about the evaluation of excellence criteria. 

            In a nutshell, I have learnt a lot from the presentation inputs. There are several forms of influence tactics, some of which are more effective than others. We as teachers undoubtedly have seen some of them in action and may even have used them ourselves. I've also learned that, just as each school principal offers their unique set of abilities and talents to an organisation, each middle leader, such as Penolong Kanan, Ketua Bidang, and Ketua Panitia, brings their leadership style to the table. Every leader demonstrates at least one of the leading powers, regardless of how they lead a team.