Psychology of influence, power and authority: how to manage people

The leader must know the forces and means by which this can be done.

Every time a leader gives instructions to a performer or group of performers, he assumes that his instructions will be fully reflected in the minds of people and the desired actions will immediately follow. But in life this does not always happen. Even if a person is more or less fully aware of his tasks and functions, the expected actions may not follow. This requires certain efforts by the leader, which can influence people's behavior.

Influence

Influence is the use of specific means by which one person brings about a change in behavior, attitude, etc.
another person. The means can be very varied: from a request made in a whisper in the ear, to a knife put to the throat; from expressing ideas to violence. The manager must imagine the effect of his influence on the behavior of the future performer. As a result, the leader and the performer learn similar or dissimilar behavior patterns for the future.

Common sense dictates that in order to have influence, you must be able to control something that matters to the performer. What creates his dependence on you and forces him to act as you wish. This “something” is the basic needs of the performer.

Influence is based on addressing the active needs of the performer.

No one can influence people in any situation. Influence depends on the specific situation, on the abilities of the leader, as well as on the person being influenced. A manager depends on his immediate superior, subordinates and colleagues. Without the assistance of these people, who are part of the leader's environment, he cannot influence and carry out his functions.

The manager must influence subordinates in a way that motivates them to action, to actual work, to submission necessary to achieve the goals of the company. In order for influence to be effective, the manager must understand the interests of the company and his role capabilities, show will and use power. To influence, you must have a basis of influence - power.

Secrets of successful manipulation

The art of manipulating human consciousness is so widespread that we don’t even think that we are becoming its victims. And to become more receptive (and also to improve your skills yourself), you need to know a few secrets of manipulation. We can name four such secrets:

1. Simple, kind and merciful people, capable of altruism and self-sacrifice, are most often susceptible to manipulation. These traits are undoubtedly good, but they make a person more vulnerable.
2. Manipulators successfully exploit subconscious human fears, such as the fear of abandonment or being alone. By pressing on these points, it becomes very easy to control the actions and even thoughts of others.
3. Manipulators take into account that most people are wary of negative emotions and avoid conflicts. A banal increase in voice or change in tone can be controlled by a person without resorting to the above methods.
4. Manipulation is most successful when used against people who do not know how to say “No”, i.e. refuse. Knowing that such a person is in front of him, the manipulator can be 80% sure that the victim will do what he says.

When communicating, you must always remain vigilant - this is the first step to countering manipulation. It is equally important to know your personal characteristics and develop awareness - this also helps to strengthen your “immunity” against those who want to use you for their own purposes.

If you want to understand the topic in depth, we have three offers for you.

First, read our blog articles:

• Techniques of manipulation in discussion;
• 9 manipulations during negotiations;
• How to recognize emotional manipulation;
• Manipulative techniques of toxic people;
• How to communicate with manipulators.

Second, read anything (or all) from this list of books:

• Henrik Fexeus “The Art of Manipulation. Think the way I want";
• Henrik Fexeus “The Art of Manipulation. Don't let yourself be deceived";
• Vadim Shlakhter, Sergei Kholnov “The Art of Dominance”;
• Everett Shostrom "The Manipulative Man";
• George Simon "Who's in Sheep's Clothing? How to recognize a manipulator";
• Nicolas Gueguen “Psychology of manipulation and submission”;
• Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People;
• Victor Sheinov “The Art of Managing People”;
• Vladimir Adamchik “200 ways of successful manipulation”;
• Robert Levin "Mechanisms of manipulation - protection from other people's influence."

And thirdly, watch this interesting video about the tricks of manipulating people. Use your skills only for good and do not succumb to other people’s manipulations. We wish you success!

We also recommend reading:

• Storytelling
• Ten cunning tactics of manipulators
• Active and passive protection against manipulation
• Best of the year. Part one
• 9 manipulations during negotiations
• Techniques and counter-techniques of verbal manipulation
• Protection against manipulation
• How to recognize emotional manipulation
• Manipulation techniques in discussion
• Anti-manipulation techniques
• How to communicate with manipulators

Key words:1Communication

Power

Power is the ability to influence the behavior of other people, the ability to influence their activities using any means: will, coercion, encouragement, suggestion, intrigue, etc.
Typically, a manager has power over his subordinates because they depend on him in matters such as the content of work assignments, salary increases, promotions, etc. However, in some cases, subordinates have power over the leader, since he depends on them in matters such as cooperation, obtaining reliable information, etc.

A successful leader will always maintain a balance of power over subordinates and his dependence on them. Exercising power, he will take care of the implementation of group goals, of helping the group with the means to achieve them.

Impact of pride

Vanity and pride are a wonderful lever for psychological influence. For example: “I see that my wife is tired at work. But you’re smart and an excellent housewife - surprise my friends with a delicious dinner,” “I’m preparing a promotion for you, but, unfortunately, your salary will have to remain the same for now.” The more a person strives to prove his skills to someone, the more often he tries to catch up and overtake his friends in success, the faster he will become a victim of psychological influence.

Forms of power

Power can take many forms. The foundations of power can be represented in four main forms:

1. Power based on coercion;
2. Power based on rewards;
3. Official (traditional) authority;
4. The power of authority.

These power bases are a tool through which a manager can force subordinates to do work aimed at achieving the goals of the firm. They are also tools that can be used by opinion leaders to thwart the achievement of these goals. Each form of power has its pros and cons, and no one is capable of leading people in all situations.

Psychological portrait of a manipulator

Personalities capable of subjugating others have completely different characteristics. Just like the controlled, manipulators do not represent a single monolithic group. They differ both in nature and in their methods of influence. What they have in common, perhaps, is an intuitive knowledge of human psychology.

Strong personalities act as manipulators.

Most often, strong personalities act as manipulators. They use active, sometimes aggressive methods to their advantage. But there are also those who masterfully exploit their imaginary or true weakness. This, for example, is a well-known type of victim who constantly needs consolation, sympathy, pity, help and support.

3.1. Power based on coercion

This is influence through fear.
The performer believes that the influencer can punish, deprive the need, or generally cause some kind of trouble. Therefore, through fear, people consciously or unconsciously allow themselves to be influenced. Usually fear is associated with violence, with physical pain. But this is far from the only mechanism of fear. For example, the fear of losing an interesting and well-paid job seems to be common to everyone.

Fear can be exploited so easily and successfully in certain circumstances: hinting at dismissal or demotion usually produces immediate results.

But for a competent subordinate, such rough practices are not so scary. Much more often, the fear instilled in such a subordinate is directed not at his material interests, but at his pride. For example, a casual remark that someone else would have completed such a task long ago is humiliating and can instill fear.

Influence through fear only works if a person violates regulated behavior. Therefore, in order to use such a tool as fear, it is necessary to have a control system.

Research shows that workplaces that use coercive power are likely to have lower productivity and lower quality products.

Impact of fear

Fear and lack of awareness of the addressee make it possible to cleverly manipulate his actions and actions. For example: “If you don’t go to college, you will become a beggar,” “You are an excellent specialist, but another applicant has appeared for this vacancy.” All invented fears come from a lack of information. By listening to the manipulator, the recipient makes a big mistake. Sometimes behind such influence lies the desire to force a person to do something better, without additional motivation or funding.

3.2. Power based on rewards

The promise of reward is one of the oldest and often most powerful ways to influence other people.
The performer believes that the influencer has the ability to satisfy a pressing need or provide pleasure. Reward-based power exerts influence through positive reinforcement of the subordinate's expectations. He does not resist this influence, and the leader achieves the desired behavior from him.

To influence behavior, the reward must be perceived as sufficiently valuable, that is, it must be adequate to consent to the influence. This perceived adequacy is the main benefit of reward-based power.

The manager must correctly evaluate what is a reward in the eyes of the subordinate and actually offer it to him. However, in practice, the manager has many restrictions on his ability to issue rewards. The firm has a limited amount of promotion resources. Therefore, a successful leader must learn to use other methods of influence.

Results

First of all, to protect yourself from manipulation, you need to avoid any communication with the manipulator. You need to try to minimize contact with this person and, if possible, try to turn off your emotions. If you do not take any actions under the influence of other people’s words, but first think about them, this will help reduce the intensity of the psychological impact. A person’s desire to manipulate is most often a hidden desire for power. A person can reconsider his methods of communicating with people if he is given a positive assessment and praise. In addition, you need to keep your distance from the manipulator and not tell him anything about your life or other details. This is due to the fact that the more information a manipulator has about an object, the more ways he will have influence. You also need to learn to say “no.” It’s better to be thought of as a callous person than to do someone else’s work all the time.

3.3. Official power

Official power is determined by the existing system of subordination (subordination) and the set of functions, rights and responsibilities in the management structure.
It is determined by granting the manager the authority to make and implement management decisions, issue regulations, and force subordinates to comply with them. All managers exercise legitimate power because they have been delegated the authority to manage other people. These bases of power are the tools by which a manager can force subordinates to do work aimed at achieving the goals of the firm.

The doer believes that the influencer has the right to give orders, and that it is his duty to obey them. This influence has become a tradition whereby obedience will lead to the satisfaction of the performer's needs.

The smooth functioning of the company directly depends on the willingness of subordinates to traditionally recognize the legitimate authority of the leader. But such influence is possible as long as the manager is able to satisfy the needs of the subordinate. A system based on tradition will collapse if it does not provide warmth and security to its loyal supporters.

Tradition is especially important for formal work groups. The ability to reward and punish strengthens the leader's authority to give orders. With the help of tradition, the speed and predictability of influence increases and the making of many decisions is greatly simplified.

Tradition has a huge advantage - impersonality. The performer reacts not to the person, but to the position. This increases stability, since the functioning of the company does not depend on the life or abilities of any one individual.

Skills Useful in the Art of Management

1. If a person actively and quite emotionally demands something, hoping that you will not want to enter into conflict with him, you do not need to support his tone or object. It is enough to pause, kindly encouraging the interlocutor to continue the conversation. Even when he begins to speak more calmly, remain silent and simply nod.
2. Another technique that improves the effectiveness of management decisions is to overcome a negative attitude towards unpleasant people. Even if in front of you is a vile, scandalous person, imagine her as a child. Children behave badly when they are spoiled, bitter, or unhappy. This will help you feel empathy for your interlocutor and disarm him.
3. If a person puts pressure on you, so that you understand that it is impossible to avoid his demands, ask directly: “Are you putting pressure on me?” After such questions, most opponents become confused.
4. It is useful for a leader’s personality to be able to refuse when subordinates or relatives try to manipulate them. Moreover, in most cases this must be done without explanation or justification.
5. Do not destroy the confidence that you are right with too many arguments. For example, if you present an argument, defend it.

And the main thing to remember when taking a leadership position is to fix your new position. For example, do something that only leaders are allowed to do: make an important decision, give an order, or invite subordinates to report. After all, the longer you wait to take on a new role, the more likely it is that your rights will be limited.

3.4. Power based on authority

One of the forms of exercising power is authority - a positive assessment of the leader’s merits and the conviction of subordinates in the correctness and accuracy of the decisions he makes.
The characteristics of the influencer are so attractive to the performer that he wants to be just like the influencer. The performer believes that the influencer has the knowledge and experience that will allow him to satisfy the need.

Authority is based on two sources:

1. on faith in a person’s personal characteristics, his prestige;
2. on faith in a person’s abilities and business qualities.

Real authority is formed as a unity of a specialist, position and personality.
It is won by the leader himself, who appears before the team as a person endowed with intelligence, will, integrity, as a demanding, but fair, morally pure person. Without authority there is no worthy leader. The absence or lack of authority causes a lot of difficulties in the relationship between a manager and his subordinates.

The authority of a leader is based on the trust of subordinates:

1. on the belief of a friendly attitude towards subordinates;
2. on the belief that the leader has a broad outlook;
3. on the belief that the manager makes decisions in some cases because he knows the issue better than his subordinates, and in other cases he involves subordinates in this.

Personal authority. Personal authority is power based on unconscious, charismatic faith (Greek “charisma”, “grace”, “divine gift”, “blind faith”. This is the influence of example. The
characteristics of the influencer are so attractive to the performer that he wants to be the same, as an influencer. At the subconscious level, the subordinate identifies himself with the leader. This satisfies his need for belonging and respect.

Here are some characteristics of charismatic personalities:

1. Energy exchange. It seems that these individuals radiate energy and charge the people around them with it;
2. Impressive appearance. The leader is not necessarily handsome, but he is attractive, has good posture and carries himself well;
3. Independence of character. These people do not rely on others in their pursuit of well-being and respect;
4. Good rhetorical skills. They have verbal and interpersonal skills;
5. Perception of admiration for one's personality. They feel comfortable when others express admiration for them without becoming arrogant or selfish;
6. Dignified, confident demeanor. They look collected and in control of the situation.

The authority of a specialist. The authority of a specialist is power based on reasonable faith.
Performers believe in the competence of the leader. Submission is conscious and logical because the influencer has the knowledge and experience that will allow them to satisfy their needs. A leader's influence is achieved through his visible achievements. Reasonable faith in a leader forces one to obey due to the belief in the correctness and accuracy of his orders.

The increasing complexity of technology has accelerated and intensified the use of intelligent belief as an influence mechanism in modern enterprises. Some studies have shown that if a group of people are simply told that one of them is a specialist (expert) in a certain field of activity, the group is more likely to follow the recommendations of this person.

By taking the opinions of experts on faith, the line manager thus frees up his time. Failure to take expert advice on faith may mean that the line manager is more concerned about his own personal security than about meeting the higher needs of his subordinates.

In some cases, the influence of rational belief can change the balance of power between the leader and the subordinate because the leader needs the information and recommendations of the subordinate. At least temporarily, the subordinate may have more power than the manager would in a similar situation. It is possible that the manager himself, during the first stages of his work in this position, will be strongly influenced by the reasonable faith in the authority of specialists and will take on faith much of what his subordinates tell him.

Impact of pity

This technique is often used by children and young girls. Its task is to evoke self-pity and a desire to help. For example: “I’m so tired, I don’t have any strength, and I also have to cook dinner for you,” “I’m the boss and every time I receive comments for your bad work and pay fines for you.” The victim receives help in this psychological impact. But she herself does not strive to improve her life, but prefers to complain. The slight energetic “vampirism” of this action subsequently evokes a contemptuous attitude towards the manipulator.

Influence through collaboration

The increasingly higher educational level of performers in many cases eliminated the intellectual gap between the leader and subordinates.
Over the years, social and financial differences between people have also decreased. Consequently, it becomes increasingly difficult to base power solely on coercion, reward, tradition or authority. Two forms of influence that can motivate a subordinate to actively cooperate are persuasion and participation. Today's leaders can become more successful leaders if they improve their skills in these two forms of influence.

What should a leader be like?

A good specialist can only be a person who has a higher education and an expert level of knowledge. Thus, the key skills of a sales manager are, first of all, knowledge of advanced strategies for attracting the target audience and competence in their field of activity. Other qualities will be no less important:

• erudition, desire for professional growth;
• ability to evaluate a situation critically;
• search for new methods and forms of work that can increase the efficiency of management decisions;
• planning, which involves not only managing one’s own time, but also setting priorities, coordinating work, and drawing up schedules for oneself and subordinates.

4.1. Influence through persuasion

Persuasion is the effective communication of one's point of view to another.
The manager makes the subordinate believe in the need to do the work independently. He recognizes the qualifications of his subordinate, trusts him as a specialist and expresses confidence that everything will be done on time and with high quality. By using persuasion, the leader tacitly accepts that the subordinate has some degree of power that may reduce the leader's ability to act. In other words, the leader recognizes his dependence on the subordinate.

Conviction influences the fact that it brings to the consciousness of the subordinate the fact that, having fulfilled the desire of the leader, he, as a specialist, satisfies his own need. To persuade, the leader uses logic and emotions, depending on the situation and the disposition of the subordinate.

Some methods of influence through persuasion can be schematically represented as follows:

• try to accurately determine the needs of the subordinate and appeal to these needs;
• speak in accordance with the interests of the subordinate, and not your own;
• When speaking, try to evoke trust and a feeling of reliability.

Impact of guilt

Guilt is most often used by manipulators in family life. By experiencing it, a person seeks to compensate for the damage caused. For example: “You were walking and having fun with your friends, and I am alone and babysitting the child, and creating comfort for you,” “It’s better for you to rest today, and I can do your work for you.” The manipulator will constantly press on the feeling of guilt or find new episodes. The recipient in such a situation will try to level out the discomfort and will fall into the same trap over and over again. The feeling of guilt subsequently gives rise to aggression, so the manipulator should use such psychological influence with caution.

4.2. Influence through participation

Influence through participation goes even further than persuasion to recognize the power and abilities of the subordinate.
Here the leader simply directs efforts to work together. This facilitates the exchange of information and unification of efforts into a single position that both sincerely believe in. Participatory influence succeeds because people inspired by high-level needs tend to work hardest towards the goal that was formulated with their participation.

Participation in decision making clearly appeals to higher-level needs—the needs of power, competence, success, self-expression.

Therefore, this approach should only be used in cases where such needs are active motivating factors, and provided that the subordinate can be relied on to work towards solving the problem that he himself has chosen.

Unfortunately, research has shown that participatory management is not suitable for all situations. Performers who dislike ambiguity, are not very individualistic, and prefer highly regulated tasks perform best in more controlled environments. One of the reasons why participation in management is not so widespread may be the fact that managers do not want to give up their traditional powers and prerogatives.

Main tasks of personnel management

1. Determine employee needs.
2. Help you adapt to a new team.
3. Select personnel.
4. Stimulate interest in career growth.
5. Develop the right motivation system.
6. Promote development, both personal and professional.
7. Resolve conflicts.

Practical use of influence

To motivate others to work (especially creative and inspired work), power alone is not enough for a leader. For influence through power to be strong enough, the following conditions must exist:

• the subordinate must consider influence as a source of satisfaction (dissatisfaction) of some of his needs;
• the subordinate must highly value the need to which the leader appeals;
• the subordinate must consider the probability of satisfying the need to be sufficiently high if the task is solved;
• the subordinate must believe that his efforts will be fairly appreciated by the leader.

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How to understand that you are being manipulated?

Skilled manipulators invent hundreds of subtle tactics to achieve their goal at the expense of another person. But there are the following obvious signs:

• demonstration of strong feelings;
• playing on other people's weaknesses;
• lies and subsequent self-contradiction;
• exaggeration and generalization;
• avoiding the topic;
• constantly putting forward new criteria (changing the rules of the game);
• intimidation;
• self-affirmation at the expense of others;
• passive aggression;
• silence for the purpose of punishment or intimidation;
• distortion or concealment of facts, indifference to the feelings of another person and constantly instilling in him a feeling of inferiority;
• attracting allies.

An obvious lie.

Well, this is the most obvious. How to make a person believe in anything? Deceive him. “Mom, the hooligans took away the 200 rubles that you gave me for travel.” Mom has nowhere to go - the child has to go, and, as a result, the little manipulator has 200 rubles for beer, sweets and cigarettes. In general, this is a typical everyday example.

We won’t go far for examples. Let's turn on the TV (we should write a separate article about this manipulator). Elections for president or mayor always end with the same thing: “he lied to us.” Well, yes, he lied. More precisely, he manipulated you, and you fell for it. Who's to blame now? It's their own fault because they fell for it.

This is a dangerous way of manipulating with catastrophic consequences for the manipulator if a lie is revealed. In the first example, the child may be threatened with a red ass and a lack of candy, or even (Oh, horror!) access to the computer will be limited. In the second case, there are a lot of options, but those politicians who are directly caught lying in various ways are, as they say, “leaked.” We will not go into these essentially unnecessary details for our topic.

Repetition.

A very common type of manipulation. There is even a saying or something: call someone a pig many times, and he will grunt. I don't remember verbatim.

Tell me about TV?

OK. To be sure, we’ll touch on that too.

We turn on the TV, and there is advertising. Something like: “If you buy vodka in Colorado, you will immediately grow up rich.” And so on day after day. And then you will choose a bottle in the store - and it will pop up in your head, as if it had been like this all your life, that you should drink this particular vodka - you can get drunk and become rich. Funny, but true.

And repetition is a wonderful way to introduce stereotypes into the masses: “how stupid Americans are” (c). Yeah. Certainly. A country that has been making money on the whole world for the 4th century is definitely a country of idiots. It’s possible and that means we don’t have to strain ourselves. Brains - that is, friends?

This is a bit of a harsh example, but there are a lot of similar ones that can be cited, and there are even harsher ones.

Here’s another one for good measure: “Study at school so you can go to university. Then to the university to get a job. And you will work happily all your life." In the average family, raising a child this way from childhood is the norm. And, in general, because of this norm, families are called average. Then the child is afraid to step aside from this path. Or rather, not even that. He then doesn’t see other paths, and even if he does, he almost doesn’t recognize them.

By the way, this method is often called zombification.

Classification

There are many methods of influencing the psyche. They differ in complexity and duration of influence. The only quality that unites all methods is secrecy: a person should not understand that he is being manipulated. Methods of influence:

1. Suggestion. The manipulator “puts” the necessary thoughts into a person’s head, leading him to certain conclusions. Suggestion occurs through communication, “random” throwing of facts, unobtrusive discussion of a problematic topic.
2. Manipulation. A complex process of influence that requires a combination of several methods of influence. The leader becomes for his subordinates what they want him to be. It combines emotional pressure, offering benefits, and plays on the fear of missed opportunities. The choice of manipulation technique is individual. Influence affects both the crowd and the individual.
3. NLP. This technique allows you to program the object of influence. It is the most difficult, requiring deep knowledge of psychology. Manipulation techniques using NLP cannot be overcome. They are similar to hypnosis: the individual is not aware of the control of an outsider, he believes that he himself made the decision.

All methods are effective, but the degree of influence also depends on the abilities of the manipulator, the psyche of the person they are trying to control.

Features of subordination

To understand how and what control methods to choose, you need to know the peculiarities of how the psyche works. The manipulator must:

1. Radiate positive energy. A friendly person causes a response - those around him are unconsciously drawn to him. The opinion of a positive person is perceived favorably, even if he expresses controversial things.
2. Don't show excitement. Even in a situation of heated dispute, one must remain calm. This will confuse the opponent and show the manipulator as a strong person. If a dispute has witnesses, they will remember who was in a more advantageous position.
3. Manage your time, be able to plan things. You cannot learn to influence other people if you cannot manage your own priorities. You need to get rid of meaningless activities.
4. Always make eye contact. When an individual hides his eyes, he is treated with suspicion. A leader always looks in the face and does not look away. If you feel uncomfortable looking into your eyes, you can look at the point between your eyebrows.
5. Don't be afraid to enter into conflict. Fear of conflict is a serious obstacle to learning management techniques. Conflict is a clash of interests. You need to learn to defend your opinion. Of course, this will displease your opponents, but you cannot adapt to them, otherwise you will not be able to influence the situation.
6. Develop strengths. You need to use and develop your advantages. If an individual tries to develop weaknesses, he wastes time on this that he could spend on strengthening strong skills. You need to upgrade the skills you already have - this will allow you to quickly increase your level of efficiency.
7. Make a positive first impression. Correcting a bad first impression is difficult and it is better to avoid it. In order for the object of manipulation to form positive associations, you need to prepare for the first meeting. Find out what he likes, choose a cafe with a suitable atmosphere. Give a small gift. It does not oblige you to anything, but will be a good sign of attention.

When confident behavior becomes habitual, you can move on to honing manipulation techniques.

Attention capture technique

The main task is to capture the attention of the interlocutor. You capture the attention of another person through the channels of perception. A person can visually perceive information by ear and body (sensations). And the more channels you use, the stronger the capture will be. Those. if you look your interlocutor in the eyes, speak loudly and shake his shoulders at the same time, then the grip will be very strong.

Basic gripping techniques:

• Eye contact. Before you talk to a person, make sure they can see you.
• Voice greeting.
• Ask some question. Can be applied to both an acquaintance and a stranger.
• Unobtrusive kinesthetics - touch. You can touch unfamiliar people in neutral zones: the outer part of the shoulder or forearm, the outer side of the arm.
• Join your interlocutor's action. Thus, you automatically fall into the person's area of ​​attention.

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