I think one of the balancing acts of bringing out the best in others is also making sure we stay on the side of influence and don’t slip over into manipulation. This can be a temptation when the influencing doesn’t seem to be having the effect we want it to!

It has to be about inspiring and equipping people to make great choices and not forcing people to do what we want them to do.

People need to be respected as individuals even if they have different ideas, backgrounds, beliefs than we do. This is something I extend to someone I want to influence. As a someone wanting to influence others, I can not effectively influence without respecting them. Influence without respect is dictatorial.

Respect moves to value. Value is only ‘valuable’ if it is perceived by the targeted individual. It doesn’t matter how much I value you. It is only tangible if you perceive or ‘feel’ valued by me. Perceived value is what will cause one to respond to the next challege.

Purpose gives an individual an internal motivation to rise to challenge. Purpose can be corporate or communal but if the individual doesn’t internalize the purpose it won’t likely move them to action. Helping people find purpose is a trial-and-error experiment of identifying what will cause them to feel purpose. I consider purpose to be an emotive response.

I’ll come back with success/failure stories after I think on that for a while.