Building Influence As An Early Career Professional

This post is part of a bi-monthly series bought to you by Ayushi Mona for InsideIIM called 'Headstart'. This is the sixth post in the early career series.
Read the previous article here. 

If you are an early career professional, you may have borne the brunt of being the one to take minutes of the meeting or having your suggestions ignored, or not even being allowed to speak up in important interactions with clients or seniors. While some of this is part of the "growing up" phase at an organization, often this is a form of ageism that organizations and individuals practice without even realizing. The most important lever to make a difference today, in a knowledge-based economy is influence. Yet, being influential or having gravitas is associated with hierarchical seniority in India.  Why ?

1. We are a status-obsessed society: From a young age, parents ask children to chase high-status schools, colleges, and companies. As a result, instinctively, people are likely to care more about what a 'Vice President' says rather than an 'Assistant Manager'.
2. We are swayed by soft skills: Most people are likely to believe 'how' something is said over 'what' is said.
3. Cognitive biases override truths: The bandwagon effect affects decision-making at the workplace. For instance, how often does one step into a meeting, and then everyone goes with the one decision that the senior-most person(by designation) comes up with.

Yet, the truth is that younger people may have:

1.  Stronger or equal technological process
2. Increasingly strong leadership skills due to participation in team activities and co-curricular activities
3. Equally capable of generating good ideas even if they don't have in-depth rigour of experienced professionals

Often, the onus is on the organization to hire younger and fresher talent. While they do go about the same, by hiring graduate trainees, running mentoring programs, or giving them challenging assignments - a lot of early-career talent just hits a roadblock when they have to work with colleagues, suppliers, and clients and find themselves being ignored. So, how can you, as an early career talent in your chosen field of work build influence and develop gravitas?

1. Confidence: Have you ever been in a professional discussion and marveled at someone's speaking skills while being simultaneously aghast at their lack of technical knowledge? The truth is that appearances and perceptions do matter. Hence, the confidence with which you put forward your ideas and suggestions makes a lot of difference. Practically this means that you do not start your sentences with "Perhaps, maybe or I am not sure but..."
2. Have data on your side: As an early career professional, you will never have the perks of being higher up in the hierarchy on your side. Hence, using data, logic, and actual proof points when you discuss or present becomes super important.
3. Being humble: Often, early career professionals have past leadership or prestigious institutions in their CV. This brings in a certain smugness in interactions - especially when you may be dealing with people. Often, cocky attitudes are the reason that seniors in the team may be dismissive of your professional aptitude.
4. Being hardworking: Offer to do the groundwork on your ideas or run a pilot, take responsibility and you would be surprised at how receptive people are to your ideas
5. Being personally effective: You may be a professional whiz but if you are tardy or shoddy - it becomes difficult to take you seriously. As an early career professional, it is important to remember that you are no longer in college and your personal behaviour, dressing sense and assertiveness make a difference in how you are seen.

Bonus recommendation: It is always a plus to have your mentors and superiors by your side. Often, younger people are reluctant to reach out to others (hint: management trainees who only eat lunch with each other or people who stick to their immediate colleagues at a get-together). However, the fastest way to become influential is to have people see your professional aptitude or learn about you outside your immediate interaction. This makes them far more receptive to hearing you because they know of you as a person and not just a designation or tag.

Hope this post helped you out. Watch out for the 7th article in the Headstart series soon. Share these posts and leave feedback, requests, and suggestions in the comments below!
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Disclaimer: All views expressed are personal. All information copyright with author. Protected under Creative Commons.

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