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Gaining Power and Influence in the Credit Union

In: Business and Management

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Running head: GAINING POWER AND INFLUENCE

Gaining Power and Influence at the Credit Union
Jessica L. Styer
Trident University International
MGT 302 Module 2 SLP

Gaining Power and Influence at the Credit Union
“Everyone has power. Everyone. And, I don’t believe that power is a bad thing. The issue becomes what kind of power a person has and how someone uses that power.” (Lauby, 2010) Referent Power and Expert Power are the two main types of power that I use to gain power and influence in my position as a service and sales trainer at the credit union.

Referent Power
Referent power “is sometimes thought of as charisma, charm, admiration, or appeal. Referent power comes from one person liking and respecting another, and strongly identifying with that person in some way.” (Mindtools.com) I have been told by other co-workers that I have charisma and appeal. I have a very positive outlook at work and in my training sessions. I train on the two things that most people struggle with; consist exceptional member service and sales. This is why I use referent power to influence my trainees. Trainees come to me when things are not going well and they are very negative. If I followed the same mindset as my trainees, then we would not get any improvement. I need to show them that they can be successful and sales and member service is positive.

Expert Power
Expert power is “when you have knowledge and skills that enable you to understand a situation, suggest solutions, use solid judgment, and generally outperform others.” (Mindtools.com) I have an advantage over other trainers in my credit union because I am the only service and sales trainer. I am looked to as the expert in these two areas of the credit union. Since I have expert power, I am consistently building and maintaining expert power. Since the credit union is small, one way that I build and maintain expert power is by extending a training session invite to all of the Vice Presidents and the CEO of the credit union. “When you demonstrate expertise, people tend to trust you and respect what you say. As a subject matter expert, your ideas will have more value, and others will look to you for leadership in that area.” (Mindtools.com) Who better to be an advocate for me then the Vice Presidents and the CEO of the credit union.

Influence
Before you can begin influencing others, you need to have some type of power. John French and Bertram Raven identified 5 types of power in 1959. They are Legitimate, Reward, Expert, Referent, and Coercive. Whatever type of power that you possess, you can use that power for positive or negative outcomes.
Mentoring is something that I feel is a huge factor in how influential you are. I knew when I was a Teller Supervisor at the credit union that I wanted to be the next Service and Sales Trainer. I knew that I needed to have someone from the training department to be able to influence others on my behalf when it came down to choosing the next Service and Sales Trainer when that time came. Since I feel mentoring is a big factor in being influential, I reached out to the Training and Development Supervisor and asked him if he would be my mentor. He agreed. We spent many months working on my development. That was also my opportunity to share my ideas on how I would do things or what I would change for improving sales and service. I am now mentoring others and that helps me influence their choices at the credit union. I had a teller that was struggling with their sales goals. I had spent time with him to improve these. It was taking more time than we had expected. As a trainer and also a mentor, I knew that I needed to support him and show him that he can reach his sales goals. I worked with him and kept the positivity going. One day he wanted to quit because he was not where he wanted to be. I feel that with the mentoring, referent and expert power, I influenced him to change his mind and stay with the credit union. Once he decided to stay, within a month he was reaching his goals and is now in a leadership role.
Sharon Patrick of Martha Stewart Living states that “women have tended to prefer searching for common interests, solving problems, and collaborating to find win-win outcomes.” (Muoio, 2007) I agree with that statement. That has helped become an effective and sought after service and sales trainer at the credit union along with my choice to use referent power and expert power.

References
French and Raven's Five Forms of Power - Leadership Training from MindTools.com. (n.d.). Retrieved August 1, 2013, from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_56.htm
Lauby, S. (2010, March 4). 7 Types of Power in the Workplace. Retrieved August 1, 2013, from http://www.hrbartender.com/2010/training/7-types-of-power-in-the-workplace/
Muoio, A. (2007, December 18). Women and Men, Work and Power | Fast Company | Business + Innovation. Retrieved August 1, 2013, from http://www.fastcompany.com/33732/women-and-men-work-and-power
Stracker, D. (n.d.). French and Raven's Forms of Power. Retrieved August 1, 2013, from http://changingminds.org/explanations/power/french_and_raven.htm

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