Page 273 - The Power to Change Anything

262 INFLUENCER

monitored. Worse still, all abuses of authority transform those
who rely on them into the parent or leader they swore they’d
never become.
Ineffective influencers compensate for their weak influence
repertoires by putting a megaphone to the one source they’ve
already put in place. In contrast, influence geniuses tap new
sources of influence rather than trying desperately to pump up
their anemic single source.
For example, people who develop a change strategy based
on a single extrinsic motivator typically miss the importance of
creating circumstances in which intrinsic rewards carry their
share of the motivational load. Savvy influencers increase
their likelihood of achieving success by building in multiple
sources. That means they co-opt rather than fight peer pressure.
They link vital behaviors to the formal reward structure. In
short, they align all the sources of motivation with the desired
vital behaviors.
When it comes to ability problems, the importance of
stacking the deck for success is equally essential. With ability
barriers, no single enabling source can trump the other sources.
In fact, quite the opposite is true. One barrier that disables a
change project trumps all other enablers. For example, at work
you may be able to complete your part of the job, but if those
who provide you with materials and information you need can’t
do their part, you’re stumped. If others can do their part but
the computer system fails them, you’re all stumped.
Consequently, when it comes to enabling a change effort,
the common error made by naive influencers is not that
they try to trump all the other disabling sources with one pow-
erful megasource. Instead, the common mistake lies in surfac-
ing a single barrier, fixing it, and then believing they’re done.
With six separate sources of influence behind any one barrier—
and with dozens of forces lying behind each source—it’s fairly
likely that more than one disabler lies behind any persistent
problem. That’s often what has made it so persistent.