AMA Leadership Answer - How do you lead if your position has no authority?

So Richards question in full was "My biggest challenge when I was in a leadership role was that it wasn't a position of authority. Whilst I was the leader on how to think about quality and testing, I had no power to implement something. How would you lead in this situation?"

Great question! For me, every organisation is different so you have to work out your "Circles of Influence". You need to be clear what outcomes you can control, what outcomes you can influence but not control and be clear what you cannot influence or control. So I'll focus from your scenario on the Circles of Influence.

So the power of influence is earned. Its rarely a transaction from a single conversation. To influence change that is not in your direct control, first and foremost you have to be convinced yourself that a change is needed. You also need to be clear what the benefit is going to be to the area that you are going to need to influence to make the change happen. If you can't explain to them those benefits from their perspective, you don't have a strong base to work from. It may be the case you need to do some groundwork to understand how they see the current situation, and then offer support and ideas to make it better.

I don't believe I have no power. What I do have are constraints, options on how to work within them and the ability to respond accordingly. If I'm convinced a change is required and the "authority" gives me a fat No, I don't see that as the end of the discussion. I hear "From the information I have right now, its a no". I just need to do the work to understand their perspective. What are they not seeing that I am?

When you do that work, they may appreciate it and who knows, you might collectively come up with a change that was better than what you came up with on your own and gained far more influence than you bargained for.