Relational Versus Positional Influence

Leaders that lead, love, and serve like Jesus must use their power and influence to serve others and accomplish the mission God has given them. They ultimately do it for God’s glory and not for personal glory or to serve their own selfish interests.

There’s a sharp contrast between Positional Influence (PI) which relies primarily on titles and official authority and Relational Influence (RI) which is based more on relationship and reputation/credibility. Positional influence is not a bad thing—we all have positions designated to us or assumed by us (father/mother, manager, boss, pastor, etc.). Problems arise when we rely solely on positions for authority and neglect to invest in relationships and lead from that basis.

PI typically has resources at its disposal whereas those with RI need to rely more on their expertise and experience. Often PI will give out rewards or punish to motivate followers whereas RI will use persuasion to get followers’ support. PI may withhold information and knowledge to gain power over followers. On the other hand, RI has “influence” power because of personal credibility. PI relies heavily on established systems and processes to get things done whereas RI builds consensus among followers, getting them to cooperate and unite around a mutual understanding.

If you hold any position of leadership, don’t primarily rely on your title or status to accomplish or enforce something. Rather, lean into the power of your relational influence. You might just be surprised at how little bearing your position has on getting things done or on convincing people to jump on board with your vision and mission.

Key question for discussion: How have you observed senior leaders positively lead their organizations with both positional and relational influence/authority?

[Next week we will review some basic concepts that form the foundation of our material.]