No Title, No Problem: The 5 Levers of Influence to Lead Without Power

You’re leading projects, but no one reports to you. They ignore your messages, and nothing moves. Discover how to build influence before the formal power.

Before we start the article, a good thing you can’t miss: If you’re not a subscriber, you can still grab DDL’s free guide Leading Better 1:1s. It’s packed with questions, feedback tips, and a simple roadmap for better 1:1s.

✅ Reflective questions (Quiet Leadership style)
✅ Feedback prompts (Radical Candor made practical)
✅ A simple step-by-step conversation roadmap

---

There’s a very good book I read by Linda A. Hill called Becoming a Manager.

It’s one of those books that doesn’t try to romanticize leadership. It just tells the truth, plainly and painfully.

In one chapter, she follows the story of a new manager at a securities firm. Before his promotion, he was a top-performing broker for over a decade.

He knew his stuff. He was confident. But once he stepped into a leadership role, everything changed.

Suddenly, he couldn’t rely on his technical skills to move things forward. His team didn’t automatically follow just because he had the title.

He described it like becoming a parent overnight.

One day, you’re doing your job. Next, you’re responsible for a team, expected to know how to guide them, influence them, and get results, without much help, and definitely without a manual.

“… Do you know how hard it is to be the boss when you are so out of control! It's hard to verbalize. It's the feeling that all of a sudden ... it's the feeling you get when you have a child. On day X minus I, you still don't have a child. On day X, all of a sudden, you're a mother or a father and you're supposed to know everything there is to know about taking care of this kid…”

This quote from that manager is honest and accurate.

You don’t automatically know how to lead just because someone gave you a title.

Authority doesn’t come first. Influence does.

You Can’t Force People to Follow You

You finally get the chance to lead a team. You're excited, ready to prove yourself, but quickly realize there's one problem: nobody actually reports to you.

You’re supposed to deliver important projects, coordinate smart, opinionated people, and meet deadlines.

But when you ask them to do something, they look at your Slack message and then go back to their actual boss. Or worse, they just ignore it…

I remember a friend who moved from being a developer to leading a big, complicated ERP implementation project. He thought the technical part would be hard, but that wasn’t the real issue.

The problem was that his authority was invisible. "It's like shouting underwater," he said once, half-joking but mostly frustrated.

Everyone heard a noise, but nobody understood the message.

Why does this happen so much?

Why do talented digital leaders fail at influencing even when they're technically good?

The uncomfortable truth is: people don't have to follow logic just because it makes sense. We’re not spreadsheets. We’re people, with weird motivations, complicated emotions, and invisible loyalties.

Influence, as a leader, isn't something automatic. You might think you're right. You might even be right. But rightness alone doesn't make people move.

The Quiet Price of Having No Influence

Communication takes more energy, you start feeling overlooked, and it can even impact your confidence.

Without clear influence, you get stuck pushing tasks uphill, alone, feeling the weight grow heavier.

Psychologists talk a lot about why this happens: people don't ignore you because they're lazy or trying to make your life hard. They do it because your requests aren't connecting with something they should care about.

There's always another Slack notification, another email, another urgent task.

So, naturally, your project falls behind. It's human, even predictable.

But predictable doesn't mean inevitable. Influence isn't about job titles or who reports to whom. It's about finding ways to make people genuinely want to listen, care, and act.

So, how do you actually build influence when authority isn't on your side?

That’s exactly what I want to show you here.

Authority Comes Later, Influence First

Here's the core truth: in digital leadership, formal authority almost always comes after you’ve already earned trust and respect.

No tricks. No shortcuts. Just consistent actions, slowly building credibility, relationships, communication, shared goals, and examples.

By the way, researchers French and Raven showed this clearly years ago. They defined five types of power: positional, expert, reward, coercive, and referent.

And guess what?

Positional power (the one that comes from job titles) is the weakest in most situations.

Real influence comes from your expertise, the trust people place in you, and how consistent your behaviour is.

So, what are the 5 Levers of Influence?

The 5 Levers of Influence

Credibility: No one listens to noise. They follow competence and consistency.

Relationships: Influence spreads at the speed of trust.

Communication: You can't lead if your ideas don’t land.

Shared Goals: Influence is easier when people care about the same outcome.

Example: You can’t fake integrity. People watch what you do.

---

1. Credibility

Myth: People should follow because I'm right.
Reality: People follow those who deliver consistently.

Being technically right won’t get you very far if no one trusts that you’ll actually follow through.

It might feel unfair, but most people won’t evaluate your logic. They’ll evaluate you.

What they want to know is simple: Can I rely on you? Will you be the person who finishes what you start, even when it’s hard or boring?

Credibility is the number one quality people want in a leader. Not intelligence. Not vision. Credibility.

That starts with reducing the gap between what you say and what you or reducing the space between what you promise and what you deliver.

That’s where trust either forms or fractures. And once you lose it, every task becomes harder.

Tactic: Keep the gap small. Promise less, deliver more. Make your reliability visible, say you’ll send the update by Thursday, then send it on Wednesday. Let people see that you don’t miss. Also, stay calm under pressure. If you panic during chaos, people assume you’re not ready. They won’t say it out loud, but they’ll remember.

Mistake: Overpromising to gain quick support. If you talk a big game but don’t deliver, your credibility drops fast, and it’s hard to get back.

2. Relationships

Myth: If we define roles and expectations clearly, everything should work.
Reality: People follow those they trust, not those who just write documents.

Trust isn’t a bonus feature, it’s infrastructure. And without it, the best plans fail.

Most work happens in the grey zone, in hallway decisions and Slack threads, where formal authority doesn’t matter.

The research on psychological safety shows that people only speak up, ask for help, or challenge ideas when they feel safe. And that safety grows through real, consistent relationships.

I like to bring here how Brené Brown uses the marble jar analogy: every small act of honesty, listening, or generosity adds a marble.

Interrupt someone, ignore their input, or dodge accountability, and you take one out.

That jar empties faster than you think.

Tactic: Slow down. Ask questions like you actually care about the answer. Give help before you ask for help. People want to support those who support them.

Mistake: Pretending to listen while thinking of your next sentence. If you’re not truly present, people notice. And trust disappears quietly.

3. Communication

Myth: The more detail I give, the better people will follow.
Reality: We remember what feels clear and familiar.

You don’t get points for clarity on slide 27. You get influence when people remember what you said two days later.

We gravitate toward messages that feel fluid. The ones that spread are simple, concrete, and emotional.

Leaders who drown people in technical detail, long Slack messages, or abstract strategy lose the room. Even if they’re right.

Tactic: Speak simply. Get to the point. Then say it again, not with the same words, but the same message. Use short stories. Use analogies that feel real, not clever.

Mistake: Hiding behind complexity to look smart. If people don’t get it, they won’t follow. And they’ll avoid asking, just to avoid looking confused.

Storytelling for Tech Leaders

4. Shared Goals

Myth: My project is clearly valuable. That should be enough.
Reality: People don’t act on logic. They act on personal relevance.

We assume that if the company cares about something, everyone else should too.

That’s not how motivation works.

People stay engaged when their work supports autonomy, purpose, or growth.

The Expectancy Theory says people act when they believe their effort leads to outcomes they actually want.

So if your project doesn’t connect to what matters to them, personally, don’t expect energy. Expect silence.

Tactic: Find out what each person cares about. Ask, listen, and connect the project to that. If someone wants to learn a new skill, let them lead that part of the work. If someone cares about visibility, involve them in stakeholder updates.

Mistake: Assuming buy-in. Just because people nod doesn’t mean they’re in. Make it specific. Show how their work connects to their own goal.

5. Example

Myth: As long as I say the right things, people will follow.
Reality: Most behavior is copied, not taught.

You’re being watched. And you are being watched all the time. People absorb behavior by watching others, especially those in visible roles.

Leadership spreads through norms. People don’t follow rules. They follow habits. So your habits set the tone.

If you cut corners, they will too. If you lose your temper, they’ll normalize it.

If you stay calm, they’ll mirror that.

You’re not just guiding the work, you’re shaping the culture.

Tactic: Show what matters. Be the first to admit a mistake. Be the one who follows the process, not the one who bends it. If you want people to stay calm in chaos, start by staying calm yourself.

Mistake: Sending mixed signals. Saying "quality matters" while cutting corners on your own tasks. People notice, and your influence disappears.

---

This is a free article here. Do you want to unlock many more systems to become a better leader? Subscribe now and get 20% off your first year

Paid subscribers unlock:

🔐 Weekly premium issues packed with frameworks and/or templates
🔐 Access to special toolkits (check the Starter Kit already available below)
🔐 Strategic guides on feedback, influence, and decision-making
🔐 Exclusive content on career growth, visibility, and leadership challenges
🔐 Full archive of every premium post

Plus, you get a Starter Kit when you subscribe, which includes:

🔓 Feedback & 1:1: Meeting Templates, Feedback Cheat Sheet, Conversation Scenarios

🔓 Stakeholder Management & Influence: Stakeholder Power Map, Expectation Tracker, Influence Playbook, Communication Templates, Conversation Planner

🔓 Weekly Planner: Weekly Planners A & B, Time Audit & Meeting Review, Start / Stop / Continue Reflection, Leadership Focus Reset, 33 Activities for Weekly Planning

---

Mindset: Influence Grows Slowly

So, you need to understand this: influence doesn’t come from a single conversation, a clever sentence, or a well-placed comment in a meeting.

It builds slowly. Quietly. Sometimes it even feels like it’s not working, especially when you’re not “in charge” on paper.

What helps? Keep your head clean.

Influence based on trust lasts longer than any shortcut built on charm or pressure. People can smell insincerity even when they can’t explain it.

If you’re only building relationships to get ahead, it shows. And once that trust breaks, you’re not getting it back anytime soon.

So stay honest about why you’re doing this. Make sure the outcomes you’re pushing for help the team, not just your CV.

Also, stop expecting perfect results every time. Some people won’t listen. Some situations won’t go your way. I know that by experience…

But that’s where you learn. Influence is more like a skill than a personality trait.

You get better at it the more you pay attention.

And one more thing, most people avoid saying: influence is also political.

Not in the betrayal sense, but in the way power actually works inside teams. It’s social.

The people who support you behind closed doors, the ones who bring your name into the room… that’s real power.

I always say to my friends and colleagues that my CV, my real CV, is not the one I send on a PDF or my LinkedIn profile. It is what people who worked with me are able to speak about me when I am not there.

And it doesn’t come from job titles. It comes from how you treat people when it’s not about you.

Also, don’t assume your only job is to learn tactics. Sometimes, the problem is what you need to stop doing.

Do you talk too much? Do you interrupt? Do you keep solving things yourself instead of enabling others? Ask someone you trust.

The blocker might not be your lack of influence. It might be how people feel when they’re around you.

If your goal is to grow into formal leadership later, this is the training ground. These small acts of influence often become the reason people recommend you for bigger roles. I’ve seen it happen.

So keep going. No shortcuts. No games.

Just honest influence, built one decision at a time. That’s how people start following you — even when they don’t have to.

But… you know what?

As I’m writing this, I realized something.

Sometimes, when a topic matters this much, we need to slow down and really sit with it. Not rush to the next thing. Go deep…

That’s why I decided to change my own plan (yes, even my calendar needs a reset sometimes).

Over the next 5 posts, I’ll go deeper into The 5 Levers of Influence — one by one.

• Credibility

• Relationships

• Communication

• Shared Goals

• Example

Honestly, I’m excited. This is the kind of work that makes you sharper as a leader.
What about you? Are you in for this?