3 WAYS TO INCREASE YOUR INFLUENCE THROUGH COMMUNITY

How can you increase your influence?

If you are looking for ways to increase your influence, you might be surprised to learn that people in your community can help you expand it.

I’ve been reading Jon Levy’s book, You’re invited: The art and science of cultivating influence. In it, he argues you can increase your influence through community. He distinguishes these community connections as different from networks we create to achieve professional goals. These connections, he argues, are made up of people who share similar passions, but not necessarily the same skills. Because of the community’s collective power, an individual’s influence is maximized.

Finding Community

When moving my family to a new town, I learned quickly how much I needed community and influence. I found both in different communities.

Sports communities connect through shared loyalty

At the time of our move, my three children were in elementary and junior high school while I was in the middle of a graduate program in a different town. As a full-time student, teaching assistant and commuter I had little time left to visit with my neighbors or participate in many school volunteer activities. When my daughter joined the cross-country team and my son played football, my social life expanded to running with the other parents to see our team on the XC route and sitting in the stands on Friday nights cheering with the other football fans. My community began to grow, and I united with these folks over our shared loyalty for our team. A few years later when we relocated from Ohio to Virginia and longed for community among Cleveland Browns fans, we joined a Browns Backers group in the DC area to enjoy (or suffer through) games together. Our shared histories of supporting a team that didn’t win many games that year united us. As stories about our Ohio connections emerged, whether about the universities we attended, workplaces or towns, we found common ground and many more reasons to connect.

Social communities emerge through conversation

My social circle further increased when I was invited to join a bunco group. Bunco is a game structured so that players move to different tables and change partners at the end of each round depending on whether your team won or lost. There are 12 players dispersed among three tables. Players at each table take turns rolling three dice and keep score of the number of times they roll the number for that round. At the end of the game, the winners earned prizes and the winner took home the Bunco trophy. In our Bunco group, every member took a turn hosting and organizing details for Bunco night. The ultimate purpose for me was to enjoy conversation and get to know my neighbors.

Benefits of Community

During the game and throughout the evening, we enjoyed brief conversations and dynamics changed based on who joined our table. Conversation topics usually included local news (usually the most amusing thing in the police docket for that week), neighborhood news (who is moving in or out, who got a new dog), opinions about fashion would occasionally come up, but I could guarantee the topic always returned to what was happening at the school and with our children.

Influence of knowledge

Because I was working and attending classes in another town and not privy to the “water cooler” talk school volunteers enjoyed, I relied on this group to keep me informed about anything news-worthy happening in the neighborhood and at school.

Influence of access

This community increased our individual influence in numerous ways. We were more informed and better prepared for upcoming events at school because we received early notice from those who frequently volunteered at the school.

Influence of support

Because of our routine meetings, friendships formed, and personal milestones were celebrated.  When one of our members was taken from us after a medical procedure mishap, we offered our collective support to her family and took great comfort in grieving together.

Levy states, “Our results are amplified when our relationships share a sense of community.” I have witnessed many friendships forged through serving together. The point Levy makes is that as friendship continues, influence increases because of how we pursue shared passions.  

If you are looking for ways to increase your influence, you may need to look no further than those with whom you serve or those who share your passions.

We need community for so many reasons. Influence is one of them.

How does your community increase your influence?