Talking to a colleague senior project leader the other day, I learned a very valuable lesson. "Watch up so you do not 'spend' all your authority! It will be valuable to have later down the line", he said. He was talking about the currency of influence and authority.
His statement was the answer he gave after I asked him how he was so successful at reaching agreements in disputes with contractors and conflicting organizational units. He continued to tell me how he tries to delegate various negotiations and discussions to subordinates as much as possible. The obvious reasons for this was motivating his subordinates and more importantly to increase effectiveness by decentralizing authority.
His last reason however, is the key learning point for me. When you meet in negotiations yourself it means that you can never be the man that the issue is escalated to - you have already 'spent' your authority by being there. He told me that if he did not sit in on the negotiations, but instead only appeared if there was a dispute, his natural authority (and the authority he got from his position) was more effective.
So influence and authority not matter what its source is not infinite. Spend it with care, and be serious about where you invest it. The currency of influence and authority can give you big payoffs, but is very often spent on invaluable situations.
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